Storied Midtown Nightclub Copacabana Closes After an 80-Year Run

Iconic Midtown nightclub, the Copacabana — where musicians like Harry Belafonte, the Supremes, and Carmen Miranda performed during its 80-year run — has permanently closed, the New York Post reports.

“We closed due to COVID,” a staffer who answered the nightclub’s phone Tuesday morning informed Eater. “We just couldn’t stay open because of what’s happening now.” The same staffer says the club will reopen in a different location next year, but declined to say where.

The Copacabana opened in 1940 on East 60th Street, between Fifth and Madison Avenues, and has changed venues four times since. It opened in its current location, at the corner of Eighth Avenue and West 47th Street, in the summer of 2011.

The club was popularized by the 1947 film Copacabana starring Groucho Marx and Miranda, and was also subsequently the subject of the hit Barry Manilow song by the same name. Over the years, the club has served as a setting for several notable films including Goodfellas, Raging Bull, and Tootsie.

It also saw several top musicians headline including Sammy Davis Jr.; comedic duo Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis also frequently performed there. The club didn’t attract as much star power in its latter years, but its continued presence in Midtown was a constant reminder of its storied past.

The club is now the latest NYC venue to close due to the ongoing novel coronavirus pandemic. Dozens of restaurants and bars across the city have permanently shuttered over the past few weeks and months due to the precipitous drop in sales and customers.

• Copacabana is gone after 80 years [NYP]