Tag Archives: Chartres Street

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A Musical Prelude to the Celebration of Easter, Free Public Concerts…

…Concludes With
A Performance by Cynthia Cheri-Woolridge & Friends
At Saint Mary’s Catholic Church in the Vieux Carre

NEW ORLEANS, LA—On April 10, 2014 the sixth and final of Bishop Perry’s Center’s series of free, public concerts will take place at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, 1116 Chartres St. at 6 p.m. Stars of this concert will be Cynthia Cheri-Woolridge and Friends, a gifted group of gospel and spiritual singers and musicians. Among friends expected to join Cynthia in the performance on Thursday is Dr. Michael White, the renowned jazz musician, jazz historian, and teacher.
Others joining Ms. Cheri-Woolridge will be Desmian Barnes and Percy Williams on trumpet; Arthur Mitchell on Saxaphone; Robino Barnes on Bass; and Jarvis McCelos on drums. Singers will include Jerrydette Joseph, Sylvia Thomas, Anicia Cheri, Gary Foster, and William Wiloughby, along with the Bishop Perry Center “Heavenly Notes.”

The series—A Musical Prelude to the Celebration of Easter—features music ranging from classical favorites of the great gothic and baroque cathedrals of the world to Broadway to New Orleans jazz, spirituals, and gospel. The concerts take place in the architecturally and historically significant Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, part of the old Ursuline Convent Complex, located in the French Quarter.

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Idea Factory has moved to 924 Royal

The shock of coming across their empty location was the subject of an earlier post back in September… Their website shows them now on Royal, which makes me very glad…

original story.

Idea Factory website

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lovely paper

I have been roaming the FQ over the last few days, off from work for a week and with a car at my disposal. Car rented from the nice Hertz people at the Omni Hotel at Royal and St. Louis-well in the garage on the Chartres side. (It’s the only car rental counter in the FQ, and has nice staff who chat about all types of things with you although I DO wish Mr. Hertz would staff it everyday and stop being forgetful about taking the gas up fee off, but other than that, hurrah for all of the Hertz family and that does include little Hal Hertz and even Minnie Hertz who is still a bit whiny.) The car means Maddie the Cartoon Dog gets to come along and take a perambulation along her streets, happily poking her head in shops and smelling people’s shoes.
Between parking successfully and taking advantage of Golden Lantern’s drink prices, one of the things I have indulged in recently-while on my 2-3 trips to FQ-is paper.
Oh I love paper. I love to write notes or to send letters or to drop a card with some satsumas to someone’s door before they come home, so they can find it after (maybe) a bad day or just a ho-hum day.
This may be the only true manner that my Southern mother drilled in me. Well, I do say yes ma’am to older women and could curtsey still but since I haven’t had a dress on since the 1990s, it’s a lost art in my repertoire.
And you would think I had lovely penmanship they way I go on, but no, I lost that early in life and substituted nothing in its place. Maybe the beautiful paper is to make up for that loss.
So, paper. I almost always buy some beautiful cards at Nadine Blake’s on Royal. Her store is lovely, she and her “staff” both. And to have a store that takes serious care and delight with their window displays is a treat to those of us who remember the days of many of those type of store owners throughout the Quarter. There I buy greenery tropical cards, drinking quote cards, single funny birthday cards and the last time I bought a silver crescent moon that I when I returned home I immediately hung on the end of my ceiling fan pull chain.
After spending hour(s) there, I usually walk 2 blocks to the corner of Dumaine and Royal to my Florentine paper supply place, Papier Plume. Yes, Italian paper. I went to Florence in 2008 and was dazzled by the many, many things that Italian artisans still make. Paper, leather goods, textiles, cars, scooters, coffee makers, long underwear- the list goes on and on.
I bought paper while there and used it so sparingly because when would I be able to return for more? Then one day, I saw the same design through a window in my hometown and walked inside this magic place. Papier Plume also does calligraphy and wedding invitations and has lovely pens and (my latest addition) sealing wax and stampers. If you see an envelope with a blue owl or a red sun on the flap in your door, do know where it came from. Especially if food comes with..
The third is the dynamic sister store Ragin Daisy on Dumaine and Chartres. These two ladies are destined to be legends with their charming personalities and dry wit. They have such cool stuff; this is where I get journals and sometimes find boxes of vintage-styled postcards.
(I also use the tourist store at the corner of Camp and Magazine for cheap FQ postcards when I want to send a bunch of news out, like for a party. I think they are 10 for 100 there, don’t pore over the clichés too much; it’s better to just embrace the tacky once in a while.)
And you can stop by Historic New Orleans Collection’s gift shop on Royal, past Toulouse. You can get some oyster cards or maybe a lovely map. And view the collection and talk to the nice docent and gift shop ladies who are of a type, it’s true but still part of our gumbo. Just maybe not part of the dirty rice.
And finally, I will always give you a heads up to go see Gnome on Barracks and Decatur for many, many inspired finds. They will surely have moleskin journals and plain ol paper journals and probably some pens and you will be absolutely be fortified by the sense that good design is an important part of any ordered life.
Then go home and practice your penmanship.

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Best Burgers In Town?

Sooo, one of the great things to do in New Orleans in the winter is to hunt for burgers. One of the best kept secrets in New Orleans is that we have great burgers. Why that is, I really don’t know. Maybe because we know how to season food. Or because we don’t eat them all of the time, so we make it a treat when we do.

My particular favorite is Port of Call on Esplanade, but I have no intention of waiting for a table, so I go there when the lines are gone. But that freshly ground burger with a baked potato on the side and a good beer at the bar is absolutely heaven on an early cold evening or a Monday lunch. The staff is seriously good at what they do without a lot of cheer but who cares. The decor is “seafarin” in a 70s way.

