The Forgotten NYC Italian Restaurant Marilyn Monroe Once Loved

A favorite of the Hollywood icon, Marilyn Monroe, Gino of Capri once sat at 780 Lexington Avenue in New York. With its bright red, zebra-emblazoned wallpaper, white tablecloths, and authentic Italian dishes, Gino's, as it was affectionately known, closed on May 29, 2010. Yet, when the blonde bombshell resided in New York in the 1950s, she could be seen dining at Gino's, either alone or with her second husband, baseball great Joe DiMaggio. Monroe was a diehard Gino's fan and would later take her third husband, playwright Arthur Miller, to the same spot.

The Italian restaurant took its name from founder Gino A. Circiello. Though Gino's was sold to employees Michael Miele, Sal Doria, and Mario Laviano in 1980, things remained largely unchanged from when Monroe frequented it. Zagat surveys from the early 2000s claimed that the restaurant was stuck in the 1940s, and that the menu remained unaltered for decades. The "Seven Year Itch" star wasn't the only fan of Gino's. It was also one of the Italian restaurants crooner Frank Sinatra would visit, along with Tony Bennett and Ed Sullivan. Sinatra was a close friend of Monroe's, and he may have introduced her to Gino's during one of her many visits to New York. Though we don't know what specific dishes she enjoyed, we can surmise based on Monroe's favorite foods that she might have taken to the restaurant's famous spaghetti with red sauce or the veal piccata, as she was quite the carnivore.

Gino of Capri opened in 1945 and was declared an "Italian warhorse" in a 2009 Zagat restaurant guide (via New York Times). Though Gino's is closed, its Yelp page is still up, and it has a 4-star rating. Patrons report that the restaurant's famous red sauce tasted like it "came out of an Italian kitchen." As far as its atmosphere, diners claimed it was a "gentle reminder of a simpler, more innocent time." Yet if there's one thing that's a constant, it's change.

Gino's faced many setbacks in 2001. Its founder passed away that year, and the restaurant lost a lot of business after the 9/11 attacks. The Great Recession in 2008 hit the Italian eatery hard, and by 2009, Gino's faced more than its fair share of battles, including a rent increase of $8,000 a month. Eventually, Gino of Capri shuttered its doors and was replaced by a Sprinkles cupcake shop (which is also now closed). Yet, the memories remain. Gino's is still talked about for its legacy and the celebrities who dined on traditional Italian food with regular New Yorkers. Famed New York Times writer Gay Talese, a longtime Gino's regular, claimed the restaurant was a place for "ordinary people and extraordinary people, neither knowing who's who."