‘Golden Girls’ fans get their Disney World at new café
NEW YORK — Elvis Presley enthusiasts have Graceland. “Cheers” devotees have an aptly named pub in Boston.
Now fans of “The Golden Girls” have a place to call their own with the opening of Rue La Rue Café.
Located in New York City, the café opened in February and pays homage to the hit 1980s sitcom and one of its stars — Rue McClanahan, the late actress who starred as Blanche Devereaux. Since its soft opening, the café has seen a steady flow of customers, often with a line stretching out the door.
The show, which ran from 1985 to 1992 on NBC, featured four older women living together in Miami: McClanahan as a man-hungry Southern belle; Betty White as the lovable, naive Rose Nylund; Bea Arthur as sharp-witted and sharp-tongued Dorothy Zbornak; Estelle Getty as sarcastic, wise Sophia Petrillo.
H. Allen Scott, who co-hosts the “Golden Girls” podcast, “Out on the Lanai,” said the series still resonates with viewers — old and young alike — because of a key ingredient.
“I think ‘Golden Girls’ is timeless because of the writing,” Scott, 34, said. “They’re actually being more honest and truthful than a lot of women on TV today because there’s rules about what women can do, what women can say on TV, and what roles women can play on TV. And ‘Golden Girls’ somehow found a moment in time where they were able to get around that and be bigger than that.”
McClanahan’s belongings, along with items from the show’s set, are on display throughout Rue La Rue Café — offering a museum-like experience for diners.
Stroll through the small space and see the familiar yellow kitchen telephone, the high heels that Blanche wore on the pilot episode, the iconic banana-leaf Martinique wallpaper from Blanche’s bedroom, the scripts with McClanahan’s notes and drawings, the behind-the-scenes photos, letters, dresses and gowns, a playbill from her stint as Madame Morrible in Broadway’s “Wicked,” and much more.
SLIDESHOW: Go inside Rue La Rue Café
McClanahan’s 1987 Emmy Award for her performance on the show is displayed near a large television that shows re-runs of the series.
Photos of her six husbands line a wall near the mint-and-pink-tiled bathroom.
An area of the café is also dedicated to White, 95, the last living cast member and a close friend of McClanahan’s. In an email to Yahoo News, the beloved actress’s publicist said she will not be able to make it to the café “in the near future due to her schedule.”
So how did the café get all these prized possessions?
Michael LaRue, a longtime friend of McClanahan’s, is the executor of her estate, and now co-owns the café with her son, Mark Bish. “This has given her eternal life,” LaRue recently told CNN. “She was a loving, kind, generous person, and I’m really honored to be able to do this little bit to keep her legacy alive.”
The café’s menu features episode-related dishes, such as Sophia’s 16-hour lasagna al forno, Genügenflürgen cake, Rusty Anchor clam chowder, and Stan the Putz turkey club, as well as recipes shared by the cast, including McClanahan’s poppy seed cake, Getty’s macaroni tuna salad, Arthur’s pasta salad, and White’s angel food cake.
And, of course, there’s cheesecake — a dessert the girls cherished.
For those seeking a caffeine jolt, there are four signature coffee blends: Blanche’s Gentlemen Caller’s Beans, Dorothy’s No-Nonsense Roast, Rose’s St. Olaf Blend, and Sophia’s “Picture It” Sicilian Roast.
“The cheesecake was phenomenal and the Sophia dark roast coffee was definitely good,” said Mike Denison, 38, an artist who specializes in “Golden Girls” designs. He traveled from Boston to visit the café.
“This is like my Disney World in a way … kind of like a Hard Rock Cafe, if you will, for ‘Golden Girls’ fans,” he said.
Lauren Milberger, an actress from New Jersey, echoed that thought.
“I hate to say this, but it reminds me a little bit of Planet Hollywood, you know, where you can go and have a really good piece of cake, and then afterwards you walk around and look at all the really cool stuff,” she said.
Scott, who traveled from Los Angeles to record an episode of his podcast on location at the café, said the trip was like a “spiritual calling.”
“It’s kind of like Jews going back to Israel, but for Golden Girls fans,” he added.
Scott is such a fan that he even got a tattoo of the girls on his arm — and even got the chance to show it off to Betty White during her “Jimmy Kimmel Live” segment.
And with all seven seasons of the show now streaming on Hulu, a whole new generation can watch.
“I want to binge-watch it and finally see it in order,” said Whitney Matthews of Brooklyn. “It’s just one of those shows that when it’s on I always watch it because it makes you laugh.”
For Matthews, 30, visiting the café with friend CeCe Cordero, 31, was a great bonding experience.
“It’s like a thing you do with your girlfriends for sure — that’s why we’re here,” Matthews, sporting a “Golden Girls” T-shirt, said. “To me, it’s [the show] all about female friendship. Period. Just seeing those ladies interact … it was kind of real life.”
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