Manhattan’s Stork Club, one of the most famous watering holes in the long history of American nightclubbing, was – from its opening in 1929 to its demise in 1965 – the place to see and be seen in the Big Apple. The slick, sexy, smoky creation of a native Oklahoman and ex-bootlegger named Sherman Billingsley, the Stork was, in the words of legendary gossip columnist and radio loudmouth Walter Winchell, “New York’s New Yorkiest” joint. Sherman Billingsley, Stork Club owner Sherman Billingsley Billingsley was, it would seem, born for the role of nightclub big shot; rarely a night went by when he wasn’t on the floor, shaking hands, slapping backs, greeting movie stars, musicians, powerful pols and famous athletes, keeping the booze flowing, playing cards with the clientele – in short, running an upscale saloon like a well-oiled (and highly profitable) machine.
Stork Club
