Ciro's (London)

The Ciro’s restaurant chain had branches in Monte Carlo, Paris,{{Cite web |title=Ciro, Paris 1928 Menu Art |url=https://vintagemenuart.com/products/ciro-paris-1928 |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=Vintage Menu Art |language=en}} London and Biarritz.{{Cite web |date=2010-02-17 |title=The Classy Ciro's Restaurant Chain |url=https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-classy-ciros-restaurant-chain/370/ |access-date=2024-02-21 |website=Jazz Age Club |language=en-US}}

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,{{cite web |title=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 |url=https://www.alamy.com/m-ciro-italian-born-egyptian-founder-of-ciros-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-date-1909-image501459070.html |website=alamy.com |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en |date=1909}} 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.{{cite web |title=Ciro, Paris 1923 Menu Art |url=https://vintagemenuart.com/products/ciro-paris-1923 |website=Vintage Menu Art |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en}} In 1911, Ciro Capozzi sold the name to an English consortium (including William Poulett, 7th Earl Poulett as main investor,{{cite web|url=https://journaldemonaco.gouv.mc/var/jdm/storage/original/application/16ba68def9f386585f74265da819e370.pdf |title=Journal de Monaco|website=Journaldemonaco.gouv.mc|pages=3–6}} and Clément Hobson

• {{cite web |title=Clement Hobson, co-owner of the smart restaurant chain Ciro's, in Paris, Deauville, Monte Carlo and London. Also Chairman of the London Opera House. Hobson suffered with blindness in one eye and poor vision in the other - evidenced by the monocle he wears |url=https://www.alamy.com/501459015.html |website=alamy.com |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en |date=1913}}
• {{cite web |title=Clement Hobson - Archives |url=https://www.jazzageclub.com/tag/clement-hobson/ |website=Jazz Age Club |access-date=20 July 2023 |date=14 January 2022}}

) who open the Deauville Ciro's (still existing as a restaurant belonging to the Groupe Lucien Barrière), the Paris Ciro's in 1912,{{cite web |title=The interior of Ciro's restaurant, Rue Daunou, Paris |url=https://www.agefotostock.com/age/en/details-photo/the-interior-of-ciro-s-restaurant-rue-daunou-paris/MEV-10529167 |website=agefotostock |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en}}{{cite web |title=The Classy Ciro's Restaurant Chain |url=https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-classy-ciros-restaurant-chain/370/ |website=Jazz Age Club |access-date=20 July 2023 |date=17 February 2010}} and the London one in 1915. Ciro's became a European high society restaurant chain with branches in Monte Carlo,{{cite web |title=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 |url=https://www.alamy.com/501459083.html |website=alamy.com |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en |date=1913}} Paris, London

• {{cite web |title=Ciros Club , the well known London restaurant , has been reopened after extensive alterations to the building . One of its new features is a fishing pond in which customers can catch their own trout , see it killed and prepared by the chef for the table|url=https://www.alamy.com/355273854.html |website=alamy.com |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en |date=2 May 1932}}
• {{cite web |title=Jannette, daughter of poet and author Walter de la Mare, dancing at Ciro's Club, London |url=https://www.alamy.com/jannette-daughter-of-poet-and-author-walter-de-la-mare-dancing-at-ciros-club-london-1928-image501464669.html |website=alamy.com |access-date=20 July 2023 |language=en |date=1928}}

(where Audrey Hepburn danced before her film career[https://variety.com/2020/film/news/audrey-hepburn-roman-holiday-dancer-1234803174/ "Audrey Hepburn: 'Roman Holiday' Star Started as Nightclub Dancer,"] December 16, 2020, Variety (recapping July 5, 1950 Variety review of her dance show), retrieved February 5, 2022), and Deauville. Bartender Harry MacElhone, famous for Harry's New York Bar, first worked at Ciro's in London after World War I.{{cite web|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/andrew-macelhone-dies-article-1.746494|title=Andrew MacElhone Dies|work=New York Daily News|date=20 September 1996}}{{cite web|url=https://www.britishpathe.com/video/ciros-club|title=Ciro's Club|first=British|last=Pathé|website=Britishpathe.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS_eUUe6TQw |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/lS_eUUe6TQw |archive-date=2021-12-21 |url-status=live|title=Ciro's (1953)|last=British Pathé|date=13 April 2014|publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SI6hxcOCW8|title=A Night At Ciro's (1932)|last=Aaron1912|date=20 September 2010|publisher=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}{{cite book|last1=Williams|first1=Olivia|title=Gin Glorious Gin:How Mother's Ruin Became the Spirit of London|date=2014|publisher=Headline Publishing Group|location=London|isbn=978-1-4722-1534-5}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gu5lDAAAQBAJ&q=ciro's&pg=PA198|title=London's West End Actresses and the Origins of Celebrity Charity, 1880-1920|first=Catherine|last=Hindson|date=1 June 2016|publisher=University of Iowa Press|page=198|isbn=9781609384258|via=Google Books }}{{cite web|url=http://www.redhotjazz.com/clubcoon.html|title=Ciro's Club Coon Orchestra |website=Redhotjazz.com}}{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/photography/audrey-hepburn-exhibition-staged-on-site-of-night-club-where-she-got-her-big-break-9900508.html|title=Audrey Hepburn exhibition staged at National Portrait Gallery|date=3 December 2014|website=Independent.co.uk}}{{cite web|url=https://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/item/the-coming-of-ciros-to-london-bpc000002_19150310_01_0028/|title=The Coming of Ciro's to London - THE INTERACTIVE WAR NEWS|website=Illustratedfirstworldwar.com}}

