A Bar Painted in Exchange for Rent
Ludwig Bemelmans was the Austrian-American writer and illustrator who created the Madeline children's books — small Parisian girls in yellow hats. By 1946 his books were established, but he had moved to New York and needed somewhere to live with his wife and daughter while completing the next manuscript. The Carlyle Hotel, then in its second decade and looking to fill a still-quiet ground floor cocktail room, offered him a deal: paint the walls and ceiling and the room is yours for 18 months, room and board included.
Bemelmans agreed. He spent six months between 1946 and 1947 painting the entire bar — every wall surface, the ceiling, the door alcoves — with whimsical scenes of Central Park populated by anthropomorphic rabbits, picnicking elephants, and his own Madeline characters scattered through the foliage. He used the same technique he used for his book illustrations: gouache and India ink on canvas, then mounted to the walls.
The murals are the only commercial commission Bemelmans ever took. He died in 1962. His original signed canvas panels are still on the walls.
The Room You're Sitting In
The bar is small — about 60 seats, including the banquettes that line the curved walls and a handful of tables clustered around a black grand piano. Lighting is from low-watt amber sconces and the chandelier above the piano. The floor is a polished black-and-tan terrazzo. The bar itself is gold-leaf wrapped, original to the 1930 Art Deco hotel.
The room's acoustics were designed for live music. When the piano is being played, it carries to every corner without amplification. When the piano stops between sets, conversation drops to a normal volume because the room rewards quiet. This is one of the few drinking rooms in the city where you can have a conversation at 11 p.m. without raising your voice.
Bobby Short and the Piano That Stayed
Bobby Short, the cabaret pianist, started a residency at Bemelmans in 1968. He played here almost every night for 36 years until his death in 2005 — a continuous run unmatched anywhere in American nightlife. Short played classical American songbook material: Cole Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Gershwin. The piano he used is the same Steinway that's in the room today.
Since Short's death, the piano has been kept in continuous use by a rotating roster of about a dozen pianists — Earl Rose, Loston Harris, Tedd Firth, others — who play sets of standards Wednesday through Saturday, two shows a night at 9:30 and 11:30. The Sunday-Tuesday slots feature solo piano without vocal accompaniment.
Cover charges per person, added to your bill, are $40 weekday, $60 weekend, plus a two-drink minimum. The cover is for the music, not the room — daytime visits without entertainment have no cover.
What to Drink and What It Costs
Cocktails at Bemelmans run $26 to $34. The classics — Old Fashioned, Manhattan, Negroni — are made by bartenders who have been here for years and prepared in the room's original glassware. The Bemelmans Bar Bee, a signature drink with bourbon, lemon, honey, and ginger beer, costs $32 and arrives in a small copper mug.
The wine list is short and competent — about 30 bottles, mostly French, mostly white. Glass pours run $19 to $24. There's a small food menu of bar snacks, with the Carlyle Burger ($38) being the most ordered item.
The pricing is what you'd expect for a hotel bar at this address. The room is what you wouldn't.
How to Be in the Room Without the Cover
The cover charge applies only when the piano is being played. Bemelmans is open from noon, and the early afternoon and pre-music window (4:30 to 7:30 p.m.) has no music charge — you pay only for what you order. This is the time most New York regulars use the bar: a single 5 p.m. cocktail at the bar, the murals to look at, maybe a small plate of nuts.
The room is genuinely worth a $30 drink for half an hour even without music. The pricing structure makes that half-hour the most accessible version of the experience.
Practical notes
- Address: The Carlyle Hotel, 35 East 76th Street at Madison Avenue, Upper East Side
- Getting there: 6 to 77th Street; Q to 72nd Street; cross-town bus M79 to Madison
- Go for: The 1947 Bemelmans murals, the live piano sets at 9:30 and 11:30 p.m., the Bemelmans Bar Bee cocktail
- Size / timing: 60 seats, no reservations. Best to arrive 30 minutes before a music set. Open 12 p.m.–1 a.m. daily.
- Photograph it, but know this: The bar's lighting is so warm that phone cameras over-saturate the murals. Drop white balance to a cooler setting, or shoot in RAW. No flash, ever.
Bemelmans is one of the few rooms in New York where the décor and the entertainment have stayed continuous for three generations. The murals on the walls are the same ones the bar opened with 78 years ago. The Steinway in the corner is the same one Bobby Short played for 36 years. The room rewards you for sitting still and looking around. Order one drink. Look up at the ceiling. Stay for the second set.
#bemelmansbar #thecarlyle #ludwigbemelmans #bobbyshort #pianobar #upperEastSide #manhattanbars #afterdark #cocktails #livemusic #nyclassic #nycculture #madeline #carlylehotel #grandpiano
Sources consulted: The Carlyle · The New York Times · The New Yorker · Vogue · Town & Country
All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
Drink responsibly. Must be of legal drinking age.
