As the sun set on Saint Marks Place, a line of identically dressed bargoers formed outside of the door to the Holiday Cocktail Lounge between First and Second Ave. “FranCon,” New York City’s annual celebration of writer and humorist Fran Lebowitz, was about to begin. 

Once inside the venue, the attendees, decked out in Lebowitz’s classic outfit — an oversized suit jacket, a white collared shirt, jeans, and her trademark turtle-shell glasses — lounged in booths or at tables around the bar discussing their love for the curmudgeonly and sometimes sardonic author. 

FranCon, now in its fourth year, was organized by social media creator Jane August and comedian and NYC tour guide Micaela Fagan. Over the phone, August reminisces about her favorite parts of past FranCons. “The highlight is how diverse our attendees are, and just witnessing people making friends, which is really cute,” August said. “People talking about old-school New York, and the New York that they lived through. It’s just really beautiful, the groups of people who come and how Fran is what brings them together.” Fagan, who joined FranCon as a co-host last year, could barely contain her excitement as she rushed in and out of conversations to greet attendees as they filtered into the bar.

Down the block, FranCon attendees Julie Kaplan and Karen Marder finished a meal at La Palapa before heading to the night’s main event. “Everything about Fran is iconic. First of all — I’m Jewish, Julie’s also Jewish, and Fran to me is the epitome of the Jewish woman New Yorker I want to grow into,” Marder said. 

“She’s kick-ass!” Kaplan added. This is both womens’ first time attending the event. Kaplan, a health teacher from Queens, heard about FranCon on National Public Radio (NPR) and decided that she had to attend.

Back at the bar, Lebowitz lookalikes piled in, mingling and sipping Fran-themed drinks:

the “Writer’s Blockade,” (a nod to Lebowitz’s famously small body of written work) with gin, almond syrup, lemon, and peach liqueur, the “Rent Stabilized apartment,” a combination of bourbon, Montenegro, Madeira, and Pineapple Cordial, and the “Franhattan,” a classic Manhattan. 

Missing from the crowd was Lebowitz herself, who, despite being FranCon’s titular figure, has been banned from attending the event since its inception in 2021. Besides, she doesn’t drink. Lebowitz has been a New York City icon since the seventies, and although she hasn’t released a book since The Fran Lebowitz Reader in 1994, frequent speaking engagements and columns have kept her a cult figure. 

Famously opinionated about life in New York City, Lebowitz has a particular disdain for those who choose to stare at their phones while walking. “Pretend it’s a city!” she’s known to shout at oblivious tourists and cellphone-addicted New Yorkers, as seen in the 2021 Martin Scorcese documentary  — coincidentally named after this very catchphrase.

Back outside, the Holiday Cocktail Lounge’s outdoor patio was the site of some more Fran admiration. Grant Waldvogel and Connor Laidley sat at a corner table, sipping drinks and chatting about Lebowitz. “It’s Fran, it’s a piece of New York that hasn’t left,” Waldvogel said fondly. “As much as that generation thinks it’s not a fabric of the city, it’s still very much what a lot of young folks are clinging to.” 

At another table, Christine Champagne, Rosella Tursi, Rebecca Levi, and Griffin Hansbury discussed their love of Fran. “I love Fran because she’s a writer [who’s] barely worked, and I envy that so much,” Champagne joked. Levi added that for women growing up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, Lebowitz’s openness about her sexuality allowed them to unpack their own queerness. “Without her, a lot of us may not have even recognized it back in the day,” Levi said, with a laugh. “Also, I’m attracted to difficult people.”

FranCon will undoubtedly return in 2025, but until then the one-and-only Fran Lebowitz is on a world tour, returning to the US in November with shows in Nashville, St. Paul, and Santa Fe.