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24-467: The Omni Royal Orleans is a 345-room hotel on the corner of St. Louis and Royal Streets near Jackson Square in the French Quarter of New Orleans , Louisiana . It was constructed in 1960 as The Royal Orleans Hotel , on the site of the old St. Louis Hotel , which was completely destroyed in the 1915 New Orleans hurricane . Earlier the site had been The City Exchange , a slave auction site until

48-494: A pedestrian zone . At that time numerous street performers set up. Outstanding, up-and-coming New Orleans jazz musicians can be heard in the vicinity, although performers vary widely. Royal Street also contains restaurants and hotels, notably the Hotel Monteleone , a family-owned high-rise established in the late 19th century. Despite catastrophic effects of 2005's Hurricane Katrina in much of New Orleans, Royal Street

72-566: A broken heart," Rodrigue wrote in September 2005. "Like a ship's S.O.S., the red cross on the dog's chest calls out for help." "We Will Rise Again" was the first of five works that the artist created for his new initiative, Blue Dog Relief: George Rodrigue Art Campaign for Recovery. To directly benefit the New Orleans Museum of Art, which was closed for six months due to flood damage, he also painted Throw Me Something FEMA and You Can't Drown

96-555: A steady gig at the Royal Orleans for decades. The job was later filled by the noted New Orleans composer and professor of music Roger Dickerson, and subsequently by another local pianist, Bob Ellis. After Hurricane Katrina , the hotel was used as a headquarters for the New Orleans Police Department . It suffered no damage from the storm. Among many notable guests who have stayed at the hotel are Louis Armstrong and

120-808: A three-day weekend celebration of the arts. In 2009, Rodrigue formed the George Rodrigue Foundation of the Arts (GRFA), a non-profit organization which advocates the importance of the visual arts in children's development. GRFA encourages the use of art within all curricula and supports a variety of art educational programs. Programs of the Rodrigue Foundation include an annual Scholarship Art Contest, and George's Art Closet, which donates art supplies to schools and Louisiana A+ Schools (LAA+). LAA+ trains hundreds of teachers annually in arts integration so that students can unlock their traditional subjects through

144-459: Is known for his creation of the Blue Dog series of paintings, featuring a blue-hued dog. He used the shape and stance of his deceased dog named Tiffany, and was primarily influenced by the loup-garou legend — the first painting in the series bears the title Watch Dog , painted for Bayou , a book of Louisiana ghost stories. The Blue Dog was made popular by Absolut Vodka in 1992, when Rodrigue

168-488: Is known for its opulent antique shops and art galleries. The prices at those shops tend to be high; indeed, the area has been listed as one of the world's most expensive places to shop. The finer antique stores display not simply items that are old, but such rare items as pieces of fine furniture owned by royalty of past centuries. The 800 block of Royal has traditionally been similar to the 700 Block, featuring various art galleries. Art galleries still line this block; however,

192-953: The Dixon Gallery and Gardens hosted a 40-year Rodrigue retrospective exhibition, which traveled in 2008 to the New Orleans Museum of Art . Rodrigue was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette on May 17, 2009. In 2011 the Boy Scouts of America honored him with the Distinguished Eagle Award. In 2013 he received the Opus Award from the Ogden Museum of Southern Art . In 2004, Rodrigue came to Shreveport with another incoming Democratic governor, Kathleen Blanco of Lafayette, with whom he made an appearance at

216-656: The National Trust for Historic Preservation . The Grand Salon ballroom of the Omni Royal Orleans has been a popular location for social events among New Orleans families for decades. The hotel's restaurant, the Rib Room, is frequented by many of the city's politicians and attorneys, particularly at lunch on Fridays. It is often called the "Royal O" or just "the Royal" by New Orleanians. Jazz pianist and composer Armand Hug had

240-637: The New Orleans Museum of Art and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art , and The Class of Marie Courrege , which won an honorable mention from Le Salon in Paris, France, 1975, prompting the French newspaper, Le Figaro , to dub Rodrigue "America's Rousseau." His most famous works include the Acadian heroine Evangeline , portrayed in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's epic poem, "Evangeline: A Tale of Acadie" (1847), and

264-554: The Rolling Stones . 29°57′23″N 90°03′56″W  /  29.9563°N 90.0656°W  / 29.9563; -90.0656 This article about a building or structure in Louisiana is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This New Orleans , Louisiana –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Royal Street, New Orleans The street starts at Canal Street (above Canal Street,

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288-569: The United Way for use in promoting the Louisiana 2-1-1 phone system. Louisiana 2-1-1 (an easy-to-remember Information & Referral phone number) seeks to eliminate barriers to reaching human-service agencies — particularly in the wake of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. As of September 2006, the donation tally to Blue Dog Relief beneficiaries was $ 700,000, including a check for $ 100,000 that Rodrigue presented to NOMA on March 3, 2006, to help kick off its grand re-opening: "The HeART of New Orleans,"

