Jayne Mansfield in the Tricycle Garage

Following the rousing success of Eloise, The Plaza realized the value of cultivating the toddler set (and their indulgent parents), and thus the idea of the Tricycle Garage was born. (It came about after general manager Eugene Voit—the father of a six-year-old—discovered firsthand how difficult it was to maneuver a child and tricycle into Central Park and back for some bike riding.) Carved out of a corner of the Fifty-eighth Street loading dock and done up in jolly red-and-white candy stripes, the garage opened in May 1956 and provided bike racks and numbered license plates for a fee of fifteen cents a day or three dollars per month. Plaza guests were allowed to use it gratis and were also loaned tricycles for free. (Here, a handout card announcing the service.)

The promotion proved popular enough to inspire a special children’s menu (here, featuring Eloise on a three-wheeler), available in all of the restaurants. Among its offerings were Sirloin Suzie-Q, Teeny Weenies, and Mary-Had-a-Little-Lamb Chop, which could be accompanied by a Kiddie Kar Kocktail. The pièce de résistance was the Tricycle Treat, a dessert featuring a tiny bike rider cast in vanilla ice cream, riding on a square of sponge cake in a drift of whipped cream doused with raspberry sauce.

At the time of the garage’s unveiling, Hollywood starlet Jayne Mansfield was in the city promoting her latest picture, The Girl Can’t Help It. An overamplified version of Marilyn Monroe, Mansfield was always game for any kind of publicity, and here she poses dutifully with her daughter, Jayne Marie.