With sensational views of the city spread out below, The Penthouse Club was situated on the 15^th floor of 30 Central Park South in New York City and opened in 1930.

It was owned by Paul Taubman, a veteran organist who provided background music for some of the most popular quiz shows of the 1950s and 1960s such as Tic Tac Dough and Concentration. He also served as musical director for Twenty One, the prime time quiz show caught out in a fixing scandal and immortalized in the 1995 Oscar winner Quiz show, directed by Robert Redford.

Taubman appeared nightly, playing either the organ or piano. He recorded four albums of lounge music at the Penthouse Club in the early 1960s.

Serving French cuisine, the restaurant was popular with people coming to the city to see Broadway shows. Diners were often thrilled when some of the stars they’d seen on stage earlier in the evening turned up and gave off-the-cuff performances of hit songs.

We love the simple but clever graphic on the front cover of the menu, incorporating the building into the P for Penthouse.

The Penthouse Club closed in 1968.

Courtesy Private Collection.