Everyone Comes to Elaine's

When it happen in two's or three's, I pay attention. I was reading the new issue of Town & Country when I settled into a story about the iconic The American Hotel in Sag Harbor. The writer of the piece, the novelist and wine columnist Jay McInerney, painted a cool scene of this Victorian-era hotel on Long Island as a low-key hangout for New York's literary set.

The hotel's bar -- it has a moose head that appears to be puffing a cig -- is referenced as the seaside outpost, or version, of the legendary writer's bar in New York City called Elaine's. My curiousity was piqued.

That night, I happened to watch a classic Woody Allen comedy for the first time: Manhattan.

Woody plays a frustrated comedy writer named Isaac who is dating a 17-year old (life follows fiction here). This very Elaine's makes a memorable cameo, as the smokey bar where Isaac first hangs with his best friend and kid girlfriend -- discussing life, writing and all those meaningful things that drew famous novelists, journalists and actors to Elaine's night after night.

Elaine's closed this May, so I didn't get a chance to join that crowd. It sounds like my kind of place...