Showing posts with label Off the Record bar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Off the Record bar. Show all posts

Monday, July 14, 2025

On the Record about Off the Record, DC's cartoon bar

by Mike Rhode

7/15: updates to the original post marked with *  - 4 pieces from KAL, and one sheet of photos so far.

 KAL's newsletter post about his coaster artwork inspired me to finally finish this. 

Supreme Court justices for the circular corner booth, courtesy of Ann Telnaes

A few months ago, Matt Wuerker created this guide to who was who in the 1990s caricatures by Edmund Valtman and Ron Coddington on the wall (note 1) in the bar in the Hay-Adams Hotel. He was able to identify everybody but one. To learn more about them, you can read “On The Record With Off The Record's Cartoonists,” White House History (48; Winter 2018): 60-71 at https://issuu.com/whhapubl/docs/whha_journal_48 

  

the unknown caricature




There are other cartoons and caricatures on the walls, but Matt was concerned with identifying these.  

Now, an attempt to list all of the coasters they've produced. 

20170901_181759
Kim Jong-un by Matt and Angela Merkel by Kal

 Here's an almost certainly incomplete list of caricatures, with who drew them, and the year when known. I had a short list of ones I didn't own, but I think I've lost that. There were more foreigner leaders iirc, and perhaps a Pope.

20170901_181807
Mitch McConnell by KAL and Putin by Matt


*Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2025
Angela Merkel Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2017
Ben Carson Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
Boris Johnson Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2022
Carly Fiorina Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
Donald Trump Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
*Elizabeth Warren Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
Gavin Newsom Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2023
George W. Bush with Barack Obama Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Joe Biden Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'

*John Kerry Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
*Kristi Noem Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2025
Mike Pence Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
Mitch McConnell Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2014
Paul Ryan Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2015
*Pete Buttigieg Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2025
Robert Mueller Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL' 2018
Ted Cruz with Canadian Club whiskey Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Ted Cruz with tea Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Chris Christie Telnaes, Ann 2015
Hillary Clinton   Telnaes, Ann 2015
J.D. Vance Telnaes, Ann 2024
Kamala Harris   Telnaes, Ann 2021
Lindsay Graham Telnaes, Ann 2022
Melania Trump and the Trump children Telnaes, Ann 2016
Ruth Bader Ginsberg Telnaes, Ann 2017 
Anthony Fauci Wuerker, Matt 2021
Bernie Sanders Wuerker, Matt 2015
Bernie Sanders with FDR on the wall Wuerker, Matt 2019
Biden vs. Trump Wuerker, Matt       2024?
Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi Wuerker, Matt 2016
Chris Christie and Michellee Obama Wuerker, Matt
Donald and Melania Trump decorating the White House Wuerker, Matt 2025
Elizabeth Warren with Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O'Rourke  Wuerker, Matt 2019
George HW, Barbara, George W and Jeb Bush Wuerker, Matt 2015
Hakeem Jeffries Wuerker, Matt     2024?
Hillary Clinton with Bill Clinton Wuerker, Matt
Jeb Bush Wuerker, Matt 2015
Joe and Jill Biden Wuerker, Matt
John Boehner Wuerker, Matt
John Boswell Wuerker, Matt
Kamala Harris with Joe Biden Wuerker, Matt 2019
Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, George Santos. Republican representatives. Wuerker, Matt 2023
Kim Jong-un Wuerker, Matt 2017
Marco Rubio Wuerker, Matt 2015
Mike Johnson Wuerker, Matt     2024?
Omarosa Manigault Newman Wuerker, Matt 2018
Rand Paul Wuerker, Matt 2015
Ron DeSantis Wuerker, Matt 2023
Sarah Huckabee Sanders Wuerker, Matt 2018
Scott Walker Wuerker, Matt 2015
Tim Kaine with Hillary Clinton Wuerker, Matt
Tim Waltz Wuerker, Matt 2024
Vladimir Putin Wuerker, Matt 2017

my collection mounted in a portfolio
*updated - missed this page originally


20170901_181820
Ruth Ginsberg by Ann




John Boehner by Matt

Melania and Trump by Matt


(1) These are part of the Library of Congress' Art Wood collection, but were hung in the bar before the Library acquired it from Wood.

