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Save Russian Samovar restaurant!

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It is hard to believe that this year will mark 35 years for Russian Samovar restaurant. During the pandemic, we have lost so many New York institutions, landmark restaurants, and we need your help not to follow in their path. 

Shutdowns of 2020 are forcing us to reach out to our friends and neighbors or just people that always wanted to visit and enjoy the true Russian spirit. 

The legendary Russian Samovar needs your help to survive. Like so many businesses in New York City, the historic and beloved, Russian Samovar is in grave danger if we don't come together as a community and raise the necessary funds. 

With your help, we can bring back all of our beloved staff and musicians, pay our landlord, taxes and utilities, and continue providing you with the same Russian experience that only we know how.

Just one year ago our restaurant was full of happy customers. We had 34 people employed and our musicians made sure that every guest is very well entertained. 

Today, our landlord demands close to half a million dollars in rent and our bills keep piling up. We simply can't pay our rent and rehire our staff.

Today - Broadway shows are closed, hundreds of hotels went out of business, and tourists can't travel because of the restrictions. Theater crowds that are essential for our business are not coming back anytime soon. 

Russian Samovar is not just a restaurant in the theater district, it's part of New York history.
Originally Jilly’s Canteen, it was a popular celebrity hangout in the 1960s, owned by a friend of Frank Sinatra, Jilly Rizzo.
Jilly’s was the go-to spot for Sinatra and the Rat Pack. We preserved the original bar and some of the furniture and artworks.
In 1986, restaurant founder, Roman Kaplan, acquired the property and opened Russian Samovar with his friends and business partners, legendary ballet dancer: Mikhail Baryshnikov and Nobel Peace Prize Award winning poet: Joseph Brodsky
Baryshnikov's baby grand piano is still used daily by our performers and guests can still request the Brodsky table, where the legends used to sit and drink away the hours. World renowned musicians would come here after their Lincoln Center or Carnegie Hall stage performances.  Guests of private events also enjoy our private dining room, where romantic scene with Baryshnikov and Sarah Jessica Parker in “Sex and the City” was filmed.

A piece of New York history is in danger of disappearing!

Please help the only true Russian restaurant in NYC survive this crisis.

Sincerely yours

Russian Samovar
+1(212)7570168
256 W 52nd St, New York, NY 10019

https://www.russiansamovar.com/
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Donations 

  • Alla Ignachtchenkova
    • $30 
    • 2 yrs
  • Maria Voskresenskaya
    • $7 
    • 3 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $100 
    • 3 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $25 
    • 3 yrs
  • Charlotte Angel
    • $100 
    • 3 yrs
Donate

Organizer

Vlada Von Shats
Organizer
New York, NY

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