Jenny's at Jenny's, 2023

Jenny's at Jenny's

New York, Jan-Feb 2023

Sardi’s Restaurant opened on March 5, 1927, on 44th Street. It quickly became a Broadway institution. Vincent Sardi wanted to imitate a jazz-age Parisian nightclub, Zelli's, which covered its walls with caricatures of the artists, musicians, and agents who were its regulars. Sardi’s would make its own composite portrait of New York’s theatre scene.

The first official Sardi’s caricaturist was Alex Gard, a Russian exile. Sardi and Gard signed a contract that provided a meal a day in Sardi's for Alex Gard in return for his caricatures. It was stipulated that Sardi could not complain about the caricatures and Gard could not complain about the food. Gard produced 720 caricatures for the restaurant’s walls by the time he died in 1948, collapsing in the Times Square subway station.

Sardi’s tradition of caricatures continues today, in the same location where it began. Three official caricaturists have succeeded Gard; today, over 1,200 portraits line the restaurant’s walls, with about 20 added each year. Most of them are of actors.

WALL 1, left to right:

1st row - Seth Price, Dese Escobar, Ada O'Higgins, Alex Mackin Dolan, Anna-Sophie Berger, Teak Ramos, Wade Guyton, Anna Rubin, Thea Westreich Wagner, Jay Sanders.

2nd Row - Willard Klein, Milo Conroy, Yasmin Kaytmaz, Bobby from Clandestino, Jeff Joyal, Bradley Kronz, Marc Kokopeli, Nick Irvin, Tony Chrenka.

3rd Row - Marie Angeletti, Meetka Otto, Eric Farber, Gobby, Whitney Caflin, Matthew Langan-Peck, Adam Martin, Chicken, Ben Morgan-Cleveland.

Wall 2, left to right:

1st row - Alex Shulan, Aria Dean, Keith McNally, Stephanie LaCava, Natasha Stagg, Zac Bahaj, Dasha Nekrasova, Anna Khachiyan, Fernando Mesta, Maggie Lee, Jenny Borland, Emily Sundblad, Mathew Sova, Bernadette Van-Huy.

2nd row - Jordan Barse, Matthew Linde, Hiji Nam, Jordan Wolfson, Dean Kissick, Eleanor Cayre, Jamian Juliano-Villani, SoiL Thornton, Heji Shin, Mathieu Malouf, John Kelsey, Carissa Rodriguez, Michael Sanchez, Sean Tatol.

3rd row - Rob McKenzie, Elise Duryee-Browner, Eric Wrenn, Marysia Paruzel, Damon Sfetsios, Josef Strau, Nicolas Ceccaldi, Patia Borja, Julien Ceccaldi, Ser Serpas, Michael Krebber, Jose Rojas, Nate Boyce, Robert Snowden.