ELAINE'S - AN OLDTIME NYC HANGOUT/LANDMARK - TO CLOSE NEXT MONTH!?!?

AS WE POSTED A FEW MONTHS AGO: ELAINE DIED A FEW MONTHS BACK. AND NOW HER EPONYMOUS BAR IS GONNA SHUTDOWN:

New York is losing one of its most-cherished landmarks.

Nearly six months after the death of feisty restaurateur Elaine Kaufman, her eponymously named Upper East Side restaurant will close its doors forever on May 26, the eatery's manager said today.

“This is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make, but the truth is, there is no Elaine's without Elaine,” said Diane Becker, Elaine’s longtime manager who inherited the restaurant last year.

Kaufman died at age 81 on Dec. 3, 2010, following a bout with hypertension and emphysema.

Becker said a memorial service for Kaufman is being planned for next month.

Since 1963, Kaufman had presided over Elaine's, which soon became a welcome home for A-list celebrities, syndicated columnists, artists, cops and up-and-coming talents, especially writers.

... Becker said she was "enormously proud of the waiters, the bartenders and the entire staff who have worked so hard with me to keep the place open and going" since Kaufman's death.

"The business is just not there without Elaine," she said.

SOME BIGTIME NYC CELEB NEEDS TO STEP IN AND BUY THIS JOINT AND KEEP IT OPEN.

MAYBE GRAYDON CARTER OR DAVE REMNICK OR TINA BROWN AND HER HUBBY OR ALEC BALDWIN COULD BUY IT, OR SOME OTHER NYC CELEB - LIKE MORT ZUKERMAN OR... BATALI OR???

TRUMP?!?!

ANY IDEAS?