Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge
Encyclopedia
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The Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge is the only revolving bar in New Orleans, Louisiana
. The bar is inside the Hotel Monteleone
and overlooks Royal Street
in the French Quarter
of New Orleans. Installed in 1949, the 25-seat circular bar turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, powered by a 1/4 hp motor. The bar rotates at a rate of one revolution every 15 minutes. In addition to the rotating bar, an adjoining room includes booths and tables with live entertainment offered nightly.
and Louis Prima
performed. It wasn’t unusual for the performers to join their friends for a nightcap after their shows. The bar was renovated in 1992, which was when the current carousel top was added. Fiber optics were installed in the ceiling to create the appearance of stars in the night sky. One shooting star crosses the room at regular intervals.
, William Faulkner
, Tennessee Williams
, Truman Capote
and Winston Groom
(author of Forrest Gump
) are among the famous authors who have enjoyed drinks at the Carousel Bar. More recently, Michael Jordan
, Dennis Quaid
, Greg Allman and Sally Struthers
have been spotted at the Carousel.
and its Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge have been mentioned in a number of works of American literature, including the following:
The Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge is the only revolving bar in New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
. The bar is inside the Hotel Monteleone
Hotel Monteleone
Hotel Monteleone is a family-owned and operated hotel located at 214 Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The hotel includes the only high-rise building in the interior French Quarter and is well known for its Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge, a rotating bar.Built in 1886 in the Beaux-Arts...
and overlooks Royal Street
Royal Street, New Orleans
Royal Street is a street in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is one of the oldest streets in the city, dating from the French Colonial era, and is most well known for the antique shops, art galleries, and stately hotels that line its sides as it runs through New Orleans' French Quarter and tourist...
in the French Quarter
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. When New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city was originally centered on the French Quarter, or the Vieux Carré as it was known then...
of New Orleans. Installed in 1949, the 25-seat circular bar turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, powered by a 1/4 hp motor. The bar rotates at a rate of one revolution every 15 minutes. In addition to the rotating bar, an adjoining room includes booths and tables with live entertainment offered nightly.
History
In the early days of the Carousel Bar, Hotel Monteleone was home to the Swan Room, a nightclub where celebrities such as LiberaceLiberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
and Louis Prima
Louis Prima
Louis Prima was a Sicilian American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter. Prima rode the musical trends of his time, starting with his seven-piece New Orleans style jazz band in the 1920s, then successively leading a swing combo in the 1930s, a big band in the 1940s, a Vegas lounge act in the...
performed. It wasn’t unusual for the performers to join their friends for a nightcap after their shows. The bar was renovated in 1992, which was when the current carousel top was added. Fiber optics were installed in the ceiling to create the appearance of stars in the night sky. One shooting star crosses the room at regular intervals.
Notable patrons
Ernest HemingwayErnest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
, William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
and Winston Groom
Winston Groom
Winston F. Groom, Jr. is an American novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for his book Forrest Gump, which was adapted into a film in 1994.- Life :...
(author of Forrest Gump
Forrest Gump (novel)
Forrest Gump is a 1986 novel by Winston Groom. The title character experiences adventures ranging from shrimp boating and ping pong championships to thinking about his childhood love. The Vietnam War and college football are all part of the story. Throughout his life, Gump views the world simply...
) are among the famous authors who have enjoyed drinks at the Carousel Bar. More recently, Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
, Dennis Quaid
Dennis Quaid
Dennis William Quaid is an American actor known for his comedic and dramatic roles. First gaining widespread attention in the 1980s, his career rebounded in the 1990s after he overcame an addiction to drugs and an eating disorder...
, Greg Allman and Sally Struthers
Sally Struthers
Sally Ann Struthers is an American actress and spokeswoman, best-known for her roles as Gloria Stivic on All in the Family, for which she won two Emmy awards, and as Babette on Gilmore Girls.-Personal life:...
have been spotted at the Carousel.
