Development During the 1920s,
John D. Rockefeller Jr. had conceived the site of the current
Rockefeller Center as a location for the
Metropolitan Opera, but these plans were shelved and the plans eventually evolved into a mass media complex, leading to the
construction of Rockefeller Center. The complex's flagship RCA Building (now
30 Rockefeller Plaza) opened in May 1933.
Planning and creation Shortly after the RCA Building's opening, there were plans to use the space above the 64th floor as a public "amusement center". That section of the building had several terraces, which could be used to construct a dance floor, observatory, restaurant, and landscaped terrace gardens.
Frank W. Darling quit his job as head of
Rye's Playland in order to direct the programming for the proposed amusement space. The specific idea for a restaurant atop the RCA Building may have been inspired by the
Cloud Club, a lunch club in the
Chrysler Building. On the 65th story of the RCA Building, the builders constructed a two-story space intended for a dining room with a high ceiling. The plans called for two restaurants on the 65th Floor. The Rainbow Grill, a small casual-style eatery, would occupy the western portion of the floor, while a larger restaurant for dancing and entertainment, comprising the future Rainbow Room, would be located in a larger space on the eastern part of the floor. There would also be private dining compartments on the floor below. The Rockefeller Center Luncheon Club, composed mostly of Rockefeller Center tenants, would eat lunch at the Rainbow Room from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day. More established restaurateurs believed that the juxtaposition of the two eateries was an unwise business decision, but Rockefeller ignored them. These elevators cost about $17,000 a year to maintain by 1942. Rockefeller Center opened an observation deck atop the RCA Building's 67th, 69th, and 70th floors, above the future Rainbow Room, in July 1933. The only entrance to the observatory cut across the 65th floor, where the Rainbow Room would soon be located. The Rainbow Room was used as enticement for visitors to the observation deck, who were told that "if you behave and do your jobs right [...] when you die you'll go way up to the Rainbow Room."
Naming The director of the proposed restaurant did not want to "sound like an ordinary Eighth Avenue food joint", and he wanted to avoid using the word "restaurant" itself. For him, the optimal name would reflect the RCA Building's height and the eatery's exclusivity. At first, the restaurant was to be known as the "Stratosphere Room", whose name evoked the
stratosphere, the second layer of atmosphere above the earth. In August 1934, the Stratosphere Room became the "Rainbow Room", which drew its name from a model of organ that changed colors based on the tone of the music. The lights originally accompanied the sounds of a
Wurlitzer organ, but the organ was assailed for its "funereal" quality, and it was seldom used from 1935 to its removal in 1986.
Initial operation Rockefeller Center Inc. hired lawyer Francis Christy to be the Rainbow Room's owner in name only. This was because each nightclub owner had to be fingerprinted in order to comply with the state law at the time, and the true owner of Rainbow Room did not want his fingerprints on record. Because Christy had verified himself to the state as the owner of Rainbow Room, it was legal for the restaurant to operate. The Rainbow Room opened to the public on October 3, 1934, at a 300-guest party sponsored by the Lenox Hill Neighborhood Association. The opening celebrations were attended by a multitude of high-society individuals The Luncheon Club was even more exclusive than the Rainbow Room, with 600 members and a board of nine governors. A prospective member had to be known to at least two governors to even be considered for the Luncheon Club. Women were banned from the club.
Jewish membership was limited to 3.5 percent of all members at any given time, ostensibly because that was the ratio of the American Jewish population to the entire American population at the time. However,
Jews in New York City numbered 30 percent of the city's population, so this was considered an
anti-Semitic measure for some time. In its early years, the Rainbow Room had a difficult time attracting just the right types of customers.
Fortune magazine described the Rainbow Room's intended audience as "the nonflashy strata of the upper crust" who avoided such nightclubs as
Stork Club or
El Morocco. The restaurant attempted to draw the rich and famous by hiring unorthodox entertainers, including monologists and impressionists. There were many high expectations for the Rainbow Room, which was among the first restaurants with
air conditioning, as well as one of the first clubs to open after the 21st Amendment's ratification. The restaurant had a net loss in 1936, but Rockefeller Center Inc. used the publicity from Rainbow Room to advertise the western half of Rockefeller Center. By the end of the decade, the Rainbow Room and Grill were described as being "two of the most successful clubs in the country". In summer 1941, the Rainbow Room recorded its largest-ever profits.
The New York Sun described a typical Saturday as "almost like New Year's Eve": the Rainbow Room served 575 diners a night despite only having 350 seats, and the Rainbow Grill served another 312 diners per night.
1940s to 1970s By 1941, Rockefeller Center Inc's manager
Hugh S. Robertson was in a dispute with the Rainbow Room's
workers' union. Robertson threatened to shutter the restaurant and blame it on war-related reasons if they kept demanding wage increases. The Rainbow Room was closed at the end of December 1942 due to
World War II, which contributed to the "increasing shortage of manpower" in American civilian life, according to Robertson. The Rockefeller Center Luncheon Club remained open through this time. The Rainbow Room was used for private events, including a 1947 dinner in which Nelson Rockefeller launched a furniture-designing contest, as well as a 1949 fundraiser for
The Salvation Army. The Rainbow Room was also proposed to be converted into a theater in 1949, and several theatrical operators submitted bids for the space. The restaurant reopened to the public in 1950, initially only as a cocktail lounge that shuttered at 9 p.m. In 1965, the Rainbow Room was closed again, this time for renovations. The refurbishment restored the establishment to its 1930s decor. The historical accuracy of the decor continued through the 1970s. Throughout the years, the Rainbow Room lost its sense of exclusivity, as almost anyone could book a reservation at the restaurant. However, even through the 1980s and 1990s, the restaurant still hosted the occasional politician. On June 16, 1966, the restaurant hosted the
20th Tony Awards, which was the first
Tony Awards ceremony held in the afternoon. In memory of the actress
Helen Menken, who had died three months prior, the ceremony was closed to the public. Entertainers began performing in the Rainbow Room again in 1973, for the first time in decades, starting on September 18 of that year when classical-piano duo Whittemore and Lowe played three 40-minute-long
sets, with half of each set dedicated to song requests from guests. In January 1975, the Rainbow Grill had to close temporarily due to a rising lease but reopened the following month when new management took over the operation. The Rainbow Grill was also briefly closed for renovations in 1979 which included installation of a new stage.
