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IT WAS 1978 IN NEW YORK CITY. They'd turned Roseland into a rollerskating rink; the Copa was a joke ~ a parody of its former self. You could still see the Ramones play at CBGB, and the disco scene at Studio 54 and Xenon reigned supreme, though the hippest were already migrating downtown to the Mudd Club, Irving Plaza and other dives. I was in college
and got a job as the weekend doorman at a great little hotel
in Murray Hill in midtown, which Even then, Jimmy's
was a throwback to another era. Mobsters from the Fulton Fish
Market and grandees from the Garment District came there to drink
champagne and dine on Chicken Kiev. The piano player was married
to the coat check gal ~ both had worked for Jimmy for over thirty
years. So had Mario, his maitre d', and Rocco, his chef. Most
of Jimmy's customers had been coming there for thirty years,
too. And Jimmy, a dimunitive figure in an impeccable tux waving
an FDR cigarette holder in his hand, greeted them all by name.
He was the reason they kept coming back (not the Chicken
Kiev). The Jimmy LaPanza Room is long gone; Jimmy's a nonagenarian, retired to Miami where he plays a mean game of bocci. The Tuscany was bought up by a big hotel chain, then closed down because it was too small, and I've moved on to other things. I learned a lot while I worked for Jimmy, like the secret of the perfect martini, how to tell ribald jokes in the most elegant company, and how to wear a porkpie hat just so. To tell the truth, the Jimmy LaPanza Lounge, located in the basement of the Portsmouth Brewery, looks nothing like the original Jimmy LaPanza Room in New York. But then again, nothing ever could ~ that time is long gone. We've captured a bit of his spirit, nonetheless. Jimmy himself still drops in unexpectedly from time to time, driving up from Florida in a newly acquired convertible. Sometimes it's to show off his latest girlfriend; sometimes it's just to bust my chops; and sometimes it's to make sure that the place that carries his name is worthy of it. Please stop in and visit the Jimmy LaPanza Lounge. Maybe you'll meet the old guy himself. The Jimmy Lapanza Lounge is open every day from six till closing. You can also reserve the lounge for private functions of up to sixty people. Find out more by sending us an email or calling us (603) 431-1115.
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housed a place called the Jimmy LaPanza Room.
I'd hail a few cabs and carry some bags, but mostly I was there
to take care of Jimmy's guests. I parked their cars ~ they all
drove enormous Caddies (I quickly learned how to jam a Fleetwood
into a VW-sized parking space, and how to tie up a block's worth
of parking spaces with a dozen cars), and I got tipped five bucks
apiece. Pretty good money in those days. (At left is a picture of me
taken in '79 by a New York Daily News photographer who was doing
a piece on Manhattan doormen.)