Bemelmans Bar

Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle is named for Ludwig Bemelmans, the author and illustrator of the Madeline books, who painted its murals of Central Park in the 1940s in exchange for a place to stay at the hotel for himself and his family. The bar opened in 1947. Madeline is on the walls, among his animals and his park, all around you.

The drink is the martini, and the bar is known for making it the way you ask: name the gin, name the degree of dirt. Eater used Bemelmans to explain why the martini has lasted.

Early, it is a quiet drink with the murals.

There is music every night. A pianist plays in the early evening and a jazz trio later, and there is a cover charge once the trio starts, which the hotel posts. That gives you two bars in one. Early, it is a quiet drink with the murals. Later, it is a jazz room.

It does not take bookings through the usual channels; requests go to the hotel by phone or email. Go before the trio for conversation, after it for the evening. Either way you are sitting inside a children's book written for adults.

Text to ask.