Jim Brady’s Irish Pub in Manhattan closed at the start of the pandemic and has remained closed ever since. Visitors who used to enjoy their drink there now pass indifferently in front of her. But inside, through the dusty windows, one can see a unique monument to the glorious past of New York in the 1950s: a magnificent carved mahogany bar that once belonged to the legendary Stork Club, the famous nightclub that once graced Kelly, Humphrey Bogarde, Ernest Hemingway with its presence. , Elizabeth Taylor, J. Edgar Hoover, Marilyn Monroe and members of the Roosevelt and Kennedy families. John F. Kennedy brought his companions, including his later wife Jacqueline Bouvier and later Marilyn Monroe. Here, Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier of Monaco enjoyed their love without a care before they officially announced their engagement. At the Stork Club, Ernest Hemingway also got into a fight with the warden of Sing Sing prison. The art bar was converted into an Irish pub in the 1970s.

The Stork Club opened in 1929 and closed for good 40 years later, witnessing modern American history from the crash of 1929, World War II to the arrival of Elvis and the start of the Vietnam War. Its owner Sherman Billingsley, an Oklahoma bootlegger, became the king of the New York night. Dressed to the nines, with gold cufflinks and a watch, he casually chatted with the stars and sent secret messages to his employees, indicating which of the patrons was “an unimportant person.” In his anecdotal memoir, Billingsley writes: “I saw mothers stealing their daughters’ girlfriends, girls marrying their brothers’ suitors. I know a father who had an affair with his daughter-in-law. They were all high society people.”

In ban

The Stork Club opened in 1929 and has been a witness to modern American history for 40 years.

The Stork Club started out as an illegal bar that sold alcohol during Prohibition. The authorities closed it, but it reopened elsewhere and became a favorite haunt of journalists and archmafiosi alike. It was later moved to its last and most famous location, Number 3 53rd Street. A carved rod found in an Irish pub appears to have belonged to the first stork club.

The last surviving daughter of Billingsley, who died in 1966, Chermaine, now 77, recalls her visits to the Stork Club. “I don’t think there is anything like that today,” he comments. “My dad used to say, ‘Kermen, come over, I’ll introduce you to Jack Gleason, Cary Grant, or Yul Brynner.’ He had incredible brilliance and deep spirituality.” Chermain was present when the stork club closed for good.

Against unions

The owner’s bitter confrontation with the unions led to a year-long strike and layoffs of many employees. The popularity of television kept even the most socialite New Yorkers at home to watch shows like I Love Lucy and Powder Smoke, while the gambling nightlife moved to Las Vegas, Miami and Havana. All of them were death blows for the Stork Club. “They said unions are responsible for the costs. The reality, however, is that it was James Dean’s fault, in black boots and blue jeans. It represented the coming of a new era,” Chermain says thoughtfully.