Windows on the World iconic logo

The Windows on the World collection of restaurants and bars – WOW – sitting aloft 107 stories in the sky took a virtual village to create and maintain. Developed under the visionary leadership of restaurateur Joe Baum and his partners, here are a few facts that made “Windows” hum.

• Windows sat 1,314 feet high in the sky; 1,274 feet above mean sea level.
• Over 2,450 food items were ordered every week.
• 2,000 bottles of beer were on hand at any give time in the Greatest Bar on Earth.
• There were over 20,000 bottles of wine in the cellar. (If you laid their corks end to end, the corks would measure 3,333 feet.)
• 700 wines from around the world made it to Windows’ wine list.
• The Greatest Bar on Earth featured 16 different kinds of vodka.
• Over 27,000 bottles of champagne would be sold in one year (imbibed with 51 lbs. of caviar per week!)
• 1,000 calls or more were made to the Reservations office every day.
• There was always a seat in the house — in one of the 2,500 chairs.
• 3,600 eggs were bought every week (that’s a lot of chickens).
• 700 lbs. of shrimp were consumed every week.
• It took a lot of cooks to cook up all of that shrimp and caviar — 52, to be exact.
• A rose by any other name would smell as sweet — 3,000 flowers were ordered every week!
• The dishwashers would clean 3,000 forks a day.
• Windows’ panorama of color included 145 different shades of paint, 19 fabric wall coverings and 11 custom carpets.
• The oldest member of the staff was born in 1921; the youngest in 1978.
• Windows had the Manhattan’s youngest sommelier — 25 years old.
• There were more than 500 people employed at Windows on the World, speaking 25 different languages.
• The beaded glass curtain on the 107th floor contained 430,000 imported glass beads on 1,178 strands of steel cable.
• On a clear day, you could see 90 miles in every direction from the 107th floor.
• In high winds, the tower could sway 11 inches.

View on Manhattan from legendary icon Windows on the World

I can still remember.* In 1976, Gael Greene, then, the Insatiable Restaurant Critic of  NY Magazine, described Windows on the World in its first incarnation, as “the most spectacular restaurant in the world–a place where guests could woo and con each other in tax deductible splendor.”

Windows on the World first opened in 1976, under the direction of restaurant impresario Joe Baum, and in many ways represented New York City’s proud rebirth. “Windows” as it was affectionately called, quickly became New York’s most dazzling and desirable place to be. Simultaneous with its launch was the much-heralded arrival of the Tall Ships in New York harbor, bringing a new spirit of optimism.

Tall Ships passing NY's Twin Towers in 1976, courtesy of Victor Parker Photography

When Joe (and his team) again was invited to remake Windows as that singularly magical dining in the sky experience, he accepted the challenge without hesitation–and with almost total disregard to cost. An official at Port Authority was overheard muttering, “If Joe had an unlimited budget he would find a way to exceed it.” And to no one’s surprise, Joe did.

Joe was fascinated with great urban spaces where people gathered. He viewed them as marketplaces of ideas that served a function similar to the Forum in ancient Rome. From the beginning, his idea was to create Windows on the World as an urban refuge, satisfying the many appetites of body and soul. And he succeeded beyond imagination.

And, my role in all this? Recently I was asked this very question, and I found myself unable to answer simply. In ancient times, I suppose, I would have been considered a scribe. I was Joe’s speechwriter and designated composer of menus, press materials, and scripts for everything from the correct response to a telephone call to the reservations desk, to the required wording for directions to the men’s room.

After one typically infuriating planning meeting in 1995 to discuss the re-opening of Windows in 1996, a meeting where Joe had changed the agenda to his own, he made a list of what needed to be done. The last, the 13th item, is now painful to share.

It read: “Reassure guests there are no mad bombers within 500 square miles.”

* This remembrance is excerpted from Joe Baum: An Exaltation of Larks, published in Gastronomica magazine. For a complete copy of this article, please contact me.

The AARP magazine circulation is 24 million. The emphasis is on older people.  People magazine is 4 million. It is solely devoted to people. Every Day With Rachael Ray has a circulation of 1.7 million. Its content is related to people and food. There are 1.57 million readers for Bon Appétit and  Food Network Magazine 1.37 million.

My conclusion is if you are looking for a wide circulation for your work, write about people and food. 

How to Interview and Profile a Celebrity Chef

Interviewing is a complex skill. Don’t ask questions the answers to which you could have found in advance. Try instead to think of questions no one else has asked. But if you are not certain the information you have is right — ask for confirmation. Facts need to be verified. It is okay to go back and check but not too often (you should have been listening carefully in the first place).

Study the pros to learn how to be a better interviewer. Don’t ask confrontational questions like “Do you think the recently fired chef is a jerk?” Instead ask, “What were your impressions of XXX” or “Many people are saying….” Or “What can you say to people who think…?” or “Do you think it is possible that…?” Like a good waiter, you have to learn when to wait; when the subject of your interview is about to say something else but is hesitating to reveal something important, just wait. The tension of silence may cause him to blurt out something interesting.

Don’t quote anonymous sources. This is the bailiwick of political reporters. If you print false information purposefully or even accidentally, you can be sued. You can also be in serious trouble if you reveal anything that is clearly intended to be off the record, even if the subject of the interview has not specifically said this is privileged information.

Your job is not to provide your opinion or share your experience. The profile is not about you. It is the writer’s job is to present the subject’s story accurately. A playwright puts words in the actors’ mouth. An interview puts another person’s words on the page in the rhythm and cadence in which they have spoken.

If there is a question that may anger the person being interviewed, save it until the last. It’s like nibbling around the edges before taking the last bite. Everyone has an agenda. Determine your own agenda first.

Food Job

A man says he wants to be a writer and loves to be around famous chefs.

As you know, the obituaries of culinary legends are written long before they actually ascend to the great banquet in the sky.

I suggest he can write an obituary column with the title: The Dead Beat.