One Fifth Avenue Apartments

Keith McNally on the Restaurant That Changed His Life

"Opened on the ground floor of a 1920s skyscraper at 1 Fifth Avenue in Greenwich Village, this stylish Art Deco restaurant paired uptown glamour with downtown cool and became Manhattan’s most fashionable spot in its first two years. Its large, bustling dining room, careful lighting and attention to the right details set a template for many future restaurants; the owner’s obsessive taste in food and wine educated the author even as paranoid personnel decisions and frequent firings undermined staff morale. It hosted high‑profile after‑parties (including the original Saturday Night Live cast), attracted artists and tastemakers such as Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe and Sam Wagstaff, and played a formative role in the author’s career—from oyster shucker to general manager—shaping his ideas about service, atmosphere and the importance of layered, low side lighting to create the elusive “right feel.”" - Keith McNally