Antonio Monteleone arrived in New Orleans from Sicily around the year 1880. A cobbler by trade, Monteleone set up shop on Royal Street, then a center of commerce and banking. In 1886, Monteleone purchased a small hotel on the corner of Royal and Iberville streets. When the nearby Commercial Hotel became available for purchase, Monteleone took the opportunity to expand. Since then, Hotel Monteleone has experienced five major expansions. Thirty rooms were added in 1903. Then, in 1908, 300 more rooms were added and the hotel's name was changed from the Commercial Hotel to Hotel Monteleone. In 1913, Antonio Monteleone died, and the business passed to his son Frank, who in 1928 added 200 more rooms, a year before the stock market crash that presaged the Great Depression. One of the few family-owned hotels in the nation to survive the Depression, Hotel Monteleone remained unchanged until the fourth expansion in 1954. That year the original building was demolished, and the foundation was laid for a new building that would include guest facilities, ballrooms, dining rooms, and cocktail lounges. Frank Monteleone died in 1958 and was succeeded by his son, Bill. In 1964, the fifth and final major expansion saw the addition of more floors, more guest rooms, and a Sky Terrace with swimming pools and cocktail lounges. In 2011 Bill died and his son William Jr. took over. It remains one of the few long-standing, family-owned hotels in the nation.
Hotel Monteleone's Carousel Piano Bar & Lounge is the only revolving bar in New Orleans. The 25-seat carousel bar turns on 2,000 large steel rollers, pulled by a chain powered by a motor at a constant rate of one revolution every 15 minutes. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Carousel Bar was also the site of a popular nightclub, the Swan Room, where musicians such as Liberace and Louis Prima performed. The Carousel Bar celebrated its 60th anniversary in July 2009, having been originally installed in 1949.
In film
1999: Double Jeopardy – Starring Ashley Judd and Tommy Lee Jones. Filmed in lobby, front of hotel, and the Carousel Bar transformed into the Armani Shop.
2004: Glory Road – A Jerry Bruckheimer production. Starring Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, and Jon Voight. Filmed in lobby and also in a built set in storage area. Hotel featured as fancy hotel lobby in a different city. Conference space was set aside for extras.
2005: The Last Time – Starring Brendan Fraser and Michael Keaton. Filmed in lobby, Carousel Bar, Hunt Room Grill, Bagatelle, and Engineer.
2008: 12 Rounds – Starring John Cena. Filmed in Vieux Carre Suite, 14th-floor hallway, roof by the marquis, boiler room, garage freight elevator, lobby, and front of hotel.
