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All the United States Louisiana New Orleans Carousel Bar
Gastro Obscura

Carousel Bar

The only rotating bar in New Orleans has been slowly spinning since 1949.

New Orleans, Louisiana

Added By
Tony Dunnell
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CAPTION
Carousel Bar in 1968.   Chris.j.cook/cc by-sa 3.0
Carousel Bar in 2006.   Chris.j.cook/cc by 3.0
Carousel Bar in 2012.   denisbin/cc by-nd 2.0
Carousel Bar in 2011.   Dan Silvers/cc by 2.0
  breaingram / Atlas Obscura User
Carousel Bar, New Orleans 11/13/2017   Keri Kilgo / Atlas Obscura User
  saralines / Atlas Obscura User
  saralines / Atlas Obscura User
  saralines / Atlas Obscura User
Plenty of booze April 2022   wolfey63 / Atlas Obscura User
Packed bar post pandemic April 2022   wolfey63 / Atlas Obscura User
  graphix6 / Atlas Obscura User
  notoriousFIG / Atlas Obscura User
Carousel Bar   Taterchips / Atlas Obscura User
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
Detail   Avoiding Regret
  cait7911 / Atlas Obscura User
Sidewalk view from outside the hotel   Avoiding Regret
Painted art on the backs of the bar seats   Avoiding Regret
Wide angle   Avoiding Regret
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About

The Carousel Bar in Hotel Monteleone is the only revolving bar in New Orleans. Decked out in classic merry-go-round fashion, it has been slowly spinning since 1949, and has long been a hotspot for locals and visitors, including plenty of A-list celebrities.

The 25 seats of the bar slowly rotate at one revolution every 15 minutes. The circus-style bar is pulled by a chain, driven by a one-quarter-horsepower motor, which smoothly turns the structure on 2,000 large steel rollers.

It might all sound thoroughly gimmicky, but this carnivalesque watering hole has more than enough class to offset the cheese. The likes of Vogue Living and Food & Wine have ranked it among their best bars in the world, and plenty of famous faces have given it their seal of approval over the decades.

Liberace used to perform at the hotel's Swan Room nightclub and often hit the bar after a show, quite possibly being one of the only patrons to ever look more flashy than the bar itself. Other notable patrons have included Ernest Hemingway, Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Truman Capote. More recently, Michael Jordan and Dennis Quaid have been seen knocking back a drink while taking a spin on the carousel.

Bartenders at the Carousel have also invented two signature cocktails. There's the Vieux Carré Cocktail, with equal parts rye whiskey, cognac, and sweet vermouth, and The Goody, a heady mix of dark rum, light rum, orgeat, pineapple juice, and orange juice.

Related Tags

Bars Unique Restaurants & Bars Machines Hotels Carousels

Know Before You Go

The Carousel Bar is one of the most popular bars in the French Quarter, so be prepared to wait for a seat at the bar itself. Plenty of other stationary tables and chairs surround the carousel, so you should be able to find somewhere to sit while you wait. You do not have to be a guest at the hotel to drink at the bar, and there's no dress code. But feel free to dress like Liberace for the full effect.

Community Contributors

Added By

Tony Dunnell

Edited By

Avoiding Regret, notoriousFIG, saralines, breaingram...

  • Avoiding Regret
  • notoriousFIG
  • saralines
  • breaingram
  • Keri Kilgo
  • Taterchips
  • cait7911
  • graphix6
  • wolfey63

Published

August 13, 2018

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Sources
  • https://www.nola.com/drink/index.ssf/2018/05/carousel_bar_named_one_of_the.html
  • https://www.travelandleisure.com/travel-guide/new-orleans/bars/carousel-bar
  • http://scnz.net/case-studies/hotel-monteleone
  • https://hotelmonteleone.com/entertainment/carousel-bar/
Carousel Bar
214 Royal St
New Orleans, Louisiana
United States
29.954347, -90.067868
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