The Last New Year: in fleeting
A Photographic To-Go Package
by
Jeffery C. Johnson
The Last New Year is a portrait of The Flame Steakhouse on its final night, New Years Eve, after 53 years as a renowned Chicago area restaurant and the first, and last, of a once fabulously successful restaurant group that included over 15 restaurants in three states.
While waiting on and serving tables, armed with his trusty Nikon D80 around his neck, photographer Jeffery C. Johnson captured that rare moment when customers and employees get the chance to say thank you, and goodbye, to a long-standing establishment that has been a special place to generations.
The Last New Year is a look at the last great party in a storied space that hosted thousands of parties; On a warm, end of the year, night that teetered gingerly between the past and present, Jeffery candidly documented the final hours of the dining, drinking, laughter and tears that were at hand on the night that they put an era to bed.
