- published: 23 Jun 2014
- views: 1949
Coordinates: 40°46′20″N 73°58′40″W / 40.7723°N 73.9778°W / 40.7723; -73.9778
Tavern on the Green was a privately owned American cuisine restaurant located in Central Park on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, in New York City. It remained in operation from 1934 to 2009 under various owners. As of October 15, 2010, the building is a public visitors center and gift shop run by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, retaining the name Tavern on the Green.
The restaurant in 2007 had gross revenues of $38 million, from more than 500,000 visitors, making it the second-highest-grossing independently owned restaurant in the United States (behind The Venetian's Tao restaurant in Las Vegas, at $67 million). Of the several dining rooms, the most famous was the Crystal Room, which features windows overlooking the restaurant's adjacent garden in Central Park.
The restaurant was located in New York City's Central Park off Central Park West at West 67th Street on Manhattan's Upper West Side. It was originally the sheepfold that housed the sheep that grazed Sheep Meadow, built to a design by Calvert Vaux in 1870. It became a restaurant as part of a 1934 renovation of the park under Robert Moses, New York City's Commissioner of Parks.
"The Man" is a slang phrase that may refer to the government or to some other authority in a position of power. In addition to this derogatory connotation, it may also serve as a term of respect and praise.
The phrase "the Man is keeping me down" is commonly used to describe oppression. The phrase "stick it to the Man" encourages resistance to authority, and essentially means "fight back" or "resist", either openly or via sabotage.
The earliest recorded use[citation needed] of the term "the Man" in the American sense dates back to a letter written by a young Alexander Hamilton in September 1772, when he was 15. In a letter to his father James Hamilton, published in the Royal Dutch-American Gazette, he described the response of the Dutch governor of St. Croix to a hurricane that raked that island on August 31, 1772. "Our General has issued several very salutary and humane regulations and both in his publick and private measures, has shewn himself the Man." [dubious – discuss] In the Southern U.S. states, the phrase came to be applied to any man or any group in a position of authority, or to authority in the abstract. From about the 1950s the phrase was also an underworld code word for police, the warden of a prison or other law enforcement or penal authorities.