One of the final episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, released this month, captures the vulgar and profane ritual of a celebrity gathering at New York’s Flyers Club, turning the club into a vibrant hub. It was the kind of entertainment that helped put it on the ground. comedy world.
But lately, the landmark, home to wisecracks and cigar smoke and legends like Milton Berle and Jerry Lewis, is fighting extinction.
The club defaulted on its $13 million mortgage payment, which led to a foreclosure by lenders. A federal judge is also considering whether to appoint an outside company to take over the Friars Club’s six-story townhouse on East 55th Street. The club has been closed for several months due to its growing financial problems.
A March inspection by the loan company described a building damaged by piles of garbage, traces of rats and cockroaches, mold damage and containers of “unidentified liquid waste,” according to court documents. The club said “conditions at the facility have improved” since the inspection. Yet the Frank Sinatra Room, once a fine dining restaurant, remained an unfinished renovation site with light bulbs hanging from the ceiling during a recent visit.
Long a hangout for Manhattan’s showbiz elite, the club has seen membership ages dwindle and membership revenues dwindle as it has faced repeated crises. In 2017, federal agents raided the agency as part of a financial investigation. Authorities later charged the then-executive with filing false personal tax returns. Flooding in 2020 closed the club, followed by a pandemic. The financial strain last year meant the club never resumed normal business hours after a typical summer break.
Its remaining leaders are now looking for an Eleventh Hour Messiah who might buy the building and cover their debts. Arthur Idala, the club’s current dean (i.e. president), said there were several promising offers of around $18 million each, which would save the Friars’ identity and allow the club to remain in the building. but operating under new management.
“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that the Friars shouldn’t run the club,” Idara said. “They should tell jokes and sing songs.”
Idala, a criminal defense attorney whose clients include Harvey Weinstein, Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz, spoke from the club’s second-floor dining room, also known as the Abbey. – Carved wood combined in a medieval Las Vegas style. Aidara said he considered the loan company’s claim that the property was “abandoned” disingenuous because the building had been in the process of restoration for a long time, including when the club secured a loan in 2021.
Idara said the Friars Club is now cash depleted, leaving about two months of mortgage payments outstanding, but “will pay 100 cents on the dollar” when the building is sold. I promised. “
Beyond celebrity gatherings, off-the-line comedy, and members that include Johnny Carson, Irving Berlin, Jimmy Fallon, and Carol Burnett, the club has a convivial atmosphere in social circles and a constant connection with people. It was also home to many non-entertainers who valued proximity. fame. Home to the club’s headquarters since the 1950s, the monastery is a sanctuary of the club’s heyday, with framed black-and-white photographs of smiling comedy legends.
But over the past decade or so, the structure of the organization has frayed. The non-profit corporation lost its tax-exempt status in 2010. It was criticized for spending on charitable events with low net income. Bills piled up. Then-director Michael Gühl pleaded guilty to filing false tax returns. After the verdict, he remained in office for several months before the club board fired him in 2020, over which he filed a lawsuit against the club. Lenders said in court documents that the club also owed money to the restaurant and bartender workers’ union, the city’s Environmental Management Board and the New York State Department of Labor.
After being closed due to flooding and a pandemic, the club will be making a bit of a comeback in 2021, initially offering limited dishes such as charcuterie boards in lieu of full lunch and dinner service. According to Anthony Trombetta, the club’s former general manager and creative director, there are hundreds of paying members at the start of 2022, and around 2015 when the number of paying members exceeded 1,000. It is said to be insignificant in comparison.
Trombetta said club leaders hoped to revitalize the organization by roasting Tracy Morgan last spring, but after the usual partial summer closure, it fully reopened in September. He was not as financially stable as he could have been.
“After the guys came back from the Hamptons after the summer, not being able to open at that point worried everyone,” Trombetta said. “At that time everyone could assume the fate of the club.”
And last month, the club was sued by creditors, who said in court documents that the club failed to pay about $140,000 each month. Loan company Kairos Credit Strategies Operating Partnership has demanded $13.5 million from the club, asking a judge to allow the corporation to control the club and ultimately sell it to the highest bidder. .
Aidara was looking for a buyer to cancel the debt and get the club back up and running. One bid came from WABC radio owner John Kasimatidis, who made his fortune in the grocery store at $6 million, less than the asking price.
“I don’t want the Friars Club name to disappear,” said Kasimatidis, a former member.
Aidara said a promising offer currently in negotiations involves chef Charlie Palmer, who runs multiple restaurants across the country, including Times Square. Under the deal, Palmer would run a public restaurant on the ground floor of the club, leaving the rest of the building for members.
But the club’s plans would be further complicated if the judge in charge of foreclosure filings approved the lender’s initiative to have a third-party property manager oversee the building. And some former members are skeptical that the club will be able to bring back enough old security guards to keep the club running, even if rescue bidders intervene. .
“There have been many attempts to revive, revamp and rethink the club,” said former member Steve Beninati. “From an economic standpoint, and from a more emotional standpoint, none of this has ever worked out.”
But Marvin Scott, senior correspondent for PIX11 News in New York and the club’s “predecessor” (i.e. vice president), said things weren’t so dire. He said he likes to imagine the club as Jack and Rose in Titanic, clinging to the railing as the ship sinks.
However, he predicted that the SS Friars Club would have a different ending. During this talk, he said, “We’re not going to hit the water.”