In 1911, Ciro sold to an English Syndicate headed by Lord Poulett and Clement Hobson with M.Rizzi as general manager.https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-classy-ciros-restaurant-chain/370/{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=1911-03-28 |title=Ciro's Monte Carlo Restaurant Sold. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1911/03/28/archives/ciros-monte-carlo-restaurant-sold.html |access-date=2024-02-21 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

"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){{cite book |last1="JIMMY" LATE OF CIRO'S LONDON |title=Cocktails |date=1930 |publisher=David McKay |location=Philadelphia |url=https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/late-of-ciro-s-london-jimmy/cocktails/103665.aspx |access-date=7 August 2020}}

"Louis Adlon, grandson of the proprietor of Berlin’s Hotel Adlon opened Hollywood’s first iteration of Ciro’s in 1934 {{cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/hollywoodfilmogr14holl |title=Hollywood Filmograph |year=1934 |publisher=Hollywood Filmograph |quote=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. }} {{cite web |title=VM-175B |url=https://www.historicfilms.com/tapes/273 |website=Historic Films |language=en |quote=HOLLYWOOD 1935 - 03:11:50 - Montage, Hollywood Landmarks: Ciro's, Earl Carrol Theater, Cocoanut Grove.}} (with Erich Alexander{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1356950/|title=Erich-Alexander Winds|website=IMDb.com|access-date=24 October 2018}} and George Sorel{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0814796/|title=George Sorel|website=IMDb.com|access-date=24 October 2018}}) 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."{{cite web|url=http://www.playgroundtothestars.com/timeline/1940-ciros-opens/|title=1940: Ciro's Opens|website=Playgroundtothestars.com}}

In May 1915, Ciro’s London branch opened, as a private club, in Orange Street, near the back of the National Gallery.https://www.jazzageclub.com/the-classy-ciros-restaurant-chain/370/

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.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article122792759 |title=The Bing Boys Are Here |newspaper=The Sunday Times (Sydney) |issue=1663 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=2 December 1917 |access-date=8 June 2022 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{efn|If Haskell was referring to 1916 prices, £10/10 would be equivalent to around £{{Inflation|UK|10.5|1916|r=-2}} in {{Inflation/year|UK}}.}}

The club came to public attention in 1916 when it lost its licence after a police raid at 11{{nbsp}}pm 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.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article176377693 |title=London Night Club |newspaper=The Telegraph (Brisbane) |issue=13,732 |location=Queensland, Australia |date=25 November 1916 |access-date=8 June 2022 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} 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.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article145767713 |title=Topical Talk |newspaper=The Australian Worker |volume=25 |issue=50 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=14 December 1916 |access-date=8 June 2022 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}

In 1936 two rival bandleaders, Ambrose and Jack Harris (previously of the Embassy Club, Grosvenor House Hotel, Cafe de Paris, London Casino), took a financial stake in the club in an effort to keep it going.[https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Melody-Maker/30s/Melody-Maker-1936-11-28-S-OCR.pdf Melody Maker, Vol XII, No 184, 28 November 1936, front page]

Related but not owned by: Ciro's Grill Franco-American, 18 W. Walton Place, Chicago, IL.[http://www.archive.org/details/dininginchicago00drur Drury, John. Dining in Chicago, New York: The John Day Company, 1931, pp. 90-92]https://www.chicagoancestors.org/place/ciros-grill

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Category:Nightclubs in London