The Oak Room Closes Permanently

The Oak Room Supper Club is closing, the Wall Street Journal reports.

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The Algonquin Hotel club featured performances by cabaret and jazz singers for 32 years. When the hotel, which closed Jan. 1 for renovations, reopens The Oak Room will be replaced by a lounge used for Marriott Reward Elite guests.

"The Oak Room has been a cultural institution since 1980," said general manager Gary Budge. "However, with declining guest counts, it seemed like the appropriate thing for us to do right now."

Singers like Harry Connick Jr., Diana Krall and Michael Feinstein were among those who performed at The Oak Room.

The Oak Room opened as a night club in the late 1930s in New York, with the first performer being Greta Keller, but closed during World War II. Music was not performed at the club regularly until 1980.

Singer Emily Bergl recalled the legacy and history of The Oak Room. "People have died in the Oak Room," she said, referring to jazz singer Sylvia Syms, who died after performing a show in the early 1990s. "That's the way that I wanted to go -- to die in the Oak Room during a set."