“They have gift cards here now,” says Jay McInerney of the Odeon. “That would have been a funny concept in 1983.”

Bright Lights Hits the Big 4-0

Jay McInerney made his literary debut with Bright Lights, Big City. On its anniversary, the hedonistic Manhattan novel still defines his career, and a bygone era

By Max Kutner

In Jay McInerney’s Bright Lights, Big City, the Odeon “makes you feel reasonable at any hour, often against bad odds.” The Tribeca restaurant—along with the World Trade Center—appears on the original cover of the novel, which turns 40 on August 12. The book captured the early-1980s downtown-Manhattan scene: models, drugs, dance clubs, and the desire to escape. It also earned the debut author a libertine reputation that would outlast the scene he chronicled.

The Odeon has changed over the last four decades. Though the restaurant still draws in a packed nighttime crowd and hosts the occasional party, it closes at 11 p.m. most nights. That’s 40 minutes before a Bright Lights, Big City character deems it “too early” to arrive.