Ciro's (London) Explained

Ciro's, often written Ciros, was an exclusive nightclub in Orange Street, Leicester Square, London, "just behind the National Gallery".[1] It was famously closed during WWI for serving alcohol illegally. A fashionable club of the same name later opened[2] at the same location.[3]

Club and restaurant chain

The Ciro’s restaurant chain had branches in Monte Carlo, Paris,[4] London and Biarritz.[5]

In 1897, Ciro, an Italian-born Egyptian headwaiter, in Monte Carlo, opened his first restaurant within the fashionable narrow radius of a hundred yards around the square, fronting the casino, on the Galerie Charles III, next to his former place of employment.

The name Ciro's comes from Italian-born Egyptian Ciro Capozzi who founded the first Ciro's bar in Monaco around 1892,[6] next to the café Riche in the newly built Galerie Charles III. According to the story of James Gordon Bennett Jr., having a difference about a table on the terrasse, he bought the café Riche and gave it to Ciro who named it the Ciro's.[7] In 1911, Ciro Capozzi sold the name to an English consortium (including William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett as main investor,[8] and Clément Hobson[9]) who open the Deauville Ciro's (still existing as a restaurant belonging to the Groupe Lucien Barrière), the Paris Ciro's in 1912,[10] [11] and the London one in 1915. Ciro's became a European high society restaurant chain with branches in Monte Carlo,[12] Paris, London[13] (where Audrey Hepburn danced before her film career[14]), and Deauville. Bartender Harry MacElhone, famous for Harry's New York Bar, first worked at Ciro's in London after World War I.[15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23]

In 1911, Ciro sold to an English Syndicate headed by Lord Poulett and Clement Hobson with M.Rizzi as general manager.[24] [25]

"Ciro's was a hip London establishment (before another popular one opened up in Los Angeles in 1940), that had as their bartender Harry McElhone (author of ABC of Cocktails), at which Jimmy took over when Harry went off to Paris. ..." (Ross Bolton)[26]

"Louis Adlon, grandson of the proprietor of Berlin’s Hotel Adlon opened Hollywood’s first iteration of Ciro’s in 1934[27] [28] (with Erich Alexander[29] and George Sorel[30]) Located on Hollywood Boulevard, the club was informally part of a chain with locations in London, Paris and Berlin. The Hollywood Ciro’s was not a success, apparently, because it soon folded."[31]

London

In May 1915, Ciro’s London branch opened, as a private club, in Orange Street, near the back of the National Gallery.[32]

The producer Jack Haskell staged a cabaret there around 1917, and said that an evening's entertainment at Ciro's would cost at least £10/10.[33]

The club came to public attention in 1916 when it lost its licence after a police raid at 11pm on Sunday 19 November 1916. It was proved they were serving jugs of champagne (sold as "special ginger beer") after hours, and to non-members.[34] This was in the depths of the War, when butter was rationed and petrol unobtainable. A workers' newspaper commented:

... if that's the way to win the war, and denotes a burning enthusiasm, the Tory press is right; Australia hasn't been doing her best, for she has scarcely got past beer by the jugful.[35]
The two managers were each fined £125 and three directors were fined £25 each, with costs.[36]

By 1921 a club of that name had opened in London, and was frequented by the fashionable and well-to-do.[37]

Chicago

Related but not owned by: Ciro's Grill Franco-American, 18 W. Walton Place, Chicago, IL.[38] [39]

