Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Rainbow Cafe is Shuttered, For Now


The Rainbow Cafe, whose signs are featured on both Forgotten NY (two-thirds down the page) and Lost City, has its shades drawn and closed. A small, handwritten sign is taped to one of the windows; it reads: "Closed for Business!!" I don't remember seeing The Rainbow Cafe ever closed like that, and I received an email from a curious neighbor about the same sighting. My first thought was that rising commercial rents had victimized another Fifth Avenue business (much like the furniture store kitty-corner from The Rainbow Room). I was wrong.

Sadly, the reason for the sudden closure is the passing on of the owner. The Rainbow Cafe will be closed for at least a few months, according to those in the know. Ironically, on Sunday a baby shower was celebrated at The Rainbow Cafe. It would be a shame to lose this place; it adds a lot of neon charm to that strip of Fifth Avenue. Our condolences go out to the families affected, and to the employees.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear the passing of my friend Ron Ardito, we both went to Saint Michael's parochial school and played together from 1960-68, I will surely miss him, also missed will be the owner of the Rainbow, the owner was a relative of mine, hope it open's again, they filmed some video's there with Frank Vincent, real cool, I miss Brooklyn at times.

Anonymous said...

My relative's used to own the rainbow in the 50's through the 80's, sorry to hear about the owner's passing, Frank Vincent and Pastore made a video or 2 there, too bad it's closing, maybe someone will buy it and make it a happening place again.

Zoltad

Anonymous said...

In the Early 70's my aunt had her wedding reception there . In 1990 I had my own wedding reception there . In 1994 we had my mom's 60th birthday party there .And also as a bus driver for 20 yrs formany of us that was the last stop of the nite .I have many videos and pixs taken their
I some how thought it would always be there ,I will miss it .Debbie
A.K.A upst8red@aol.com.