The Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena
We are staying The Langham Huntington in Pasadena. It’s a very cool, old hotel with a unique history sitting on 23 acres. The gift shop sells a book detailing the timeline, which I bought and hope to get to later. For now, I’ll paraphrase Wikipedia: It was originally constructed in 1907 by civil war veteran General Wentworth. Four years later, railroad tycoon Henry Huntington – we visited his home and gardens earlier today – bought it and, within 36 months, had it reopened under his name.
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It changed hands several more times with a long stretch as a luxury Sheraton before being almost totally demolished due to its inability to meet earthquake codes. The replica was built around a quarter-century ago and, at the time, was part of the Ritz Carlton franchise. Shortly before the Great Recession, in 2007, a Chinese real estate company acquired it through Langham Hotels International. (Now, when you stay here, some of the money is making its way back to the far East. That’s one of the consequence of unchecked trade deficits.)
I felt completely at home here. The staff was so friendly, the grounds beautiful, the rooms well-maintained, and the price more than reasonable for the value received. I’m grateful we took this detour to get to know the city of roses.
Aaron and I wandered the grounds, exploring the hotel for awhile.
The lobby was always busy with people coming and going, especially to the multiple restaurants the hotel offered. It was nice to see so much activity.
I liked the hallways that were adjacent to the lobby of the hotel … they still had telephone rooms where a person could go in and make a call. I remember when these were in a lot of hotels back in the 1980’s but most have disappeared due to cell phones. Speaking of which, my mom pointed out the first pay phone we’ve seen for decades while we were in California. It was shocking to see one. It made me a bit nostalgic.
The hallways outside the guest rooms were nice, too.
I’m happy with the room. Although it’s still just a hotel room and nowhere near as nice as home, this is the closest to feeling at home I’ve felt on the trip. I miss our bed … and our furniture … and our conveniences.
The bathrooms at the Langham Huntington are nice, too.
Well done. I feel comfortable here. I’d definitely stay at The Langham Huntington, again.
Another shot of the bathroom …
The bathroom conveniences are there, as well …
There was an elevated walk that let you veer off wherever you wanted on the property – the pool, the garden, the spa, the weight room, or the walking trails …
The swimming pool, which was to the right of the walkway, was the first Olympic sized swimming pool installed in the State of California. Given that the building was torn down and reconstructed, I doubt this is the actual pool itself, but the distinction still stands.
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The weight room was in an all-glass side area of the exercise facilities and looked out onto a garden …
You can see the weight room over to the right in this photograph. It was very pleasant walking around, watching the ducks, and feeling the breeze.
This really is a pleasant hotel. They did a very good job on it.
We went around exploring the Langham Huntington. There was at least one large wedding going on at the time, possibly more. It was fun seeing all the happy people walking around, clearly tipsy, dancing, smiling, running around …
Someone must have been having a meeting the next day because the staff, which was nowhere to be seen, appeared to have setup places for quite a few people in the room at the end.
We went through and looked at some of the board rooms, meeting rooms, ballrooms, etc.
The scent from the restaurant was amazing as the smoke piped through the lawn of the hotel property. You can see the diners in one of the restaurants if you look in the windows …
It began to grow dark so we made our way back to the room …
I’ll be up working for awhile, so good night to all of you.
The hotel is set back in a quiet residential neighborhood so it feels comfortable, like a cashmere sweater. If I’m ever in Pasadena again, this is the only place I’ll stay.
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