Les Caves du Roy Beirut

Les Caves du Roy
Beirut
1960s

Photo: Paul Rushworth

Excelsior Hotel and Palm Beach Hotel side by side

Vintage Postcard 1960s

Italian singer Joe Diverio with commander Moratti

Les Caves du Roy
1970s

Letter posted from Excelsior Beirut to Switzerland
1968

Seen at Les Caves du Roy
Beirut
1960s

French socialite Jacqueline Vayssière and friends.

Source: Le Libanais et la Vie au Liban

Joe Diverio: Nicknamed , 'The Italian of Beirut' because of his
Golden voice, accompanied by his orchestra I Magnifici, had come from his native country
to settle in Lebanon as a lead singer at Les Caves du Roy since 1965.
Leaving Beirut when war broke out and when Les Caves closed, Diverio created a
Song of love and hope for Beirut 'Goodbye but ... goodbye ' he said, speaking of his second homeland.



Source: Les Libanais et la vie au Liban by Asma Freiha and Viviane Ghanem

Installations on the walls of Les Caves du Roy and the surviving logo on the building

Lebanese Sculptor Alfred Basbous in the garden of Excelsior hotel next to his sculpture in his individual exhibition at the gardens of Excelsior hotel.

Excelsior 1970
Beirut

Alfred Basbous was born in Rachana, Lebanon in 1924. His first exhibition in Beirut, at the Alecco Saab gallery in 1958, marked the beginning of a long and successful career as a sculptor.

In 1960, he received a scholarship from the French government and became a pupil of the sculptor René Collamarini at ‘The National Fine Arts School in Paris’ (L'Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Paris). In 1961, his works were included in the International Sculpture Exhibition at the Musée Rodin, in Paris.

From 1994 to 2004, Basbous organized the International Symposium of Sculpture in Rachana, Lebanon, where famous sculptors from around the world were invited to create, sculpt and exhibit their works alongside his own.

Excelsior Hotel garden and pool

Beirut 1960s

Excrlsior Hotel, home of Les Caves du Roy

1960s Beirut

Chilling by the pool at Excelsior hotel
Beirut 1960s

Photo: Jean Gulbenk

The Dark Eyes band at Les Caves du Roy

BEIRUT 197Os

The four-member band included
Tbacked up the Italian singer Joe
Diverio, who performed at the nightclub daily from the mid-1960s to 1975.