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Everyone
who was anyone was there.
MAX'S KANSAS CITY
was the place to be.
It quickly became the
new drug of the late
sixties and early seventies
counterculture scene,
and its effects were
lasting. The legendary
restaurant/bar opened
its doors December of
1965 at 213 Park Avenue
South between 17th and
18th, off Union Square,
just around the time
popular culture was
poised on the brink
of a remarkable shift.
The name max's
conjures up images of
the chic and outrageous.
Max's
kansas city was the
salon of the psychedelic
era: part living theater,
part Animal House.
A three-ring circus
with a sparkling and
legendary nine-year
run, Max's was the
coveted clubhous of
the 60s "in-crowd."
Mickey
Ruskin (1933-1983),
the impressario behind
max's, created a safe
haven for artists
and writers. There
never was a place
like it, nor will
there ever be again.
For
more info about Mickey
Ruskin and max's kansas
city, read Yvonne
Sewall-Ruskin's book
High
on Rebellion: Inside
the Underground at
Max's Kansas City
(1998). Yvonne-Sewall-Ruskin,
author and found of
the max's
kansas city project,
was once married to
Mickey Ruskin. Together
they shared two children
and the legend that
is max's. Yvonne is
now working on a documentary
film about max's,
Be
Here Now!.
...............................................................
Front
Room: Up front
were the heavies,
the painters and sculptors
who initially colonized
max's, including John
Chamberlain, Willem
de Kooning, Robert
Rauschenberg, Carl
Andre, and Larry Rivers,
as well as the heady
crowd that sparred
with Earthworks artist
Robert Smithson. Works
of art punctuated
the walls, and Forrest
Meyers' laser beam
sculpture, shot through
the front window from
blocks away, skewered
the interior of the
restaurant.
In
the Back
Room Warhol
presided at the famous
Round Table, vastly
different from the
one Dorothy Parker's
crowd had traded jibes
over at the Algonquin,
while superstars,
speed freaks, and
transvestites vied
for attention, drenched
in the blood red of
Dan Flavin's fluorescent
light sculpture. "Showtime"
- Andrea Whips (Andrea
Feldman) singing on
the tabletops - was
a regular, yet spontaneous,
exhibition. The gossip
circulated violently,
but sometimes words
failed. "I met Iggy
Pop at max's kansas
city in 1970 or 1971,"
recalled David Bowie.
"Me, Iggy, and Lou
Reed at one table
with absolutely nothing
to say to each other,
just looking at each
other's eye makeup."
Other than the waitresses,
who are now among
max's greatest chroniclers,
the women were dicey;
some were real and
some were fake, and
sometimes it made
no difference. As
Zsa Zsa Gabor said
of transvestite Candy
Darling, "She was
one of the world's
most beautiful women."
Yet max's really was
a macho scene. Here,
in the back room,
producers recruited
the extras for the
film Midnight Cowboy.
Here, Andy Warhol
met his match in the
butch Valerie Solanis,
who later shot him.
The
Pack: Sandwiched
between front and
back was the pack
-- the regular celebrities
including Mick Jagger,
John Lennon and Yoko
Ono, Bob Dylan, Peter
O'Toole, Jane Fonda
and Roger Vadim, Dennis
Hopper, Berry Berenson,
Bertolluci, and Warren
Beatty; models Verouschka,
Twiggy, Apollonia,
and Andrea Portago;
photographers Toscani,
Chris von Wangenheim,
and Claude Picasso;
politicos such as
future mayor Ed Koch
and Bobby Kennedy;
the fashion crowd,
including Maxime de
la Falaise, Fernando
Sanchez, Halston,
Giorgio di Sant'Angelo,
and Betsey Johnson;
writers Allen Ginsberg
and William Burroughs;
and a host of hangers-on
and wannabes. Here,
Germaine Greer introduced
Jackie Curtis, the
transvestite performer
and playwright, to
Sargent Shriver, and
the likes of Mel Brooks,
Loulou de la Falaise,
and Jean-Paul Belmondo
schmoozed with Michelangelo
Antonioni, Penelope
Tree, Marisa Berenson,
and Marjoe Gortner.
James Rosenquist talked
art with future senator
Jacob Javits, who
was led into the joint
by his wife, Marian.
The art dealer Leo
Castelli was also
taken on occasion.
"max's kansas city?"
he quipped. "No, I
went to max's in New
York. The steak was
terrible."
Upstairs:
Even those exiled
upstairs got a taste
of the scene sooner
or later, thanks to
performances by the
Velvet Underground
with Nico, the New
York Dolls (featuring
David Johansen), and
(then) unknown performers
like Bruce Springsteen
and Billy Joel.
At
max's, pop art slowly
mutated into punk,
which was pop in a
foul mood. From his
position at the front
of the restaurant,
night by night, Mickey
Ruskin witnessed the
transformation. The
patrons did too. "In
the 60s," as Marian
Javits recalls, "the
art world was looser
and more expressive.
Max's was the place
where artists could
be themselves and
exchange ideas. Everyone
was infected by something,
but it wasn't drink.
They were infected
by what was going
on in society. Then
it began to decay."
Ruskin
summed up the change
as the 70s progressed:"My
job is to sort out
the worst of the hangers-on
from the best. That
becomes a very hard
job, and no matter
what you do, it's
still a hanger-on
and not a star. The
stars are gone. "
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