KAL on the Off the Record coaster art

Kevin KAL Kallaugher 
Freelance Follies #1: Cartoon Coasters for The Famous Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington DC
Kal Draws The Line Jul 14, 2025  

KAL got me to finally get my post listing the cartoonists and their subjects from the coasters, as well as posting Matt Wuerker's key to the Valtman and Coddington caricatures on the wall.

Wednesday, December 04, 2024

Off the Record bar in Louise Penny's The Grey Wolf

 ComicsDC's favorite bar, Off the Record is briefly in Canadian author Louise Penny's new novel The Grey Wolf. 

Penny reads frequently from her books in DC, so has almost certainly been in the bar. Here's the snippet of description (some of which is accurate, and some not). 

It took Jean-Guy a few moments for his eyes to adjust to the dim bar in the basement of the storied Hay-Adams hotel. At least, he suspected there were stories, though he himself didn't know any.

The Hay-Adams had a front-row view of the White House. It was, in theatrical and professional-wrestling terms, in the "spit zone."*

The bar itself was windowless. Perhaps, Jean-Guy thought, because the men and women who frequented it would rather forget about the building looming right there. Or maybe there was a more practical reason. It was private. No one could see out, but neither could anyone see in.**

There was a reason it was called Off the Record. He could see by the photos on the walls that this subterranean haunt was a discreet meeting place for Washington's political class.***

It was where apparent adversaries downed stiff drinks and shared bowls of peanuts and information.

Where journalists met contacts.

Where intelligence agents met informants.

They sat in the blood red chairs, surrounded by burgundy walls, and whispered their confidences.

"I'll have a Shirley Temple, please."

The waiter, who'd clearly heard and seen it all, merely asked if

Beauvoir wanted one maraschino cherry or two.

"Two please."

The waiter brought it, placing the perspiring glass on the face of the President of the United States. Beauvoir picked up the coasters strewn on the wooden table and saw that each had a caricature of a famous politician. Most American, but some foreign. None, that he could see, Canadian.**** Since Canada, as far as America's political elite knew, did not really exist. And if it did, it was merely an inconvenient extension of their nation. A sort of annoying younger sibling that sometimes tried to assert itself but could always be put in its place.

*Actually, Lafayette Park, which is a square city block, is between the bar and the White House.

**The bar does have some small windows, but it's mostly set below-ground so it would be a view of sidewalk-level ankles.

***There are no photos on the wall. The decoration is all political caricatures or cartoons, many of which date back to the 1980s. See our other posts about the bar.

*****I think there was a Pierre Trudeau one, but I don't own it. 


Monday, November 11, 2024

Political cartoons in the On the Record bar catchup time

I stopped in for a drink with a friend who's never been there before. These are pictures of art that I don't remember seeing before, and at the end, Tim Walz and JD Vance coasters.









The Supreme Court nook

















Monday, November 04, 2024

Matt Wuerker art for Hay-Adams' Off the Record bar's coasters

Apparently I haven't been keeping the blog updated about these. Well, I'm falling behind on my collection too. Here's 3 I had to buy on eBay. I don't know if KAL or Ann Telnaes have done any recently - time to get some drinks there.

Biden vs Trump. I imagine this one has been retired.

Hakeem Jeffries

Speaker of the House (and MAGA lickspittle) Mike Johnson

PS I have extra ones of Biden and Trump (separate, not the one above) that I could be convinced to mail to a good home.

Tuesday, November 05, 2019

Off the Record bar has new coasters and artwork

I stopped briefly into the Hay-Adams Hotel bar yesterday and saw a new Trump caricature by Matt Wuerker on the wall of the stairway coming down from the main hotel. I also got a new coaster of Kamala Harris , so I checked with Matt to see what else he'd done with Kevin KAL Kalllaugher and Ann Telnaes.
 
",,,you missed the new Supreme Court!  In the booth behind the bar we've done the current bench. I also did some new coasters-- Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and a new Bernie Sanders. It was just me for this round of coasters.  They needed a quick turn around. The Supremes were evenly divided between the three of us."