Max's Kansas City by Steina
from Pre-Kitchen recollections
Mickey Ruskin's Max's Kansas City steak house was close to where
we lived. It was run by Mickey Ruskin, who extended credits to his
customers. This was before credit cards, and he sent us the bill
once a month. We heard later that Andy Warhol had had to suspend
the credit privileges when his entourage ran up a bill of ten thousand
dollars. But we were on good terms with Mickey, and I asked him
once if we could show in the upstairs room. We had bought some b/w
Setchel Carlson monitors from him, and he had some more from a project
of John Chamberlain that he had sponsored. The terms he suggested
was 1/2 the gate if we charged, otherwise free. We had three nights
of packed house. We charged, but when it came to paying, Mickey
would not hear of it. A friend of ours, Andy Mannik, who had attended
all three evenings, suggested we start our own theater. He showed
us a great place in a dilapidated building on Mercer Street and
we were sold. Problem was, everybody told us, this part of town
was a wasteland, nobody would ever show up. Even the names NoHo/SoHo
were unknown then. Woody named the place after its previous function,
"The Kitchen." We had to clean out ancient wooden iceboxes and utensils
from this former bar mitzvah-type reception place at the old Broadway
Central Hotel.
