The Flatiron Restaurant of 1910 NYC Coffee Mug

The Flatiron Restaurant in NYC was open from June 1902, until 1911. It was located 20 feet below the intersection of Broadway and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan. The basement restaurant, which had a maximum occupancy of 1,500 people, was shared with the United Cigar Store, which occupied the space beneath the triangulated “prow” section of Daniel Burnham’s “Flatiron Building”. In 1912 The Flatiron Restaurant was bought by Louis Bustanoby, inventor of “Forbidden Fruit” liquor (now marketed as Chambord) also owned the Café des Beaux-Arts, upscaled and renamed the establishment as Taverne Louis. Bustanoby’s Café des Beaux-Arts and Taverne Louis are both noted to have attracted and welcomed a diverse and LGB-orientated clientele. The Taverne was eventually forced to close during the period of Prohibition.