Lenox Lounge is a long-standing bar in Harlem, New York City. It is located in Lenox Avenue, between 124th and 125th. The bar was founded in 1939 and served as venue for performances by many great jazz artists, including Billie Holiday, Miles Davis, and John Coltrane. Harlem Renaissance writers James Baldwin and Langston Hughes were both patrons,[1] as was Malcolm X.[2]
The bar deteriorated through the middle of the 20th century but was renovated in 1999.
The Lenox Lounge was voted "Best of the Best" by the 2002 Zagat Survey Nightlife Guide and by the 2001 New York Magazine.
The Lenox Lounge featured as the hang-out of Detective John Shaft in the 2000 remake of the film Shaft.
Both the exterior facade and interior of Lenox Lounge were featured in the film American Gangster. In one scene Denzel Washington's character, Frank Lucas, meets with Nicky Barnes, played by Cuba Gooding Jr., in the renowned Zebra Room at the Lenox Lounge. The Zebra Room also was used for a key scene in the Mad Men pilot, "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes."[3]