After that, I like the burger at the Nelly Deli (officially known as the Quartermaster) on Bourbon and Ursuline. It’s huge and incredible tasty. This is takeout only, so order and buy a drink while you’re waiting to pick up.

The peanut butter and bacon burger at Yo Mama’s is good, very good, but I think missing something. Maybe its just the name of the place that makes me less enthusiastic. Anyway, I just had a bite of someone else’s and I would get it if I had a burger hankerin and Po’C had lines and if I didn’t want to sit outside.

But now, we have another good choice: There is a new downtown location for an old Uptown favorite, Camellia Grill. Another place that people stand in line to eat when there are over 2000 restaurants in this city. With around 10-15 of them within walking distance of that Camellia Grill. Odd people.

Anyway, the corner of Toulouse and Chartres is now the new Camellia Grill. The deal with Camellia Grill is it is this cool hamburger joint kind of place with white-jacketed waiters working the continuous counter. I know this about burgers but go back for an omelet too. And get a freeze- my favorite is the mocha freeze. Has the best waiters. Funny and on top of it. Lovely place too. But I went there when the original owner had it and I never felt it was the same after that (why? just because people in New Orleans like to talk about the old days that they barely remember).

But people love it so much that when they did not reopen after the Federal flood, they left post it notes all over the front door until it was literally covered anywhere a human could reach. As expected, some enterprising guy who owns loads of other restaurants took his banker there, showed them the stickies and got the money to buy it and reopen it.

So now they have two, why just three years after reopening the first. Sigh. Is it possible it’s good? why yes, very possible. So possible that I will go there myself and see. Just for you. But I will say that the location that they chose was excellent in my mind. Everybody walks down Chartres from all directions from Canal because it is the entrance street from the big hotels- from the Rampart side because you can see Jax Brewery down the street so you start walking to it- from the Jax Brewery side because once you get there, you realize there is little reason to stay in it- from the cathedral/Square side because you are in a daze from all of the street life and you just start walking. And with the worst seafood fried place right there on Toulouse-Ralph and Kacoo’s (why has it remained, why why why?) maybe they will smell the grease from seafood hell and turn around for a nice burger. And they did a nice job with the renovation.

In any case, do me a favor and look at any menu with 2 questions: Do they use the word Cajun to describe everything? When you walked in did anyone call you baby? if the answers are no/yes in that order, then sit down, order it “dressed” and enjoy.

And I hope you can hear the echoes of CG legendary waiter Harry’s call in the new place:

“It’s chilly in Gentilly, rainin’ hard in St. Bernard, raisin’ hell in Slidell, two below in Tupelo, little slippy in Mississippi, and all wet in Chalmette.”

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Royal (Orleans) valet mover

another ingenious use of space in the French Quarter. Parking valets at the Omni Royal (or for you old folks the Royal Orleans or for you old OLD folks, the Saint Louis) use this vertical people mover to get up to upper floors to get a car, or to come down after parking. No waiting for elevators (that would break more often) or dodging cars on the ramps.

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Garbage in, garbage out.

One of my favorite historical sites in the Quarter:
Garbage chutes designed (supposedly) to hold garbage from FQ homes, making it easier for garbage men to collect.
I remember these problems:
1. Bags did not fit. So, you shoved it down as far as you could and either broke the bag or you left it stuffed over the top (kind of like how some women wear tight shirts that show the rolls above their pants).
2. Rain collected in them. A lot of rain.
3. Garbage men left them open. People fell in.
4. Tops were broken or stolen. See above.
4. People threw some crazy stuff in there. Just imagine.
So, quietly they were cemented closed or torn up as soon as the sidewalks needed to be repaired. A few enterprising people used them to plant trees, some still are growing.
These are amazingly intact and found on Chartres.

What a boondoggle

Starting in the 1980s, these were placed in the French Quarter

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Books, haunted corridor and corsets- all in one block

800 Chartres-

As you walk through the carnival that is Jackson Square (going away from Canal Street) you almost immediately enter a hushed and cool block. The side of Pontalba Apartments is interesting, and some of the balconies are lovely and actually used by real people.

Check out the beautiful downspouts at 830 Chartres; copper with the covered iron work at the person level with its open mouth at the street. Incredible.

This block of Chartres that is split by lovely little Madison Street is one of my favorites. Partly because I lived on Madison back in the wild 80s and sat on my balcony nursing any number of hangovers while looking at Chartres. Possibly also because one of my favorite bookstores is there- Librairie is one of the older used bookstores still in existence (my memory is that it opened in 84 or so) , and I think I found my prized copy of Anita Loos’ Cast of Thousands and all of my Cornelia Otis Skinner books there. Part of a weird collection I had.
It’s the neatest (meaning things are shelved) of all of them and I believe is run by Beckham’s Books owner, the other great bookstore in the Quarter that goes back a long ways. That one (Beckham’s) is the best on a rainy Saturday.
I also like the mix of facades and the little shops like Trashy Diva. Perfect for the Quarter. Both Divas and Spicy and Dark, and Ragin Daisy’s second place that is opening soon in that block (I still miss that Chinese laundry) and a couple of others lovely clothing stores that I of course don’t shop at, but are pretty cool to have all there in a row. Think of it as Girlie Way.

The corner of Dumaine and Chartres has the oldest set of intact row houses and was the site of the Conde Market in 1782. The wooden toy shop needs their display windows cleaned but is a very cool place to take kids or bored husbands by the looks of it.

The haunted part of the title comes from Muriel’s Restaurant’s corridor and second floor. Supposed to be haunted.
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