‘This is our home’: Broadway community rallies to save historic West Bank Cafe
The bills at the beloved West Bank Cafe piled up for months as coronavirus ravaged the restaurant industry — and by early December, the outlook was grim.
The Hell’s Kitchen spot — a favorite among theater folk, including actor Tony Shalhoub, comedian Lewis Black and dozens of Broadway’s biggest stars, many who tested out new material at the venue’s downstairs stage — has flourished on 42nd St. for 42 years.
Yet the revenue stream slowed to a trickle since March, with business worse off in recent days following the suspension of indoor dining, low temperatures and strict regulations during a surge in COVID-19.
Writer and producer Tom D’Angora first learned the café might close last week when he and his husband Michael swung by to pick up their take-out.
There they ran into actor Tim Guinee and West Bank owner Steve Olsen, who said the cafe couldn’t hang on much longer — and together, they began to brainstorm ways to keep the curtain from falling.
“It’s like holding a bucket of water and looking at a forest fire and not knowing what to do,” D’Angora said of the financial woes facing West Bank and other arts and theater venues. “[But] in 10 minutes we had a list of names of people we just knew would jump on board [to help] if they heard [the cafe] was in trouble.”
Within days of that Dec. 11 meeting, they raised over $113,000 and booked over 140 stars for a Christmas Day telethon fundraiser featuring performances by actress Debra Messing, Megan Hilty from “Wicked” fame and actor David Eigenberg from “Sex and the City.”
The response was overwhelming, said D’Angora — but not unexpected.
“That’s the power of the Broadway community…This is our home,” said D’Angora, who celebrated his 30th birthday, his 40th birthday and his wedding rehearsal at the historic cafe. “This is the place we’re going to come back to and talk about how the pandemic did us wrong.”
Olsen first opened West Bank at its current location, 407 W. 42nd St., back in 1978. The name (unrelated to the Middle East territory) originated from a conversation between him and his then-business partner on a drive down to the Bowery.
“He wanted to name it Left Bank, and I said no, that’s French,” said Olsen. “It’s on the West side, so he said [how about] West Bank…We kept it, and the name just caught on.”
Since then, the venue has hosted hundreds in showbiz, like playwright Tennessee Williams and comedian Joan Rivers, who performed over 200 sets at the cafe — including her last stand-up act the night before she died.
Yet coronavirus forced Olsen to shut down all performances and let go of 47 employees earlier this year. He and his staff of six have continued to operate the restaurant four days a week, with Olsen doing a number of the deliveries himself.
Outdoor dining offered a brief respite this summer, but freezing temperatures began to keep the customers away — and Olsen had to consider whether or not he should shut the doors for good.
“After Thanksgiving, the business just fell off a cliff. It just stopped,” said Olsen, who opened the café when he was only 24 years old.
“You’re bringing in $300 a day… It’s a big hit. I was completely sweating it,” said Olsen, who couldn’t fall asleep until 8 a.m. some days. “I didn’t know which fork in the road we were going to go down.”
Olsen said West Bank still has a ways to go — but the money pouring in will help keep the cafe afloat until its next opening night.
“You get so caught up in trying to just keep your head above water, you forget why people like the place,” he said. “We’re not out of the woods, but this has been completely up lifting. "