312-567: The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (then named the University of Southwestern Louisiana) and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena , California . He returned to Louisiana in the late 1960s, and became well known for his interpretations of Cajun subjects and landscapes, inspired by his roots. Rodrigue's early notable works include The Aioli Dinner , which divides its time between

336-468: The 1830s. The exterior was designed by architect Samuel Wilson Jr., while the interior was designed by Arthur Davis . The hotel has been rated four diamonds by AAA . Its address is 621 St. Louis Street. A partnership led by Darryl Berger, Jr., and the Berger Company, Inc., purchased the Royal Orleans in 2008. The Omni Royal Orleans is a member of Historic Hotels of America , an official program of

360-505: The Blues. Following those releases, Rodrigue launched a campaign for New Orleans levee protection. He sent prints of To Stay Alive We Need Levee 5 to every member of the U.S. Congress. Sales proceeds from silkscreen prints and related campaign materials — including T-shirts, lapel pins, bumper stickers and buttons — were donated to NOMA. Rodrigue donated his Cut Through the Red Tape image to

384-671: The Cajun modern-day Evangeline, Jolie Blonde. He also designed three posters for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival , which feature portraits of Louis Armstrong , Pete Fountain and Al Hirt . Between 1985 and 1989, Rodrigue painted the Saga of the Acadians , a series of fifteen paintings chronicling the Acadian journey from France to Nova Scotia to Louisiana and ending with the official return visit to Grand Pré. More recently and worldwide he

408-612: The Louisiana State Exhibit Museum, where he autographed Hathaway's menu from more than twenty years earlier. In October 2013, George and his wife Wendy told the New Orleans Magazine that Rodrigue had been diagnosed in 2012 with Stage 4 lung cancer and that tumors had spread throughout his body. Rodrigue believed it could be linked to his spraying canvases with a toxic varnish inside an unventilated studio early in his career. On December 14, 2013, Rodrigue died at

432-612: The age of 69. A mass was held on December 19 at St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans. Forced to relocate, Rodrigue temporarily moved his base of operations to Lafayette . Days after the disaster, he created We Will Rise Again, depicting the American flag covered with water, to benefit the Red Cross in response to Hurricane Katrina and the flooding of New Orleans. "The Blue Dog is partly submerged, and its eyes, normally yellow, are red with

456-508: The corresponding street is uptown New Orleans ' St. Charles Avenue ). Royal runs down through the French Quarter , Faubourg Marigny , Bywater , and Lower Ninth Ward neighborhoods to the Jackson Barracks . The Industrial Canal forms a gap in the street between the Bywater and Lower Ninth Ward neighborhoods. The portion of Rue Royale in the upper French Quarter (toward Canal Street)

480-449: The late 1960s began painting Louisiana landscapes, followed soon after by outdoor family gatherings and southwest Louisiana 19th-century and early 20th-century genre scenes. His paintings often include moss-clad oak trees, which are common to an area of French Louisiana known as Acadiana . In the mid-1990s Rodrigue's Blue Dog paintings, based on a Cajun legend called Loup-garou , catapulted him to worldwide fame. His funeral Mass

504-459: The recent openings of The Vampire Cafe, Voodoo Bone Lady, and Sassy Magick Noir have transformed the block into a haven for the spiritual and spooky inclined. The 700 block of Royal features the galleries of New Orleans–based artists Ally Burguieres and George Rodrigue . Each afternoon, three blocks of Royal Street in the Quarter , between St. Louis and St. Ann Streets, are closed to traffic to create

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528-529: Was honored as an Absolut Vodka artist joining famous artists such as Andy Warhol and glass artist Hans Godo Frabel . The Blue Dog was used by both Absolut Vodka and the Xerox Corporation through national ad campaigns The ghostly blue spaniel/terrier is often featured with a white nose and yellow eyes. Rodrigue has galleries in Carmel, California; Lafayette, Louisiana; and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2007,

552-697: Was open to the public and held at St. Louis Cathedral in Jackson Square, New Orleans. Rodrigue was born March 13, 1944, in New Iberia, Louisiana. Rodrigue attended the Brothers of the Christian Schools all-male high school called St. Peter's College (now Catholic High School ), which was located near St. Peter's Church, and near the banks of the Bayou Teche running through New Iberia. He formally studied art at

576-476: Was spared the flood, other than in the lower ninth ward . The French Quarter , originally the city itself, was built upon naturally-higher ground next to a curve in the Mississippi River . 29°57′35″N 90°03′48″W  /  29.9596°N 90.0633°W  / 29.9596; -90.0633 George Rodrigue George Rodrigue (March 13, 1944 – December 14, 2013) was an American artist who in

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