Dining “among the rooftops” of New York in 1905

Dîner sur le Toit, Gouache on board.
"Spending a warm evening in a New York rooftop bar or restaurant is one of the city’s sublime summertime pleasures. New Yorkers in the Gilded Age thought so as well. After the first roof garden opened on top of the Casino Theater at Broadway and 39th Street in the 1880s, other theaters and hotels opened entertainment venues on their roofs, offering cool breezes and panoramic views illuminated by the city’s new electric lights. 'A number of hotels, including the Waldorf-Astoria, the Vendome, Hotel Belleclaire, the Majestic, and the Women’s Hotel, all have charming roof-gardens,' states a 1904 article in Leslie’s illustrated magazine. French artist Charles Hoffbauer was captivated by the roof garden craze too. In 1904, this Impressionist painter created a series of paintings depicting well-dressed men and women dining on a New York City rooftop. ..."
Ephemeral New York
Charles Hoffbauer’s Rooftop Diners
W - Charles Hoffbauer