I’m sure that most of us have had a seat at NOLA’s Carousel Bar. While looking through a 1937 phone directory of Buffalo, NY I came across this advertisement for a revolving bar. It made me wonder how many
of these there were over the years.
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The revolving bar was a popular concept from the 1930s on for several decades. Based on my research over the years, it seems every city big and small had at least one. And many were called the Carousel, or Circle Room. Here in Wisconsin, there was a Carousel Supper Club in Waukesha. The Gobbler was another famous supper club with a revolving bar.
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They definitely went around for a while.
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The Fairmont Copley in Boston had one from 1934 until 1978 in the space that is the Oak Room/Oak Long Bar now. I learned about it from a plaque on their wall, and later this article was written about it.
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Great postcard Fred!
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Chez Amis and their revolving bar are still open, but I wouldn’t expect much from their cocktails.
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The next one that comes to mind after the Carousel Bar is the defunct Horse-a-Round Bar in Vegas at Circus Circus. Hunter Thompson called it the Merry-Go-Round Bar in Fear & Loathing and also (not surprisingly) made it sound a lot bigger and faster than it actually was. But the real bar was still extremely weird, and not a bad place to drink whiskey on the rocks while watching circus acts overhead.
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A lot of people even in my area don’t realize it but Arlington, VA, has a revolving restaurant, Skydome.
The bar is at the center. I’ve had dinner there. It wasn’t terrible (though my pork chop was overcooked), the drinks were mediocre, but you go for the view and the revolving.
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It appears that after the “restoration” that the iconic Pier 66 rooftop bar no longer features a rotating bar either. What a bummer!
What a shame. Looks beautiful though.