Hotel Elysee - Monkey Bar

From Mikomos Wiki
Hotel Elysee - Monkey Bar
Address
60 E 54th St
New York, NY 10022 
Phone
(212) 753-1066
Area
Neighborhood
Midtown East
Web Page
http://www.elyseehotel.com/monkey.asp

Type of Makom

Lounges Type
Hotel lobby
Restaurants Type
Restaurant

Semi-useful stuff

Mikomos rating

0.00
(0 votes)

Description

The Hotel Elysee is a New York City hotel, situated on 60 East 54th Street between Madison and Park avenues. The Swiss-born Max Haering originally conceived the Elysée in 1926 as a European-style hotel for the carriage trade.

The Elysée is known for the Monkey Bar, a piano bar just off the lobby. Opened in the depths of the Great Depression, it became known to the cognoscenti as “the place to go where jokes die,” especially off-color jokes and double-entendre songs spun by such performers as Johnny Payne (1934-1944) and Mel Martin (1945-1983).

Starting out as just another dimly lit hotel piano bar with mirrored paneling, the tiny room was renamed in the early 1950’s when the mirrors were replaced by wraparound hand-painted mural by caricaturist Charlie Wala. The mural depicts monkeys with decidedly human features riding elephants, crouching under a tree, mixing up banana daiquiris for tough-looking monkey-like customers, etc. In successive years, other artists have added to the tableau. [1]