“Probably the city’s most famous mural, this merry rendition of nursery-rhyme perennial Old King Cole hangs in the eponymous St. Regis barroom. Painted by illustrator Maxfield Parrish, the mural was originally made for Midtown’s Knickerbocker Hotel and then displayed in several other locations before landing in the St. Regis in the 1930s. It’s said that John Jacob Astor (who owned the Knickerbocker and commissioned the work) requested that his face be used as the model for the king’s, and there is some resemblance; it’s also said that the king is pictured while breaking wind, a not-so-far-fetched idea given his posture and his jesters’ expressions.”