A luxury hotel with a legendary history
Entering through the revolving doors, the Roosevelt Hotel looks and even smells like old money, a place where wealthy New Orleans families might once have met Granddaddy and Nana for Sunday brunch.
The hotel, which opened in 1893, was originally called the Grunewald, after its German builder, but was renamed the Roosevelt in 1923, in honor of the U.S. President. Then, in 1965, it was bought by a hotel group and rechristened the Fairmont. Locals paid no attention and continued to call it the Roosevelt. After the 2005 flood, the hotel remained vacant for more than two years, an abandoned eyesore in the post-Katrina landscape. Eventually, Sam Friedman, son of a Louisiana senator, orchestrated a buyout by the Waldorf Astoria. The Waldorf spent more than $170 million to restore the Roosevelt, giving a piece of history back to New Orleans.
Info
Address 130 Roosevelt Way, New Orleans, LA 70112, +1 504.648.1200, www.therooseveltneworleans.com | Tip Other holiday traditions in New Orleans include: réveillon dinners, a French Creole custom in which restaurants offer prix fixe menus that include absinthe oyster soup and sugarcane smoked Muscovy duck breast; feux de joie, a Cajun ritual of setting massive bonfires along the banks of the Mississippi to light the way for Papa Nöel, the Cajun Santa Claus; the free Christmas Concert Series at the St. Louis Cathedral; and caroling at Jackson Square by candlelight.
The hotel’s storied past includes the Cave, the first nightclub in America where chorus girls danced to Dixieland Jazz under fabricated stalactites and waterfalls. The Cave is no longer, but the Blue Room remains. It was a supper club and host to performers like Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Durante, and Louis Armstrong. The hotel also houses the Sazerac Bar, where the locally famous sazerac cocktail may or may not have been invented.
The entire 12th floor used to be occupied by Louisiana’s beautifully corrupt governor, Huey P. Long. He used the Roosevelt for various nefarious political activities and personal pleasures. He was assassinated in 1937, but his locked donation box still graces the lobby. Slipping bills in Huey’s box today may not bring you luck and probably won’t buy influence, but it’s still a better bet than the nearby Harrah’s Casino.
If you’re in New Orleans at Christmastime, the exquisitely decked-out lobby is a must-visit, and the hotel also hosts the Teddy Bear Tea for children, which garners raves but might run you more than your last two paychecks.
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