Literary references
Hotel MonteleoneHotel Monteleone
Hotel Monteleone is a family-owned and operated hotel located at 214 Royal Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The hotel includes the only high-rise building in the interior French Quarter and is well known for its Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge, a rotating bar.Built in 1886 in the Beaux-Arts...
and its Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge have been mentioned in a number of works of American literature, including the following:
- The Rose TattooThe Rose Tattoo- External links :*...
, Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs... - Orpheus DescendingOrpheus DescendingOrpheus Descending is a play by Tennessee Williams. It was first presented on Broadway in 1957 where it enjoyed a brief run with only modest success. The play is basically a rewrite of an earlier play by Williams called Battle of Angels, which was written in 1940, but had been closed on its opening...
, Tennessee WilliamsTennessee WilliamsThomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs... - Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya SisterhoodDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya SisterhoodDivine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood is a novel written by Rebecca Wells. Is follows the novel Little Altars Everywhere. In 2005, Wells wrote Ya-Yas in Bloom and then The Crowning Glory of Calla Lily Ponder...
, Rebecca WellsRebecca WellsRebecca Wells is an American author and theatre director, who wrote the Ya-Ya Sisterhood series of books, which includes Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Little Altars Everywhere, and Ya-Yas in Bloom.-Background:... - Little Altars EverywhereLittle Altars EverywhereLittle Altars Everywhere chronicles the adventures of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood - four eccentric women - and their children, affectionately called the Petites Ya-Yas.-Plot introduction:...
, Rebecca WellsRebecca WellsRebecca Wells is an American author and theatre director, who wrote the Ya-Ya Sisterhood series of books, which includes Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Little Altars Everywhere, and Ya-Yas in Bloom.-Background:... - Band of Brothers, Stephen AmbroseStephen AmbroseStephen Edward Ambrose was an American historian and biographer of U.S. Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon. He was a long time professor of history at the University of New Orleans and the author of many best selling volumes of American popular history...
- A Piece of My HeartA Piece of My HeartPiece of My Heart is the 18th novel by crime-writer Peter Robinson, published in 2006 and is 16th in the multi award-winning Inspector Alan Banks series.-Plot summary:Piece of My Heart is the 16th Inspector Banks novel by Peter Robinson...
, Richard FordRichard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early... - A Curtain of Green: And Other StoriesA Curtain of GreenA Curtain of Green was the first collection of short stories written by Eudora Welty. In these stories Welty looks at the state of Mississippi through the eyes of its inhabitants, the common people, both black and white, and presents a realistic view of the racial relations that existed at the time...
, Eudora WeltyEudora WeltyEudora Alice Welty was an American author of short stories and novels about the American South. Her novel The Optimist's Daughter won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Welty was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, among numerous awards. She was the first living author to have her works published... - Capote: A Biography, Gerald ClarkeGerald ClarkeGerald B. Clarke was the principal secretary to the Rhodesian Cabinet throughout the existence of the Rhodesian Front Government...
- Owls Don't Blink, A.A. Fair (Erle Stanley GardnerErle Stanley GardnerErle Stanley Gardner was an American lawyer and author of detective stories, best known for the Perry Mason series, he also published under the pseudonyms A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J...
) - “Night Before Battle,” Ernest HemingwayErnest HemingwayErnest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
- The Voice of the Seven Sparrows, Harry Stephen KeelerHarry Stephen KeelerHarry Stephen Keeler was a prolific but little-known American author.- Biography :Born in Chicago in 1890, Keeler spent his childhood exclusively in this city, which was so beloved by the author that a large number of his works took place in and around it...
Famous cocktails
Two famous cocktails were invented by Carousel bartenders:- Vieux Carré Cocktail – 1/2 teaspoon Benedictine, dash Peychaud, dash Angostura, 1/3 shot each rye whiskey, cognac and dry vermouth. Shake and serve on the rocks with a twist of lemon.
- The Goody – One ounce each dark rum, light rum, Orgeat, pineapple juice, 2 ounces orange juice. Mix well and serve in a tall glass over ice.