AU REVOIR, REGENCY...So sad. I just realized that one of my favorite hotels in Manila closed down. It seems that the Chan family has closed their Hyatt Regency on Roxas Boulevard for now, their hotel overshadowed by the glitzy new Hyatt Regency and Casino in Malate. And although the Roxas Boulevard Hyatt was looking kinda tired and frayed around the edges during it's last days (remember the Hyatt 10?), I still liked the hotel a lot because of it's classic 60's Leandro Locsin design and the fact that they had real Fernando Amorsolo paintings hanging in their lobby. Their food was also really great and their service warm and homey. It felt like you were staying in your grandmother's house. That is, if your grandmother was a wealthy haciendera who lived in a mansion in North Forbes Park. The Hyatt Regency was also the venue for many a high school memory. I remember dancing the rigodon de honor and 18 roses at Lisa Chan's debut and watching Side A band at the Calesa Bar in the lobby (my cousin Sony managed them). Here's to hoping that the Chans find someone new to run this structure as a boutique hotel instead of selling it to some clueless developer. It would be a shame to lose another structure by a National Artist for Architecture for such a reason.
The Hyatt Regency (formerly the Sheraton Manila) in the early days (above and below).
