Irwin Hasen, longtime illustrator of Dondi, the once-popular comic strip about a war orphan, now draws fresh panels of the strip only on the walls of a Manhattan eatery. From Corey Kilgannon’s New York Times piece:
“From 1955 to 1986, Mr. Hasen spent nearly every day drawing the character, a lovable war orphan, for the syndicated daily strip that at its peak was carried by more than 100 newspapers.
Now, fresh Dondi cartoons are published only on the walls of the Nectar Café at Madison Avenue and 79th Street, where nearly every morning for the past 30 years Mr. Hasen has arrived at 8:30 on the dot to sit at the same stool at the counter.
Dondi’s endorsements of the diner, and cartoon versions of its employees, are posted above the grill and on the menu rack.
‘I call it Café Hasen — I’m the staff artist,’ said Mr. Hasen, who lives a block away. He has a corresponding evening constitutional: his 5:30 jaunt to the bar at Bistro Le Steak, on Third Avenue and 75th Street, for a martini.”