“It was a clubhouse forsome of New York's most

powerful and creativepeople, from Andy

Warhol and Tom Wolfe toLorne Michaels andMartin Scorsese, andremains as one to this

day.”

It's 9 p.m. on a crisp Saturday night and every seat at thebar of the Odeon has already been filled by therestaurant's well-dressed patrons. For some sitting alongthe mirrored mahogany bar, it's their first visit to theiconic watering hole opened in 1980 by Keith McNally,his older brother Brian, and then-wife LynnWagenknecht. The popular Tabini Martini—a potent mixof vodka, fresh mint, and lime juice—and more classicdrinks like the Old Fashioned and the houseCosmopolitan (the Odeon was one of the first restaurantsto ever serve them), are unchartered territory waiting tobe discovered by these new patrons.

Meanwhile, a few others alongside them can still remember the day it opened and have been frequenting itever since. For them, the Odeon's neon, glowing sign is a powerful symbol of nostalgia and the new era ofnightlife the "luncheonette-via-Cartier" (to borrow the words of Jay McInerney) Deco-style restaurantgave rise to in the '80s. It was a clubhouse for some of New York's most powerful and creative people, fromAndy Warhol and Tom Wolfe to Lorne Michaels and Martin Scorsese, and remains as one to this day."People constantly tell us their stories about being here the night we opened," says Odeon manager RoyaShanks, who has been working at the restaurant for more than 14 years. "It was hot, hot, hot from DayOne. It was a mob scene.

Nights at Odeon are just as bustling, only they are a little tamer than those storied evenings of its raucouspast. What draws people back week after week, night after night, is its consistent brasserie food and drinksand comfortable, convivial atmosphere.

"What I love about the Odeon is it's not just one demographic in here. It's just people from so manydifferent walks of life, with ages ranging from like a 6-month-old baby to 80-plus, all hanging out andfeeling at home," says Shanks. "The number of people who tell me they had their first date here or met atthe bar here is insane. People will sometimes call and request a specific table for their anniversary and tellme that's where they sat on their first date 20 years ago."

The beauty of a restaurant like the Odeon is its ongoing evolution. Today, couples will have their firstchance meeting at the bar on a night like this one. Two strangers might start talking over Ginger Martinisand form a lifelong friendship. The next Diane von Furstenberg or Jean-Michel Basquiat might bediscovered here, and the Odeon might yet again get a prominent role in a novel like Bright Lights, Big Citywhen another budding writer decides to make it his regular haunt like Jay McInerney once did. Above all,those who have been relying on it for so many decades can continue to return "home" here, and bringnewcomers into the Odeon fold, who will thread their own memories into the fabric of the restaurant'sever-growing history.

“It was hot, hot, hot from Day One. It was amob scene.”

KRISTIN TICE- STUDEMAN W O R D S

JASON SCHMIDT P H O T O G R A P H Y & V I D E O

THE ODEON

1 4 5 W E S T B R O A D W A Y , N E W Y O R K , 1 0 0 1 3

( 2 1 2 ) 2 3 3 - 0 5 0 7 ; T H E O D E O N R E S T A U R A N T . C O M

Next — at Home

F INE D IN IN G IN T HE C O M F O R T O F H O M E

Next — Out & About

L O C A L S P O T L I G H T: B U B B Y ' S

The Odeon: A Brasserie With HistoryAFTER-HOURS AT THE RESTAURANT THAT DEFINED DOWNTOWN NIGHTLIFE

IN THE '80S.