Elaine Lillian Romagnoli (April 22, 1942 – October 28, 2021) was an American businesswoman and community leader. She founded and ran successful restaurants and

lesbian bar A lesbian bar (sometimes called a "women's bar") is a drinking establishment that caters exclusively or predominantly to lesbian women. While often conflated, the lesbian bar has a history distinct from that of the gay bar. Significance Lesb ...

s, including Bonnie & Clyde's, The Cubby Hole, and Crazy Nanny's in New York City.

Early life

Romagnoli was born in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from por ...

, the daughter of August (Gus) Romagnoli and Claire Ines Fiorina Romagnoli, and raised in nearby Palisades Park.

Career

Romagnoli became a well-known figure in New York's

West Village The West Village is a neighborhood in the western section of the larger Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City. The traditional boundaries of the West Village are the Hudson River to the west, 14th Street (Manhattan ...

neighborhood in 1972 as hostess of Bonnie & Clyde's, a lesbian bar owned by Louis Corso; she welcomed a celebrity clientele including

Gloria Steinem Gloria Marie Steinem (; born March 25, 1934) is an American journalist and social-political activist who emerged as a nationally recognized leader of second-wave feminism Second-wave feminism was a period of feminist activity that began in ...

and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono ( ; ja, 小野洋子, Ono Yōko, usually spelled in katakana ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up i ...

, and held fundraisers and other community events. After Bonnie & Clyde's closed, she opened the Cubby Hole in 1983;

Stormé DeLarverie Stormé DeLarverie (December 24, 1920 – May 24, 2014) was an American woman known as the butch lesbian whose scuffle with police was, according to Stormé and many eyewitnesses, the spark that ignited the Stonewall uprising, spurring the cro ...

was the Cubby Hole's bouncer for a time. She also ran a restaurant, Bonnie's by the Bay, in New Suffolk, and a

tapas A tapa () is an appetizer or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as ''chopitos'', which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas). In some ...

bar called Sunset Strip. In 1991, all of her 1980s businesses had ended, and she opened another bar, Crazy Nanny's. She sold Crazy Nanny's in 2004, just before she retired. Romagnoli was active in the North Fork Women for Women Fund on the East End of Long Island, NY; during her term as its president in 2000, the organization held North Fork's first Gay Pride Dance at a vineyard, Castello de Borghese.

Personal life

Romagnoli died in 2021, aged 79 years, at her home in New York City. Her memorial service was held at the

Stonewall Inn The Stonewall Inn, often shortened to Stonewall, is a gay bar and recreational tavern in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Lower Manhattan, New York City, and the site of the Stonewall riots of 1969, which is widely considered to be the s ...

References

External links

* Gwendolyn Stegall, ''A Spatial History of Lesbian Bars in New York City'' (master's thesis, Columbia University, May 2019). {{DEFAULTSORT:Romagnoli, Elaine 1942 births 2021 deaths 20th-century American businesswomen Businesspeople from Englewood, New Jersey People from Palisades Park, New Jersey American people of Italian descent 21st-century American businesswomen 20th-century American businesspeople 21st-century American businesspeople