My first visit to Bemelmans Bar was about ten years in the making. A weekend in Manhattan that was the perfect time to grab a drink at this legendary hotel bar. We arrived shortly after the bar opened on a Sunday around noon. The bar was quite relaxing and not crowded which was ideal for me.
In the Carlyle Hotel, where Madison Avenue turns toward Central Park, you will find the bar. It is a room of attractive light and atmosphere tucked away from the city.
When you walk in, I imagine that it is hard to tell what decade you are in, as not much has changed. This is partially also due to there not existing a single window in the bar or within your view when you are inside the bar. You can’t tell if it is day or night, sunny or raining. But the warm light, leather and wood haven’t changed since it opened. From there it is likely the next thing one notices after becoming acquainted with the room is the artwork on the walls.
In the late 1940s, Ludwig Bemelmans—the illustrator who created Madeline—painted murals across the leather panels. In exchange for the work, the hotel gave his family a home. It is generally accepted that this was for a period of 18 months.
While Bemelmans is best remembered for his tales of Paris, the artwork on these walls is a homage to Manhattan. Spread across the leather are seasonal scenes of Central Park filled with his characteristic playfulness. Elephants gliding across frozen ponds, rabbits picnicking under autumn foliage, and birds dressed in coat and tie. Fans of Madeline will still find her here. Tucked among the trees near the park's reservoir, a sharp eye can spot twelve little girls walking in two straight lines led by Miss Clavel, with Madeline herself unmistakable in her yellow straw hat and blue coat.People come to Bemelmans to linger. They sit in the leather banquettes and watch the nightly routine. Bartenders in red jackets.. Order a martini, and it arrives cold, with a glass sidecar set in crushed ice.
On many evenings the piano plays. Playing jazz or cabaret, the music fills the room, Competing with the laughter of couples, the chatter of regulars, or a reader with a Manhattan in the corner. What makes the room special is its permanence. These walls represent the only surviving public display of Bemelmans' art anywhere in the world. Rather than hanging safely behind museum glass, his original hand-painted sketches remain exactly where he left them. Bathed in the glow of the bar, that does not change.
