In 1949, roughly 250 women danced through the doors of a New Orleans bar that had admitted them only on Mardi Gras Day, and the hotel has thrown a party about it nearly every year since.
The Roosevelt opened in 1893 and has spent more than 130 years as a fixture of the Central Business District. Its lobby runs the length of a city block, lined in marble and chandeliers. The hotel closed for four years after Hurricane Katrina and reopened in 2009 under the Waldorf Astoria flag, with 504 rooms and suites.
Governor Huey P. Long ran much of Louisiana from the 12th floor. He kept a suite there as his New Orleans headquarters and took his cocktails seriously enough that, finding the Ramos Gin Fizz poorly made at a New York hotel, he ordered his best bartender flown up to demonstrate.
The bar he favored opened on August 1, 1938, as the Main Bar, with a mahogany counter, African walnut paneling, and wall-length murals by artist Paul Ninas depicting New Orleans life in the early 20th century. Seymour Weiss bought the rights to the Sazerac name in 1949 and opened a separate bar under it on Baronne Street. That was the room the women stormed on September 26 of that year, after Weiss announced through the press that the men-only rule was ending. The name transferred back to the Main Bar in 1959, and that room is where guests drink today.
The Sazerac Bar has since been named the best hotel bar in America six times by USA Today readers. A bullet hole remains in the wall, credited by some to one of Long’s bodyguards and by others to an oilman and a clumsy revolver. The annual reenactment brings a 1940s-attire ladies’ luncheon and a ceremonial second line through the lobby.
Three more rooms handle the rest. The Fountain Lounge serves cocktails and a full menu in the grand lobby. Teddy’s Café pours café au lait alongside beignets and the Waldorf Astoria red velvet cake. Rooftop at the Roosevelt runs the poolside bar, where new curtained cabanas come with sofa seating, a mini fridge, a chilled bottle of sparkling wine, and dedicated service. The pool closes seasonally and reopens in April, running 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. for guests with a room key.
December turns the lobby into the city’s most elaborate holiday display. Staff wrap 112,000 lights around birch trees, hang 4,000 glass ornaments, and set up 42 decorated Christmas trees down the block-long corridor. The Teddy Bear Tea, a family tradition that sells tickets well in advance, runs through the season.
The Waldorf Astoria Spa handles treatments, and the hotel has added a program it calls Beyond the City Limits, two guided journeys into coastal Louisiana focused on the landscapes, communities, and conservation work outside the city.
The mailing address is 130 Roosevelt Way. New Orleans named the street after the hotel, which is a reasonable summary of how much of this neighborhood the building has come to define.
