Who Was Legendary New York Restaurateur Elaine Kaufman?

(Dec. 3) -- What do Kurt Vonnegut, George Steinbrenner and Woody Allen have in common?

All three enjoyed dropping into Elaine's, the famous Upper East Side watering hole frequented by dozens of New York's top celebrities, socialites, authors and journalists over its nearly 50-year history. The saloon's patron saint, Elaine Kaufman, died today at age 81 of complications from emphysema, the New York Post reported.

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Elaine Kaufman turned her restaurant, Elaine's, into one of New York's most famous watering holes.

Kaufman grew up in Queens, graduated high school in the Bronx and started working at Gimbles department store before trying her hand at food service. She opened Elaine's in 1963 with $12,000, and the bar soon became a hot spot for writers like Norman Mailer, Vonnegut and Nora Ephron.

Right up until she was hospitalized last month, Kaufman came to Elaine's every night to mingle with customers and close up shop.

"Elaine's was the big love of her life, and the restaurant will continue to be open for business at 1703 Second Ave. with her staff fully intact," restaurant manager Diane Becker told the New York Post.

Surge Desk takes a look at some takes on the beloved restaurateur:

1. Elaine was feisty

Kaufman was well-known for "fussing over the famous," but not every customer at Elaine's received the royal treatment. In the book "Everyone Comes to Elaine's," James Brady describes a famous incident in which Kaufman was hauled off to jail for assaulting a guest. Brady writes:

She beat me up, complained a bar customer, aged forty-five. Elaine, it was alleged, called him "white trash." She said he got in her face and stepped on her foot. ... In Manhattan watering places such behavior is considered surly discontent on the part of the proprietor. If not for actual arrest (of the customer!).

Kaufman was released early the next morning.

2. Elaine was, albeit briefly, a film actor

Woody Allen fans may known Kaufman from her cameo appearance in a restaurant scene of "Manhattan," which was filmed in Elaine's. She has also appeared as herself in a number of films as an art collector, a lifelong passion of hers, and most recently appeared in the film "Morning Glory," according to the New York Post.

Check out the restaurant scene of "Manhattan" below:

3. Elaine could schmooze with the best of them

Elaine often brushed shoulders with the rich and famous, but her bar was home to a much more eccentric set. In a Vanity Fair profile of Kaufman, John Heilpern wrote:

It's less widely known that her fabled restaurant is a seat-of-your-pants meritocracy where, on any given night, the regulars might include a brain surgeon, a Catholic priest, a children's-book editor, an F.B.I. agent, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, the editor of the New York Post, a quiet poet, the former chief of the New York Fire Department, a first-baseman for the Mets, the governor, and various riffraff and cops (and myself).