1980s sale and renovation In 1985, the
Rockefeller family bought the entire Rockefeller Center complex from
Columbia University and immediately set out to modernize many aspects of the complex. As one of these components, the Rainbow Room was closed for a $20 million restoration and expansion that brought the restaurant's floor area to . John D. Rockefeller Jr.'s son
David Rockefeller commissioned the restoration, which was led by
Joe Baum, Arthur Emil, and
Hugh Hardy. At the time, Baum and
Michael Whiteman were the restaurant's operators. The restoration architects had no source material on hand on plans and black-and-white photographs. The Rainbow Room's expansion went through the only passageway that led to the RCA Building's observation deck, so the deck was closed. and a new entrance was added at the southwest corner. The artist
Dan Dailey created "Orbit", an glass mural, for the western wall behind the stage, which was eventually moved to the
Toledo Museum of Art in 2017. The dance floor was rebuilt, and some railings were restored. with cuisine, cutlery, and decorations designed to evoke the restaurant as it had been in the 1930s. In 1987,
Dale DeGroff was hired to lead the bar program at the Rainbow Room. There he made a list of classic and forgotten pre-
Prohibition cocktails. For this menu, DeGroff reintroduced production of the
Nick & Nora glass, and named it for the characters
Nick and Nora Charles.
1990s to present Cipriani operation and closure In 1998, the Rockefeller family passed operations of the Rainbow Room and Grill over to the Italian
Cipriani S.A. family, founders of the renowned
Harry's Bar in
Venice, as well as several other restaurants in New York City. The Ciprianis extensively removed the Rainbow Room's northeast and southeast seating terraces, replaced fabric decorations, and added wall mirrors. They also closed the restaurant to the general public for most of the time, with the public only being allowed for four to five days each month. All 250 employees at the time were fired. The same year, the
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission considered granting landmark status to the Rainbow Room. The Landmarks Commission ultimately decided against landmark status because the restaurant had been renovated 11 years prior, and the commission's guideline was that the proposed landmark "must be at least 30 years old". In 2003, Michael DiLeonardo testified in a tax-evasion case involving mobster
Peter Gotti, in which he said that Ciprianis gave $120,000 to the
Gambino crime family to make union problems at the Rainbow Room disappear. The charges were never confirmed. A year later, the Ciprianis sued 30 Rockefeller Plaza's landlord,
Tishman Speyer, for the latter's plan to place
metal detectors at the lobby entrance to the Rainbow Room's elevator bank. Tishman Speyer cited security measures implemented after the
September 11, 2001, attacks as the reason for installing metal detectors, but the Ciprianis said that the detectors would "damage the reputation and business of the Rainbow Room" by causing potential guests to wait for up to an hour before entering the restaurant. In 2008, the Cipriani company filed a brief, again requesting that the Rainbow Room be designated a New York City landmark. The designation would prevent the Rainbow Room from being converted into office space. The Ciprianis then announced that they planned to close the grill on January 12, 2009, although part would remain open as a bar and banquet hall. The Ciprianis' chief operating officer blamed the
Great Recession and a dispute with the landlord. The two sides settled the dispute, with the Ciprianis agreeing to give up possession of the restaurant and banquet hall on August 1, 2009. The last night of dancing at the former hot spot took place on June 5, 2009, and the Grill closed its kitchen on June 21, 2009.
Reopening In July 2011, it was announced that work had begun on remodeling the restaurant for its reopening. The Ciprianis, who were still in dispute with Tishman Speyer, asked the Landmarks Commission to designate the restaurant as a landmark. Building owners sometimes opposed interior landmark designation for their properties, since it would prevent them from making changes to the space without the LPC's permission, but Tishman Speyer supported the designation instead. On October 16, 2012, the commission designated the Rainbow Room as an interior landmark. The LPC's change in decision stemmed from the fact that it had determined that some elements of the restaurant were old enough to be worthy of the historic status. After being restored by Gabellini Sheppard Associates, the Rainbow Room reopened to the public on October 5, 2014, with Tishman Speyer as the new owner and operator. The renovation included the landmarked dance floor and a new cocktail lounge called Bar SixtyFive. The Rainbow Grill was not included in the reopened restaurant's floor plan; that space was instead taken up by SixtyFive. The Rainbow Room's only public operating hours were on Sunday mornings and afternoons, and on Monday nights; the rest of the time, the restaurant was used for private celebrations. In 2017, the Rainbow Room won an award for interior architecture from the
American Institute of Architects.
Pandemic closure, conversion to event venue The Rainbow Room closed temporarily in March 2020, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. It reopened in May 2021 with a special Mother's Day brunch. The Rainbow Room continues to host private events, but it no longer operates as a public restaurant. ==Design==