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{{short description|American restaurant}}
{{Infobox venue
[[File:Beefsteak dinner at Reisenwebers to honour H.H. Rogers & Mark Twain LCCN2014681447.tif|thumb|right|400px|Beefsteak dinner at Reisenweber's honoring [[H. H. Rogers]] and [[Mark Twain]], 1908]]▼
| name = Reisenweber's Cafe
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| city = New York City
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| opened = 1856
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'''Reisenweber's Cafe''', also known as '''Reisenweber's Restaurant'''<ref name="nyt-1922-3-31" /> or simply '''Reisenweber's''',<ref name="reisenweber-obituary" />
Reisenweber's Cafe was known for introducing and/or popularizing [[jazz]],<ref name="nbc">{{cite web |title=25 Restaurants We Wish Still Existed |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/local/from_william_grimes_s_appetite_city__25_restaurants_we_wish_still_existed/2115198/ |website=NBC New York |accessdate=21 August 2020}} "Reisenweber’s, where the Original Dixieland Jazz Band was discovered (spurring the jazz age) and where a hula dancer performed in Doraldina’s Hawaiian Room. Site of New York’s first cover charge (25 cents).
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== History ==
[[File:Liberty Bonds - Pershing
Reisenweber's started as a roadside tavern in 1856<ref name="reisenweber-obituary" /><ref name="boweryboys" /> or 1857,<ref name="walker" />
The 1890s [[bicycle craze]] significantly increased demand for the tavern, and Reisenweber's began a process of expansion under John Reisenweber Jr. and his son-in-law Louis
At its height,
In 1917, Reisenweber's celebrated its 60th anniversary with an entertainment program broadcast by "wireless telephone", a novelty at the time.<ref name="walker" /> That year, the establishment was grossing $3,600 per day ''(about $85,000 per day in 2020 dollars)''.<ref name="walker2" />
=== Notable patrons ===
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In 1912, Reisenweber's became the first restaurant in New York City to provide its patrons with space to dance, initially with [[tea dance]]s at the Crystal Room<ref name="walker" /> and later with dancing at the lavish third-floor Paradise Supper Club.<ref name="voigt" />
In 1913, Reisenweber's manager Louis Fischer introduced the first modern [[cover charge]],<ref name=reisenweber-obituary>[http://bklyn-genealogy-info.stevemorse.org/Newspaper/BSU/1931.Death.Aug.html John Reisenweber's 1931 obituary in the ''Brooklyn Standard Union'']. "Reisenweber's was the first to initiate dancing for its patrons and was instrumental in introducing the modern cabaret. They also installed the modern "cover charge" in 1913, when the fee for witnessing their elaborate entertainment specialties was twenty-five cents, an exorbitant sum at that time."
</ref>
The Hawaiian Room on the fourth floor was opened for [[Doraldina]]'s Hawaiian dance routine, precipitating the city's 1916 "Hawaiian craze".<ref name="walker" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Tin Pan Alley's "Hawaiian Craze" of 1916 |url=https://smtd.umich.edu/ami/gershwin/?p=4194 |website=The Gershwin Initiative Website |accessdate=20 August 2020 |date=8 September 2013}}</ref>
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==== "Jass" at Reisenweber's ====
In January
{{Quote
|text= In 1917, the ODJB (Original Dixieland Jass Band) played at Reisenweber's Restaurant on Columbus Circle in New York and made a tremendous hit. From that time on, the word 'Jazz' - first usually spelled 'Jass' - became known to the general public.
}}
Among the audience at the band's first week of performances were representatives from [[Victor Talking Machine Company]], who signed a recording contract with the band.<ref name="basinstreet">{{cite web |last1=Koenig |first1=Karl |title=New Jazz Studies II |url=http://basinstreet.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/New-Jazz-Studies-II.pdf |website=Basinstreet.com |accessdate=20 August 2020}}</ref>
The Original Dixieland Jass band would go on to record [[Original Dixieland Jass Band#Recordings|25 singles]] between 1917 and 1923, including the 1917 "Reisenweber Rag" ''([[Aeolian-Vocalion]] 1242)''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Discography of Aeolian Vocalion label |url=https://www.discogs.com/label/139137-Aeolian-Vocalion |website=Discogs |accessdate=20 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
In 1918, [[Bert Kelly (jazz musician)|Bert Kelly]] brought his "Jass Band", including [[:nl:Ragbaby Stephens|Joe "Ragbaby" Stephens]], [[Alcide Nunez]], and [[Tom Brown (trombonist)|Tom Brown]], to New York City to fill in for the Original Dixieland Jass Band at Reisenweber's Cafe, while the latter was away on tour. After the Original Dixieland Jass Band returned to New York, the two continued to alternate at Reisenweber's. After the Kelly Band won greater approval from the crowds at a "[[Battle of the Bands]]" competition, Stephens, the drummer, found his drum heads slashed, after which he took the next train back to Chicago and never again headed east.<ref>{{cite book |title=Liner notes from sheet music cover "Meet Me at the Green Goose" |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RagbabyStevens.jpg |accessdate=20 August 2020}}</ref>
=== Decline and closure ===
The passage of the [[Volstead Act]] and start of national [[Prohibition in the United States|prohibition]] caused a decline in business, and manager Louis
