John Lennon got to slurp some pasta at the notoriously exclusive restaurant Rao’s thanks to some help from a few of Frank Sinatra’s pals.
On the 40th anniversary of the musician’s death, a Rao’s insider tells Page Six that a year before the “Imagine” singer was shot and killed in 1980, he headed uptown with two friends to eat at the famed East Harlem restaurant — only to find it closed. Lennon’s driver went inside and found a few of Ol’ Blue Eyes’ friends eating dinner.
According to an insider, one friend exclaimed that of course Lennon could eat, so the manager hastily set one of the restaurant’s four tables and the ex-Beatle and his friends had a “glorious time eating the Southern Italian cuisine.”
The following year, Lennon took his young son Sean Lennon to Rockefeller Center to see the Christmas tree and lights. He was immediately swarmed by a crowd of autograph seekers.
“Standing five feet away was the gentleman that allowed Lennon to eat at Rao’s,” the insider recalled. “Lennon stared at him and went over to him and said, ‘You’re the guy that let us into Rao’s the night it was closed. What a great treat and thank you very much.'”