Andy Warhol Ate Here: The story of a restaurant's outlandish owner

In the early eighties Joanna was one of the trendiest restaurants in New York City. Mikhail Baryshnikov, Farrah Fawcett and Elizabeth Taylor were regulars. Andy Warhol’s Factory was around the corner. One of its founders was Sheldon Haseltine, a serial entrepreneur, descended, on his mother’s side, from William the Conquerer and, on his father’s side, from two famous artists and Marshall Field. Allen Dulles was his godfather and Brooke Astor his godmother. And yet Sheldon was unimpressed by money and celebrity, living a restless, itinerant life more interesting than that of his celebrity patrons. I met him in Costa Rica, where he wanted someone to write a book about his crusade to regain land occupied by squatters. I wasn’t interested. But we became friends and one day he showed me a heavy scrapbook of press clippings from The New York Times, People Magazine, Vanity Fair, columnistsLiz Smith, Earl Wilson and many others. This was the book I wanted to write and, to my astonishment, he let me.Andy Warhol Ate Here is as much a cultural biography as a personal one, using entertaining celebrity anecdotes to recall the last half of the twentieth century. It is also an exploration of the workings of the restaurant business, the life of a serial entrepreneur, and a candid portrait of one of the most outlandish characters you will ever meet.Mark Schreiber has written, from ages 15 to 65, 43 books that have escaped the fireplace. Some have been published, one made into a film. He divides his time between Cincinnati, Ohio and San José, Costa Rica. He has two stepsons, Jorge and Jael, and a granddaughter, Antonella. Read more