By 1922, Reisenweber's was operating in part as a [[speakeasy]], serving private stocks of liquor at invitation-only events.<ref>{{cite news |title="CLOSE REISENWEBER'S," DRY OFFICIALS DEMAND; Federal Judge to Hear Motion Charging Liquor Sales After Court Ban. |work=The New York Times |date=September 13, 1922}}</ref> On New Year's Day, 1922, prohibition agents raided a private party at the restaurant and served summonses to the manager, John Gorman, and his son for serving liquor to a half dozen diners. The prohibition agents alleged that "a telephone bell linked with all the dining rooms was to have been rung a certain number of times when [prohibition officers] appeared".<ref name="buffalo">{{cite news |title=Four Dead, Sixteen in Hospitals After 'Dryest' New Year Eve on Manhattan: Raid at Reisenweber's |work=Buffalo Courier |date=January 2, 1922}}</ref>
In March
On September 28, 1922, federal judge [[Martin T. Manton]] decreed the closing of Reisenweber's Cafe for a year, a decision that was upheld on appeal the following January.<ref name="nyt-1923-1-19">{{cite news |title=ORDER CLOSING CAFE FOR YEAR SUSTAINED; Manton's Decree Against Former Reisenweber's Is Upheld by Circuit Court of Appeals. |work=The New York Times |issue=January 19, 1923}}</ref> Reisenweber's never reopened.<ref name="boweryboys" />
By November 1923, the Paradise Gardens "dancing palace" was operating out of the former Reisenweber's Cafe.<ref name="paradisegardens1923">{{cite news |title=Advertisement for Paradise Gardens, p. 28 |work=New York Daily News |issue=November 14, 1923}}</ref> The Reisenweber's buildings housed a [[F.
==Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino and Shelbourne Hotel==▼
[[File:Postcard of Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino, 1910.png|thumb|right|350px|Postcard of Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino, 1910]]
Starting in 1909, a second branch of Reisenweber's, '''Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino''', operated in [[Brighton Beach]], at [[Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)|Ocean Parkway]] and Surf Avenue, next door to the [[New Brighton Theater]].<ref name="heartofconeyisland">{{cite web |title=The Rise and Fall of Brighton Beach |url=https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/brighton-beach-coney-island-history.html |website=Heart of Coney Island |accessdate=26 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>▼
The casino was built around 1907, in the lot that formerly belonged to Bader's Hotel.<ref name="heartofconeyisland" /> Its edifice was made of ornamental Spanish tile and brick, and its elaborate bar cost $42,000 to build ''(about $1,100,000 in 2020 dollars)''.<ref name="mara" /> Its top floor deck resembled the deck of an ocean liner, overlooking the beach and ocean, and an advertisement promised "All the Joys of a Sail, Without the Motion!". Dances were held in the Wisteria Ballroom.<ref name="askmrconey" />▼
Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino featured performances by [[Lillian Russell]] and [[Eddie Cantor]]. The popular 1914 song "[[By the Beautiful Sea (song)|By the Beautiful Sea]]" was written on its terrace, during a party held by Russell and [[Diamond Jim Brady]], who had a private dining room at the casino.<ref name="mara">{{cite news |last1=Mara |first1=Margaret |title=Gen. Washington: Noblesse Oblige |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=January 16, 1952}}</ref><ref name="wine" />
▲==Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino==
▲Starting in 1909, a second branch of Reisenweber's, '''Reisenweber's Brighton Beach Casino''', operated in [[Brighton Beach]], at Ocean Parkway and Surf Avenue, next door to the [[Brighton Theater]].<ref name="heartofconeyisland">{{cite web |title=The Rise and Fall of Brighton Beach |url=https://www.heartofconeyisland.com/brighton-beach-coney-island-history.html |website=Heart of Coney Island |accessdate=26 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref>
John Reisenweber, Jr., later purchased the Ricca Donna Hotel on the other side of New Brighton Theater, renamed it the '''Shelbourne Hotel''', and ran it as a sister entertainment venue to the Brighton Beach Casino.<ref name="mara" /> Both establishments were managed by Victor Herz, who would later become controller of the [[Piels Beer#Expansion|Trommer Brewery]].<ref name="brooklyndailyeagle">{{cite news |title=Victor A. Herz, Brewery Official, Ran Restaurants at Brighton |issue=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=August 25, 1941}}</ref> Herz introduced the modern floor show to Brooklyn audiences, and the entertainers who performed at the Shelbourne included Sophie Tucker, [[George Jessel (actor)|George Jessel]], [[Lila Lee]], [[Ben Bernie]], and [[Harry Richman]].<ref name="walker2" /><ref name="brooklyndailyeagle" />
▲The casino was built around 1907, in the lot that formerly belonged to Bader's Hotel.<ref name="heartofconeyisland" /> Its top floor deck resembled the deck of an ocean liner, overlooking the beach and ocean, and an advertisement promised "All the Joys of a Sail, Without the Motion!". Dances were held in the Wisteria Ballroom.<ref name="askmrconey" />
The Casino closed during prohibition and was replaced by a bathhouse, Publix Baths, and, in the early 1950s, a bingo parlor and event hall, Club 28. The building was demolished after
==References==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:Nightclubs in Manhattan]]
[[Category:1856 establishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:1922 disestablishments in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Jazz clubs in New York City]]
[[Category:Defunct restaurants in
[[Category:German restaurants in the United States]]
[[Category:Columbus Circle]]
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