At Sardi’s, the show must go on.
The legendary theater district restaurant known for its storied celebrity caricature collection has found a new owner in theater behemoth the Shubert Organization, The Post has learned.
The iconic 44th Street site will close temporarily over the summer for renovations, 71-year-old owner Max Klimavicius told The Post.
Shubert reps have already vowed to preserve the century-old charm of the Great White Way’s watering hole — including its more than 1,200 quirky portraits of its past and present clientele from Barbra Streisand to George Clooney, he added.
The beloved caricatures alone were collectively appraised in 2020 for nearly $7 million, he said.
“The Shubert acquisition of the restaurant will ensure its continuity: they’re not in the restaurant business, it’s the theater business,” Klimavicius, who plans to retire later this year, told The Post.
“Them becoming the owners and the custodian of this legacy guarantees the next 100 years,” he said.
Sardi’s will continue service through June 24 under Klimavicius, after which it will close for a several months-long “refresh” of the front-of-house, plus ventilation and plumbing upgrades.
Klimavicius contends the restaurant’s old-school banquettes will also remain intact, and Shubert will keep the Sardi’s name.
“The character of the restaurant is not going to change at all – I mean, the flavor and the ambiance – people are very concerned about that,” he said.
“It’s very rare these days that an institution like this will continue with the same character.”
Sardi’s initially launched as “The Little Restaurant” in 1921 under Vincent Sardi Sr. and his wife Eugenia in a nearby building owned by Shubert Organization, reps said.
The current location on 44th Street opened in 1927, and has since cemented itself in Broadway history as the birthplace of the Tony Awards and the site of countless luxe after-parties.
The restaurant’s portrait collection started under a Russian artist, Alex Gard, — who was promised two meals a day in exchange for drawing caricatures of guests — in a tradition that continues to this day.
Klimavicius, who arrived from Colombia and began working at Sardi’s as a kitchen assistant in 1974, bought the business in 2007 when the original owner’s son, Vincent Sardi Jr., died in 2007.
The dining room received renewed interest this year — and an onslaught of media attention — with the release of Oscar-nominated movie “Blue Moon,” which takes place inside Sardi’s, Klimavicius said.
At first, “I didn’t really know what Sardi’s was about,” the owner lamented to The Post, “but over time, I fell in love with this place.
“This love affair still continues to this day. I just can’t tell you how important this is to me.”
While he’s gotten other offers from other entrepreneurs to continue the Sardi’s name, the owner contends the Shubert Organization was the clear choice from the start, as “their role is to protect and safeguard this loved institution that is so rare these days in New York.
“This wasn’t about the money for me,” he said. “This has been my life, and what is important is that the legacy continues forever.”
Regulars who had learned of the news flocked to Sardi’s Sunday afternoon, recounting legendary late-night tales told over its white tablecloths.
“I used to come in here for lunch all the time with actors,” said Upper West Sider Elizabeth Marner-Brooks, who recalled the myriad discount lunches received by showing her Actors Equity card.
“Producers, directors, would come here at intermission, on opening night,” Marner-Brooks, 81, added. “It was just such an iconic place.”
Manhattanite Annette Pica told The Post that the 44th Street institution made the Big Apple feel like a “small town” where “everybody knows everybody.”
“I hope they really don’t change too much, because they will lose,” the 66-year-old retired nurse said, but acknowledged “you have to move on to a new generation.
“I mean, the food is okay, but it’s really the atmosphere,” she recalled.
“And the pictures are just fantastic.”
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