Gina Lollobrigida, Laurence Olivier, and Kirk Douglas at the El Morocco, 1958.

Stars and Stripes

For three decades, a zebra-patterned banquette at the El Morocco put you at the center of New York nightlife—as long as you were on the right side of the room

By Michael Callahan

In Humphrey Bogart’s defense, the panda was minding his own business.

On that September night in 1949, Bogart and his pal, playboy Billy Seeman, had walked into New York’s fashionable El Morocco nightclub with dates, albeit of a peculiar shade: each had brought with him a 22-pound stuffed panda. Inside, the foursome took their seats and ordered a round of drinks.