COLORS restaurant, founded by 9/11 survivors, to reopen on the Lower East Side
View of Colors in 2013. Map data ©2013 Google.
COLORS restaurant in downtown Manhattan was originally founded by employees of the Windows on the World restaurant on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center, and employed many restaurant workers who lost their jobs on the day of the terrorist attacks. COLORS closed in 2017, closing the door on an establishment that had helped survivors to thrive. Now, am New York reports, on the 18th anniversary of the attacks, that the restaurant is re-opening in October.
Windows on the World lost 72 employees on Sept. 11. With the help of nonprofit organization Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, COLORS helped survivors who were still struggling when the restaurant opened in 2006. Employees have, since the beginning, been paid above the minimum wage. ROC also created a training program to help people of color learn fine dining and bartending skills.
The restaurant will reopen at 178 Stanton Street on the Lower East Side, with an opening date yet to be announced. The reborn establishment will offer a new menu with a focus on black American cuisine, helmed by executive chef Sicily Sewell-Johnson of Pinky & Red’s in Berkeley, California.
Saru Jayaraman, president and co-founder of ROC United, said in a press release: “We are truly excited about the reopening of COLORS in honor of our brothers and sisters who worked at the Windows on the World.”
[Via AMNY]
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