Roosevelt Hotel Waldorf Astoria Woeful Winter Wonderland

Pictures of the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans Christmas Lobby below in slideshow format

The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans reopened in the summer of 2009. It is part of the Waldorf Astoria. For many years it operated as the Fairmont Hotel and prior to that the Roosevelt Hotel and originally the Grunewald.

 

 

The Roosevelt Hotel Angel Hair lobby  pictured above in slideshow format. Photos taken November 27, 2009

In the 1940s the Roosevelt Hotel decorated the lobby in grand fashion to celebrate the holiday season. The Angel Hair Lobby, a winter wonderland that stretched one block from University Place to Baronne was introduced in the 1940s.

I was excited to read, like other New Orleanians, that the  Roosevelt Hotel would bring back the Christmas tradition of decorating the lobby. I headed off to The Roosevelt on Black Friday hoping to recapture  those special moments of days gone by.

The tunnel of Christmas ornaments, clouds, and lights is gone for what the new management favors -- accentuating the height of the lobby with tall flocked Christmas trees.

Also missing are the grand gingerbread house and the Santa Sleigh. To see what the Christmas Lobby looked like before it closed in 2005  click here and scroll all the way to the bottom.

I  wasn't amazed like I was in the past.  Before when it was the Fairmont Chirstmas Lobby I was always taken aback with the work and detail that went into the Angel Hair Lobby.  It was like walking in a cloud.

When I stopped by to see what the Roosevelt had done for their 2009 version of the Winter Wonderland, I first thought they must still be working on it. Unfortunately I was looking at the finished product. They didn't even bother to decorate the hallway closer to Baronne Street that leads to the escalators like they had done in years past.

I got the impression that the new owners didn't know or understand the Christmas lobby tradition at the Fairmont.  I didn't expect the Christmas lobby to be exactly the same, but I wasn't expecting to leave disappointed.

I understand that the Roosevelt would like to showcase the lobby's height and the chandelier, but why not raise the cloud that existed before?

We waited five years for this? I wouldn't be in any hurry to see the Roosevelt Hotel Winter Wonderland.

For those that are curious The Sazerac Bar and the Blue Room are still there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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