Last hurrah for Russian tea and Tiffany

One of New York's landmark night spots, its shining red decor graced by a galaxy of stars and legions of tourists, is to close.

The Russian Tea Room in the heart of Manhattan, dates back to the earliest anti-revolutionary Russians in the United States, having served borscht, caviar with blinis and, of course, tea or vodka since the 1920s. It is where Dustin Hoffman appeared in drag to fool his agents in Tootsie, where Elizabeth Taylor showed her guests and the world her engagement ring from Richard Burton.

The Tea Room is a glittering - some say garish - prospect the minute one walks in. Diners eat in red booths while fish frolic inside a vast acrylic bear. Fabergé eggs hang from a golden tree and the ceiling is Tiffany.

Its closure is being blamed squarely on the slump in business and tourism after 11 September but there have been other problems. The final decor was the result of a $25 million facelift ordered by owner Jennifer LeRoy's father, Warner LeRoy. It failed to impress reviewers, who also wondered about the mediocre quality of food.

Meanwhile the constant sale and re-sale fatally lost the base clientele: the Russians themselves stopped coming.