All that jazz

It’s that time of the month again: You and your beau are ready for a night on the town. Unexpectedly, we’re going uptown, to the Upper East Side. We hope you got on your dancing shoes (we’re not talking about sneakers) because for a night at the Carlyle Hotel, one has to be dressed to the nines.

Once the clock strikes 9 (yes, tonight’s luck number is 9), you arrive for your reservation at Café Carlyle - the namesake restaurant of the institution - and a white-gloved server, who is dressed almost as impressively as you, escorts you to a table in the middle of the room, just under a magnificent chandelier, where the view of the classic cabaret stage is best. Impulsively your body begins to move to the beats of jazz legends who made their name in this very room, and eyes become distracted by the wonderful colors of Marcel Vertès on the walls.

The scene is a spectacle of elegant glamour, vibrating with a lively atmosphere. For a classic night, it’ll be a classic meal: juicy filet mignon for the Mister and tender scallops for the Misses. After a few flutes of champagne, you’re floating with the dancers in the murals … And wait, is that Woody Allen on stage with a clarinet? Yes, yes it is.

Just when you think you can’t get any higher … it’s time for a change of space (we don’t want to push it too far). Come back down to earth next door at Bemelmans Bar, the legendary piano bar, where the lights dim lower, and everyone becomes hypnotized by the fingers on the keys, in tune with a voice of an angel. And with a ceiling of 24-karat gold and nickel trimmed roundtables, the luxurious ambiance takes over. Another round, please! Pisco Sours and Whiskey Smash are their cups of tea, with the contrary effect - the night’s end is nowhere in sight.

Speaking of sight, notice the artwork on the walls is different and oddly reminiscent of a little girl with a yellow hat. That’s because the bar honors Ludwig Bemelmans, a former tenant and creator of Madeleine, who, if had the chance to grow up, would’ve been proud and in attendance every Friday night. She would be right, there’s no place in New York (still) like it.

We hope you booked the babysitter through the night because the hotel’s elegant suites are just as hard to leave. Let’s say check-out is at 9 a.m.

 

Contact our real estate agency BARNES New York

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