References

51.51°N -0.13°W

Notes and References

  1. News: Champagne in Jugs . . 787 . New South Wales, Australia . 13 January 1917 . 8 June 2022 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  2. News: W.A. Newspapers v. Railways . . XLIX . 17,332 . Western Australia . 22 November 1930 . 8 June 2022 . 8 . National Library of Australia.
  3. News: From London Town . . 16111 . Queensland, Australia . 19 July 1924 . 8 June 2022 . 13 . National Library of Australia.
  4. Web site: Ciro, Paris 1928 Menu Art . 2024-02-21 . Vintage Menu Art . en.
  5. Web site: 2010-02-17 . The Classy Ciro's Restaurant Chain . 2024-02-21 . Jazz Age Club . en-US.
  6. Web site: M. Ciro, Italian born Egyptian founder of Ciro's restaurant in Monte Carlo, pictured on the French Riviera in 1909. He sold the restaurant in 1911 to an English syndicate which included the Earl of Rosslyn and Clement Hobson. Other branches were opened in London, Paris and Biarritz . alamy.com . 20 July 2023 . en . 1909.
  7. Web site: Ciro, Paris 1923 Menu Art . Vintage Menu Art . 20 July 2023 . en.
  8. Web site: Journal de Monaco. Journaldemonaco.gouv.mc. 3–6.
  10. Web site: The interior of Ciro's restaurant, Rue Daunou, Paris . agefotostock . 20 July 2023 . en.
  11. Web site: The Classy Ciro's Restaurant Chain . Jazz Age Club . 20 July 2023 . 17 February 2010.
  12. Web site: Sem on the Riviera - the famous caricaturist's very latest impressions. A page of caricatures by Sem (Georges Goursat) taken on the French Riviera. Clockwise from top left, Lord Howard de Walden, Mr Gordon Bennett, the millionaire newspaper proprietor at Ciro's, Monte Carlo, Lord Wandsworth, Lord Savile, Lord Westbury, all at the Hotel de Paris, Monte Carlo, M. Santos Dumont, M. Henri Rochefort and the Duc de Dino all at the Hotel Metropole, Monte Carlo and the Grand Duke Michael of Russia . alamy.com . 20 July 2023 . en . 1913.
  14. https://variety.com/2020/film/news/audrey-hepburn-roman-holiday-dancer-1234803174/ "Audrey Hepburn: 'Roman Holiday' Star Started as Nightclub Dancer,"
  15. Web site: Andrew MacElhone Dies. New York Daily News. 20 September 1996.
  16. Web site: Ciro's Club. British. Pathé. Britishpathe.com.
  17. Web site: Ciro's (1953). https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/lS_eUUe6TQw . 2021-12-21 . live. British Pathé. 13 April 2014. YouTube.
  18. Web site: A Night At Ciro's (1932). Aaron1912. 20 September 2010. YouTube.
  19. Book: Williams. Olivia. Gin Glorious Gin:How Mother's Ruin Became the Spirit of London. 2014. Headline Publishing Group. London. 978-1-4722-1534-5.
  20. Book: Hindson, Catherine. London's West End Actresses and the Origins of Celebrity Charity, 1880-1920. 1 June 2016. University of Iowa Press. 198. 9781609384258. Google Books .
  21. Web site: Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra . Redhotjazz.com.
  22. Web site: Audrey Hepburn exhibition staged at National Portrait Gallery. 3 December 2014. Independent.co.uk.
  23. Web site: The Coming of Ciro's to London - THE INTERACTIVE WAR NEWS. Illustratedfirstworldwar.com.
  24. https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-classy-ciros-restaurant-chain/370/
  25. News: 1911-03-28 . Ciro's Monte Carlo Restaurant Sold. . 2024-02-21 . The New York Times . en-US . 0362-4331.
  26. Book: "JIMMY" LATE OF CIRO'S LONDON . Cocktails . 1930 . David McKay . Philadelphia . 7 August 2020.
  27. Web site: Hollywood Filmograph . 1934 . Hollywood Filmograph . Feb. 17, 1934 ... Ciro's (formerly the Club New Yorker) threw its doors open Wednesday night to the public. It was one of the swellest turn-outs we have seen in some time. Harold Lloyd dropped in with his wife, Mildred, and ... Mrs. Buckley's party. Mario Alverez's orchestra furnished the music. The place is being operated by Erich Alexander, George Sorel and Louis Adlon, Jr. .
  28. Web site: VM-175B . Historic Films . en . HOLLYWOOD 1935 - 03:11:50 - Montage, Hollywood Landmarks: Ciro's, Earl Carrol Theater, Cocoanut Grove..
  29. Web site: Erich-Alexander Winds. IMDb.com. 24 October 2018.
  30. Web site: George Sorel. IMDb.com. 24 October 2018.
  31. Web site: 1940: Ciro's Opens. Playgroundtothestars.com.
  32. https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-classy-ciros-restaurant-chain/370/
  33. News: The Bing Boys Are Here . . 1663 . New South Wales, Australia . 2 December 1917 . 8 June 2022 . 17 . National Library of Australia.
  34. News: London Night Club . . 13,732 . Queensland, Australia . 25 November 1916 . 8 June 2022 . 6 . National Library of Australia.
  35. News: Topical Talk . . 25 . 50 . New South Wales, Australia . 14 December 1916 . 8 June 2022 . 12 . National Library of Australia.
  36. News: Night Club Struck Off Register . . 19,268 . Victoria, Australia . 22 December 1916 . 8 June 2022 . 7 . National Library of Australia.
  37. News: Plays & Players . . 2,684 . Victoria, Australia . 15 January 1921 . 8 June 2022 . 35 . National Library of Australia.
  38. http://www.archive.org/details/dininginchicago00drur Drury, John. Dining in Chicago, New York: The John Day Company, 1931, pp. 90-92
  39. https://www.chicagoancestors.org/place/ciros-grill

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