I know the Russian Tea Room closed a few years ago, and I heard the USGA is building a hall of fame or museum or something there.

I was devastated when I learned they were closing it -- my wife and I had a couple superb lunches there when we visited the city. We saw Dr. Ruth when we were there, Hilary Clinton had her 50th birthday party there, and the hatcheck girl told me Tony Randall was a regular. It was a beautiful place.

My question -- does anyone know what happened to all the neat stuff that was there? Was it auctioned off, or moved to another place? The renovation they undertook in 1995 cost $30 million I believe, and I am just curious what happened to all the artworks, etc.

I was hoping someone would buy it and reopen it, but that did not happen.

Thanks in advance for any replies.

HUH? Can it be San Francisco you're talking about? Clinton was there? No, must be a mistake.

The Russian Tea Room was in New York City, on West 57th Street near Carnegie Hall. After it closed, a lot of the art and decorative hardware was auctioned off at Doyle's.

The room was beautiful but I'm told it'd really gone downhill in its last few years. We sat at a table next to (pretty sure) Angelica Houston back when she was "A-list" and while she was fawned over slightly, most of the room was full of folks like us - goobers having cardiac events upon seeing the prices for blinis and caviar. I'm sure we were typical of the "downhill" part.

oh, but we do miss the borscht....and blintzes....we were sad when it closed and wondered why it had 'gone down hill' - we were there maybe about 18 mths before it closed and we were surprised....but part of our enjoyment was the memories from when my Dad first took me there years ago....

So now you all have to go to San Francisco. Katia's russian tea room is opened.