Which American Hotel Is Owned By Singapore?

American flag

I was reading about La Quinta hotel and resorts in California, which is one of two prestige hotels where White Christmas could have been written by Irving Berlin. Assuming this was the hotel, by which swimming pool was he sitting by when he wrote White Christmas, that's hard to say, as the hotel now has dozens of pools. It is a vast estate of little villas where the rich and famous of Hollywood movie fame or heads of state hang out, in privacy.



Then I read that the hotel was owned by a Singapore Government investment company. I tracked back to that.

Wiki said:

Hollywood

A hangout for star celebrities since its inception, La Quinta Resort's greatest claim to fame is as the site which film director and frequent guest Frank Capra wrote the screenplay for Lost Horizon poolside in 1937.

Both La Quinta Resort & Club and PGA WEST were acquired by the Morgan Stanley Real Estate Fund, the real estate investment fund of Morgan Stanley, in 2007.^[2] In 2011, lenders including Paulson & Co., Winthrop Realty Trust and Capital Trust foreclosed on 8 of the former CNL hotels. in 2013, the owners reached a deal to sell the La Quinta and three other properties to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation.^[3] Hilton Hotels Corporation, based in McLean, Virginia, manages the hotel as a member of Waldorf Astoria Hotels and Resorts.

Governments and local council invest the money they collect from tax payers. The governments have literally billions of dollars and would be remiss if they did not invest it wisely.

Well, well, well. Your hotel, or the nearby hotel, or the hotel you are reading about, could be owned or part owned by the government of another country you are living in or travelling to. Small world, as they say.

Whether you are in the tropics or a cold Christmassy country:
Merry Christmas!

Now I have many more hotels to add to my must see list, even if I can only admire them from a distance.

For more about White Christmas and another hotel, the Arizona Biltmore, see the previous blog post.

Useful Websites
https://genius.com/Bing-crosby-white-christmas-lyrics
visttheusa.co.uk
singaporeair.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arizona_Biltmore_Hotel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Quinta_Resort_%26_Club
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GIC_Private_Limited

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. 
I have many more posts on the USA, destinations worldwide and seasonal subjects.
Please bookmark and share links with your friends and family and colleagues.

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.
Please bookmark and share links with your friends and family and colleagues.