White Christmas song: where was it written in the USA? Maybe the Arizona Biltmore Hotel?

US Flag

The song written by Irving Berlin first performed on Christmas day 1941 became the world's best selling single. Nowadays the first verse is dropped. He wrote it in either the La Quinta hotel in La Quinta, California, USA, or another hotel where he often stayed, the Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix, Arizona.

The Arizona Biltmore Hotel
One story goes that Irving Berlin wrote the lyrics by the Catalina pool which is also known as the Marilyn Monroe pool. We don't know what he was drinking, but the hotel's barman invented the Tequila Sunrise.


Catalina Pool, Arizona Biltmore Hotel, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Irving Berlin started his song with this verse:

The sun is shining, the grass is green,
The orange and palm trees sway.
There's never been such a day
in Beverly Hills, L.A.
But it's December the twenty-fourth,—
And I am longing to be up North

However, the second verse was the one which caught on worldwide. Not everybody is in Beverly Hills, LA. But many people can remember previous Christmases.  




The second verse is the one everybody knows
I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

Then what?

Nostalgia

Just like the ones I used to know

Where the tree tops glisten and children listen
for sleigh bells in the snow

Irving Berlin was from a Jewish family who emigrated from Russia to the USA. You don't have to be a committed Christian, or indeed a Christian, to feel affected by this song. It's a classic.

Irving Berlin. Photo from Wikipedia.

He wrote many other equally famous hits, Alexander's Ragtime Band, God Bless America. he lived to the age of 101.

The Arizona Biltmore, 2400 East Missouri Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona, United States, 85016Tel: 602.955.6600.

See Useful Websites
Wikipedia White xmas song
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Christmas_(song)
visittheusa.co.uk
https://genius.com/Bing-crosby-white-christmas-lyrics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Biltmore_Hotel

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 
I have many more posts on the USA, destinations worldwide and seasonal subjects. See my next post on La Quinta hotel and resort.
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