Thelife
St. Regis New York
- The St. Regis New York, New York City's top-rated hotel, is home to an iconic cocktail bar: the King Cole Bar.
- It claims to have invented the Bloody Mary in 1934.
- Over the years, the bar has attracted businesspeople and celebrities including Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, Salvador Dali, and Joe DiMaggio.
- It was also featured in the CW show "Gossip Girl."
- King Cole Bar has one ultra-exclusive table that can only be booked 48 hours in advance with a $2,500 reservation fee.
- I recently had a drink at the King Cole Bar, and I found that its elegant ambiance was more of a draw than the actual cocktails.
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New York City is full of cocktail bars, but only one can lay claim to inventing the Bloody Mary, as well as hosting an array of celebrities over the years that include Marilyn Monroe, John Lennon, and Joe DiMaggio.
The King Cole Bar is inside the swanky St. Regis hotel in Manhattan, which is the top-rated hotel in New York City, according to US News & World Report. Its namesake is a massive mural that stretches behind the bar, painted by Maxfield Parrish in 1906. It was originally commissioned by John Jacob Astor, who built the St. Regis, for another of his hotels, The Knickerbocker. The painting was moved to the St. Regis in 1932.
The clientele of King Cole Bar are sophisticated businesspeople and celebrities with no qualms about dropping $26 on a cocktail or $28 on a glass of wine. After 4 p.m., guests at King Cole Bar must be at least 21 years old and be wearing "proper attire," which is a "smart casual" dress code, according to the website.
I recently got a drink at the bar - here's what it was like.