Longchamps Restaurants – Vanished New York City Art Deco .

In 1930’s Manhattan a chain of long forgotten restaurants brought café society elegance to the middle class. It all began when wholesaler Henry Lustig opened his first restaurant in 1919 at Madison Avenue and 78th Street. Being a race horse owner, Lustig decided to name his restaurant Longchamps, after the famous Parisian racecourse. Longchamps specialized in offering an American version of French style cuisine at affordable prices. It met with fast success. By the mid 1920’s the company expanded, opening two new restaurants. One near the recently opened Saks Fifth Avenue, to cash in on the shopping trade.