How a Man Looking to Meet Women Accidentally Invented the Singles Bar

A Cocktail Party in the Street: An Interview with Alan Stillman (2010)

In 1965, Alan Stillman bought a scruffy First Avenue tavern for $5,000, threw sawdust on the floor, hung fake Tiffany lamps, and turned it into T.G.I. Friday's — a public cocktail party where young men and women could finally meet. He hit the sexual revolution head-on, and within months First Avenue had to be closed on Friday nights because the crowds spilled into the street. Stillman recalls the early chaos, the velvet ropes, and the franchise empire that followed.