The term “rainbow tribe” evokes various sentiments within the LGBTQ+ community, but for cabaret sensation and World War II spy Josephine Baker, it was the name she gave to her twelve adopted children. She was a star who lived life on her terms, period.
Before Baker became one of the most celebrated African-American performers in French history, her dreams came of age in St. Louis amidst the segregation of early 20th-century America. Her parents worked as a washerwoman and a vaudeville performer. Despite starting from a working-class background hindered by racism, she rose from performing for nickels and dimes to dancing for sold-out elite theaters in Paris—iconic banana skirt included.
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The performer’s talent captivated European audiences, even though she had been underappreciated at home. Her hardships seemed to strengthen her knack for sticking to her righteous guns. From being recruited by World War II allies to extract information from enamored Nazi soldiers to marching in the Civil Rights March in Washington D.C., the cabaret performer was a guiding light for the queer community, demonstrating that bravery was a choice.
Thankfully, the societal cruelty of Baker’s time never made her cold; this was evident in her love for people and the children she raised as her own. Additionally, Baker claimed an unofficial thirteenth child, Jean-Claude Julien Léon Tronville, as her own. He would go on to take her last name and honor her legacy by founding Chez Josephine in New York City in 1986, hoping for a “bubbly return to the joie de vivre of Paris of the 1930s—le Jazz Hot with soul.”
Baker passed away in 1975, but her aura can be felt in her namesake dining establishment on 42nd Street near the Theater District. It’s decorated with a blue-tin ceiling, red velvet walls, and chandeliers illuminating vintage portraits of her stardom.
Ironically, Jean-Claude, the future gay restaurateur, was born in Paris. He met the famous cabaret performer at the Hotel Scribe, where he worked as a bellhop. Little did he know that he and his idol would go on to become kindred souls, and he would return her fame to New York, where Baker got her start in the jazzy movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.
He described the restaurant as an adventure close to his heart, merging her memory with their shared love for people, including centering live music. “Back then, 42nd Street was exciting and definitely dangerous. Theatre Row was a courageous beginning with great hope, talent, and new friends,” he told neighbor Playwright Horizons.
Like his chosen mother, Jean-Claude had to become a “pioneer, if not a survivor,” to cement the restaurant as a city fixture in this part of town. Nowadays, the block has become part of one of the most famous gayborhoods in the world, a setting fitting for the bisexual icon (an identity confirmed by her children) and her countless LGBTQ+ fans.
In 2012, the New York Daily News described the French haunt with Baker’s homage as one of the last of its kind. “There are still low-lit corners where the Madagascar ambassador can sit next to a 6-foot-4 transvestite draped in a red-sequined gown while a child star fresh from the Broadway stage can down French fries and chocolate milk near an aging actress sipping Kir Royale and chatting with an English innkeeper from Morocco.”
People undoubtedly came and stayed to be surrounded by memories of once upon a time, glamorized by its Parisian vibes. But many patrons returned because of Jean-Claude’s irrepressible personality and neighborly hospitality.
Jean-Claude passed away in 2015, but Jari Baker, one of Baker’s twelve children, was able to ensure Chez Josephine lived on.
The restaurant has managed to avoid the fate of closure in a fast-turnover industry for nearly half a century, even thriving through a pandemic. “Our Belgian Endives with Roquefort Societe and Roasted Walnuts has been a must on the menu since we opened. It is now $10, was $4.25 then,” once said Jean-Claude. The plate is still available today, but inflation places it at $20.
The food has a 3.8-star rating and 649 reviews, so Chez Josephine might’ve survived decades of history but is not unscathed by Yelpers’ culinary palette. GayCities contacted the restaurant to speak with Jari, but management broke the news that he retired in Florida, their ownership’s last familial connection to Baker.
One must wonder if Chez Josephine loses the je ne sais quoi sans a connection to Baker. Does that mean it’s taken over by profit over passion? Some reviewers lamented that the service wasn’t the same without Jean-Claude at the helm. However, others highly praised the kitchen and still appreciated the structural significance dedicated to a queer woman who defied everything about her time and uplifted others to do the same.
Baker refused to perform in segregated venues, and the limelight did not blind her from the urgent issues on the ground, whether it was aiding missions to bring down Adolf Hitler or extending her hand to the person in front of her, such as Jean-Claude.
GayCities reached out to New York Times restauranteur critic Pete Wells to ask, in his humble, world-acclaimed opinion, if Chez Josephine’s menu lives up to the woman’s greatness. He confessed he is unfortunately so busy with new restaurant openings that he rarely has a free night to check in on the old classics still in New York’s midst.
“Although I think about going every time I walk by,” Wells added. Perhaps that’s the spirit of Baker still effortlessly turning critics’ heads.
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