The Hickory House Dinner Menu

New York: The Hickory House, [ca. 1940s]. Double sided sheet folded to create four pages, with a “Chef’s Special” 4 x 2 ½ in. card stapled to the interior. Offset on green cardstock. 10 ¾ x 14 ¼ in. Very good, with wear and discoloration commensurate to age, and a pinhole on the right-side of verso. Item #6737

Dinner menu for the Hickory House, the renowned New York jazz club located on West 52nd Street. Th club was opened in 1933—the very dawn of post-prohibition New York—by John Popkin.

The Hickory House was both a swing venue and a spot to grab cocktails and dinner before a show. By the 1950s, the venue hosted and served many influential musicians, such as Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Oscar Pettiford, and Thelonius Monk, who would stop by the club for a meal, and watch the house trio, which consisted of Marian McPartland, Bill Crow, and Joe Morello. Some would even join in with the house musicians; most famously, after coaxing, Ellington is reported to have joined them on the bandstand.

“Life! Life! From ten thirty until scrambled eggs there is always a popular singy rhythm band to beat out tuneful and catchy syncopations in their own inimitable style.”.

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