Legendary restaurateur dies

The restaurant's owner, a classical pianist who studied at Juilliard, was as much of an attraction as the celebrities who frequented his venerated bar. For nearly two decades, Bobby Van played Chopin, Beethoven, Gershwin and Cole Porter for his famous clientele, which included literary royalty like Truman Capote and Kurt Vonnegut.
Van had baby-sat for Lyons when she was a child, but she wasn't sure if he'd remember her when she approached him for a job in 1978.
"I knew him since I was 2 or 3 years old," said Lyons, who is now a municipal court judge in Freeport but lived on Baldwin's Hastings Street at the time. "He lived up the street from me. He moved out East. I went out there and I said, 'Do you remember me?' and he said no. I said, 'Well, you used to baby-sit for me, and I'd like a job.' I was just a waitress, a kid from up the street. He was a great boss, and it was fun - it was such a great summer. All these famous actors and musicians came in and played with him."
Lyons and many others have fond memories of Van, who died on Nov. 27, at age 64, after years of failing health. He is survived by his ex-wife, Marina, and two brothers, Richard and David Van Velsor.
Van's saloon, which opened in 1969, was a beacon for literati of the 1970s and '80s as well as a showcase for Van's immense talent as a classical pianist. "I think [celebrities] came in looking for him," Lyons said. "He was a hot ticket in town. It was their place to be, and it was his place."
A legend is born
Van was born Robert Craig Van Velsor in Baldwin in 1943, and grew up on Eastern Parkway. His mother was a homemaker and his father was a supervisor at Grumman, said his brother Richard, who lives in Westbury.
At a young age, it was clear that Robert was musically gifted. "He started playing the piano when he was 3 - his grandmother taught him," Richard Van Velsor recalled. "He gave his first recital when he was in kindergarten at Steele school in 1948."
Van continued to take lessons, and by age 12 he was performing Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" on "The Ted Mack Amateur Hour." At 14 he began studying at Juilliard Prep School on a full scholarship. "We couldn't watch television, because the piano was in the same room, and it was not uncommon for him to practice six to eight hours a day," Van Velsor said.
Van's childhood friends remember him as an amiable teen, and though he was a gifted musician, they remember, he was far from aloof and hardly an introvert. "He was friendly, and all the parents were proud of him," said B.A. Schoen, who went to high school with Van's younger brother, David, and is now a school board trustee. Schoen's cousins lived across the street from the Van Velsors, and he recalled summer nights when everyone played and went out on a boat in Baldwin Harbor.
"He was a good example, but he wasn't nerdy at all," Schoen said of Bobby. "Here you had this guy going to Juilliard, and parents would say, 'Why don't you play the piano like that?' You were supposed to hate a guy like that, but you couldn't hate him. He was a really nice guy."
"He would play guitar and piano, a lot of rock 'n' roll," Lyons recalled of her baby-sitter. "I remember those long summer nights playing music."
Van attended Baldwin High School, and graduated in 1961. He performed locally, Richard said, including nights at the old 1890 Club on Grand Avenue, where he played jazz. He continued at Juilliard until he was drafted into the Army, where he was dubbed "Van" by his Army buddies and served in Vietnam. After leaving the service he played piano and tended bar around Sag Harbor. He eventually opened Bobby Van's in 1969, and married Marina Barone in 1975.
A famous place
Some say it was fate that brought in the well-known personalities that became Bobby Van's regulars. One day a dog was hit by a car outside the saloon, and Van darted out to help. He was helped by a well-known writer for The New York Times, Willie Morris, and the two quickly became friends, Van's brother said.
"Then people like Jimmy Jones, Truman Capote, John Knowles and George Plimpton all started coming in, mainly through Willie Morris," Van Velsor said.
Bobby Van's soon became a hot spot, attracting Manhattanites and other loyal customers who spent summers in the Hamptons. Lyons recalled a vibrant scene led by the gregarious Van, filled with music and highlighted by the celebrities she served. She remembered how Capote would pull up to the restaurant in a pink Cadillac, carrying a white poodle, and order a truly eccentric cocktail.
"Capote would say, 'Take the blender, fill it with ice, skim milk, egg yolk and grenadine and shake it up," Lyons said. "Bobby said, 'Take good care of him, he's really famous.'"
They were glorious years, Van's brother said, adding that Bobby and his wife were loved by the regulars. "People went in just to say hello to them," Van Velsor said. "We had a lot of fun there. One guy could play the "William Tell" overture on the banjo, and they almost always sang "God Bless America" at the end of the evening. There were also many times on a Sunday morning when it would be nice and quiet, and all of a sudden there would be people looking in the window and watching him practice classical."
When Van relocated the saloon across the street in 1979 to accommodate his growing clientele, hundreds turned out to sign a diary offering Van and his wife their best wishes. Author John Knowles wrote, "To Bobby and Marina: At the end of the desperate dash home from N.Y., there has always been B.V.'s, and thank god it's only moving across the street. With all best thoughts."
In 1986, Van sold the restaurant, and it became a chain, Bobby Van's Steakhouse, with locations in Manhattan, Washington and the original in Bridgehampton. Afterward he went through what his brother described as "rough times," but he continued to perform at venues like the Rainbow Room, often accompanying vocalists such as Rosemary Clooney.
"He played a lot of nightclubs in the city," Van Velsor said. "He started something, and I wish he could have continued with it."
Although he continued to perform, Van's health eventually began to decline, making it difficult for him to work. In recent years he lived in Westbury and worked as a cab driver because the hours were flexible, his brother said.
Van was cremated on Nov. 28, and the family is planning a memorial service in the Hamptons. One esteemed friend, John Randolph "Bunky" Hearst, offered the Van Velsors his yacht so they could disperse Van's ashes in the ocean.
"I'll probably take him up on that," Richard said.
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