By the 1950s, A-list guests of the Garden of Allah Hotel (Flynn, Bogie, Bacall, Rogers, Stokowski, Marx, and half the Algonquin Round Table) were no longer around so the hotel did what many hotels do—it reinvented itself. All reports I’ve read of the bar say that it was dark and not well patronized. But sometime in the 50s, it got a complete makeover. As we can see from this photo, it got a long, roomy bar, a bunch of booths, new carpeting, and it looks like it opened out onto the famously infamous Garden of Allah pool. The bar became known as a hip jazz joint and Jack Costanzo – aka “Mr. Bongo” – recorded a live album there: “BONGO FEVER” which was the most, to say the least.
By the 1950s, A-list guests of the Garden of Allah Hotel (Flynn, Bogie, Bacall, Rogers, Stokowski, Marx, and half the Algonquin Round Table) were no longer around so the hotel did what many hotels do—it reinvented itself. All reports I’ve read of the bar say that it was dark and not well patronized. But sometime in the 50s, it got a complete makeover. As we can see from this photo, it got a long, roomy bar, a bunch of booths, new carpeting, and it looks like it opened out onto the famously infamous Garden of Allah pool. The bar became known as a hip jazz joint and Jack Costanzo – aka “Mr. Bongo” – recorded a live album there: “BONGO FEVER” which was the most, to say the least.
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