Cafe La Fortuna was featured in a special TV Event, "The Spirit of John Lennon," airing on April 24, 2006.

In this programme, British forensic medium Joe Power and other powerful psychics visited the cafe and used the objects to try to make contact with Lennon's spirit. The cafe was emptied and a strange hush fell upon the busy eatery.

• To read more about psychic Joe Power,  click here.
• To see more about the seance led by Joe, click here.

The visitors gathered around John's favorite table and spoke with owner Vincent Urwand, who was friendly with John for years. Lennon frequented the cafe several times a week when in Manhattan, drawing pictures, writing songs, sipping coffee and chatting. This long and easy connection between "Uncle Vinny" and John Lennon was one of the reasons Cafe La Fortuna was chosen as a site by the psychics.

Additionally, much of the Lennon memorabilia remains at the cafe, including autographed photos from John and Yoko, lamps and the old cash register.

John's favorite table, the one that was also featured on the single cover: Nobody Told Me, was offered to Yoko Ono as a gift.

Yoko gratefully, and tearfully, accepted the table and chairs as a present from Mike Trapani and Uncle Vinny, and said she 'cherished' the time she and John spent there. See Story

Cafe La Fortuna opened in 1976, when the Upper West Side was a dicey place -- but Uncle Vinny took a gamble. Petty crooks and drug dealers ruled the roost, but with Lincoln Center down the block Uncle Vinny knew the neighborhood would turn around. He was right.

At 49 years of age Vincent Urwand opened Cafe La Fortuna. He and his wife ran it; she opened, he closed. It's been in the family since the Tall Ships Sailed up the Hudson for America's Bicentennial. (That's 1976.)

"Back in the 70's, Monday Night Football was brand new. ABC is right down the street, so one night, in walks Frank Gifford and Don Meredith," Uncle Vinny said. "People told me they were on TV. I got so excited, I had them autograph a $100 dollar bill. After they left, I realized I shouldn't have done that because I really needed the money!

"We've had lots of celebrities in here since then, but I always keep the place the same. Quality food, good service, low key atmosphere, excellent music... It works."

Now Vinny's nephew Mike owns the place, and Mike's son Mike mans the counter when he's not in school. (Check 'em out!)

"I always believed in quality," said Vinny, as he sat below a 102-year-old vinyl disc of Enrico Caruso. "I like the singers, the atmosphere, I keep it friendly. Low key."

That's why John Lennon liked to hang out there, Vinny says. "If John wanted to talk, we'd talk. If he wanted to read or write or whatever, he could do it in peace."

In his book "Lennon," Ray Coleman describes John's feeling toward Cafe La Fortuna as "a refuge... a haven, a grassroots contact with an unpretentious cafe." Coleman continues that John Lennon and Yoko Ono used to frequent the cafe as a way to recapture their simpler lives as artists and students, away from the grandeur of the Dakota (one block away) and certainly away from the pop music scene of the 1970s.

In fact, Uncle Vinny introduced Lennon to some classic artists on old 78 rpm vinyl discs. The music included Jazz by Fats Waller and Duke Ellington, Pop by Al Jolson, Benny Goodman and Mae West, the crooner Bing Crosby, and of course, Opera. Visitors to the cafe can see Photos or Drawings of some of Opera's greatest stars, along with other artifacts. For the more modern minded, the Cafe has installed a huge Plasma TV screen that plays DVDs of Operas throughout the day.

Uncle Vinny continued to describe his relationship with John Lennon and his family. "I didn't like to ask him for anything, but twice I did. Once, when Sean was really small, I asked John for a picture. Look at what he came up with! A derby and a mustache and Yoko in an old-fashioned dress. When John was in town he'd come by 3, 4, 5 times a week. He came here so often, after he died I retired his table. Then 26 years later, we asked Yoko if she wanted it. She was surprised we kept it, but we did. (Click to see the story.) We even gave her the chairs.

"A few years after John's death I saw a picture of him and Yoko in a book. I contacted Yoko to ask her about it, and she gave it to me. I have it in the store. I've been offered a lot of money (for those pictures), but they're special. Those pictures look better on the wall."