Rumor Mill

Is the Oak Room Getting A Lolita-Style Makeover?

Photo: istockphoto

First grande dame Locke-Ober shut down for renovations. And now, according to a brow-raising Chowhound thread, tongues are wagging that the venerable Oak Room, where generations of blue-blazered college students have made shifty, wine-fueled small talk with their parents, will get a makeover. More ahead.

According to tipsters on Chowhound, the Oak Room will be “rehabbed” by the team behind Back Bay’s lines-out-the-door Lolita, whose aesthetic is more Bayou bordello than proper Brahmin. Really?

Grub Street spoke to a rep for the Oak Room at the Fairmont Copley Plaza and was told that there’s no truth to the resto-rehab rumor. It should be noted, however, that the hotel is undergoing a $20 million restoration project that includes guest room updates and a rooftop fitness center to be completed by next summer, in honor of the hotel’s 100th anniversary. So the idea of renovating the Oak Room doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility whatsoever. The question is: How?

Is the Oak Room Getting A Lolita-Style Makeover?