What to do in New Orleans

An impressive sidewalk in historic Gretna, LA

New Orleans is a city full of diversions.  You can spend all week in the French Quarter or in the Garden District, but there is more to New Orleans and its metropolitan area.  

New Orleans is coterminous with its parish, Orleans Parish.  Orleans Parish is bordered by St. Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson Parishes.  Today, I am going to recommend a visit to a part of Jefferson Parish.  I am not going to recommend that you go to Metarie to cruise the strip malls and big box stores that can be found in Anytown, USA.  Instead, I am going to suggest you take the Gretna/Canal Street Ferry.

Now, people who live here will say, "Gretna, that collection of strip malls and big box stores!?"  No, not the part of Gretna along the Westbank Expressway.  I mean historic, downtown Gretna, the one you reach by the ferry.  

The ferry runs hourly, taking about twenty minutes to reach Gretna from Canal Street.  It is pedestrian only.  If cars are getting on the ferry you are on, you are going to Algiers.  There is nothing wrong with that, but that is a subject for another day.  On the ferry ride to Gretna you will see a view of New Orleans that few people ever see. 

Downtown Gretna is the seat of the Jefferson Parish court system and much of the businesses in this part of the city revolves around attorneys, but as a historic downtown, there are interesting architectural details and it is very walkable. 

There is a square in the center of downtown and on weekends there is a farmers' market.  It is where we get some of our wine.  There is also a German cultural museum that is interesting to visit, as well as a few local restaurants.  There are no chains in downtown Gretna.

Plaque outside Gretna's historic train station

Of particular note is the tribute the City of Gretna pays to its native son, Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, the Gentle Giant, Master Melvin, the National League home run leader between 1937 and 1966 (when Willie Mays surpassed his record), the one and only Mel Ott.

There is a statue of Mel Ott in perfect form in downtown Gretna, LA.

Mel Ott statue

A visit to downtown Gretna by way of the ferry is a peaceful way to wile away an afternoon.  While much of Gretna is a ticky-tacky strip of chain stores, discount tobacco outlets, gentleman's clubs and no-tell motels, the heart of Gretna is a picturesque slice of small-city Americana.  I like to take the ferry to Gretna to escape the hurly-burly of big city New Orleans.    

A view of Mel Ott's statue in context:

Historic train station and visitor center, Gretna, LA

According to Wikipedia: "In his book 'On the Road', author Jack Kerouac mentions Gretna."  I must have missed that sentence, but a visit to Gretna is a pleasant way to have a low-key adventure if you are interested in the rest of the New Orleans metropolitan area.

Some people come to New Orleans to get blind drunk between convention seminars.  Others come to learn more about the most colorful place in America.  The ferries are a part of that.  Gretna is a part of that.

Be a New Orleanian wherever you are.

A votre sante.

The Gretna Courthouse photo that led off this essay was taken by Infrogmation

Is Esplanade Avenue Safe?

Where Bayou Road crosses Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA

We have been getting a few queries as to whether Esplanade Avenue is safe.

Esplanade Avenue is one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans.  It was originally the "millionaires' row" for the descendants of the original Creole population as old, established families moved out of the French Quarter in the 19th century.  

Esplanade Avenue runs from the bank of the Mississippi River to City Park and the New Orleans Museum of Art, about three miles.  On its way, it runs through a gamut of neighborhoods, beginning as the dividing line between the French Quarter and Faubourg Marigny.  North Rampart Street forms the back-of-town boundary of the Vieux Carre.  This area is known as Fauborg Treme, after which the HBO television series is named.  Treme is the oldest African-American neighborhood in the United States.  It is home to the New Orleans' Mardi Gras Indian and second line traditions.  It is a working class neighborhood filled with families who have lived here for generations and will continue to do so for as long as there is a New Orleans to call home.

Claiborne Avenue cuts through Treme.  It once had a wide neutral ground that had four rows of old, shady southern oaks.  In the late 1960s, this parklike neutral ground was replaced by an elevated interstate highway.  The powers-that-be at the time declared Claiborne Avenue blighted in order to erect the I-10 to Slidell.  Progress does not always equal improvement. 

Under the Claiborne Avenue Overpass, New Orleans, LA

Needless to say, the imposition of this highway is not particularly picturesque where Esplanade Avenue crosses Claiborne Avenue.  The grand old architecture on those corners has been replaced by three gas stations (one of them currently closed) and a squat cinderblock store painted purple that sells Manchu fried chicken, Chinese food, and beer.  It is the kind of grocery store that only exists in New Orleans.  There is no other way to say it: this intersection is more eye pickle than eye candy.

The columns under the Claiborne Avenue Overpass are painted with murals

Local people congregate under the highway.  It is an old tradition.  Vendors sell fruit, an elderly lady in a chair sells peanuts, there are panhandlers, people nap on the benches that ring the overpass’s columns, old and young men sit on folding chairs around a radio.  If I were a cautious stranger in an unexpectedly ugly part of town surrounded by groups of people speaking in thick Creole accents I barely understood, I might feel nervous even if no one was paying me attention.  I’ve never encountered any trouble, but I understand why some people may feel uncomfortable crossing under the overpass.  An unaccompanied 47-year-old male U.S. Navy veteran from Boston will never be able to enter this situation the same way as an unaccompanied 47-year-old schoolmarm from Ottumwa.  Safety is a mater of subjective perception. 

The 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue is located midway between Claiborne Avenue and North Broad Street.  As one travels on foot from the direction of the river, the gentrification of the manor houses increases as one makes his or her way from Claiborne.  This stretch of Esplanade includes a middle school and a high school, as well as a corner grocery, several bed and breakfasts, an attorney's office, the Museum of the Free People of Color, the mansion that Edgar Degas called home while he stayed in New Orleans, and other homes included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Home of the best Italian sausage in New Orleans

The neighborhood on the other side of North Broad street is Bayou St. John, a family-oriented, densely knit collection of old homes with two groceries (Terranova's is in its four generation of ownership), a handful of fine restaurants, a book store and a wine shop, two coffee shops, and other amenities.

Is Esplanade Avenue safe?  All types of people make their way on this wonderful thoroughfare.  New Orleans’ Esplanade Avenue is an aptly named street.  An esplanade is a level stretch of ground laid out for walking.  People walk up and down it every day and every night without negative incident.  If you are not a New Orleanian and you don’t feel comfortable with your bearings, you should take a cab, especially at night.  

Many people take a cab up Esplanade Avenue after dark.  Whether they feel unsafe under the Claiborne Avenue Overpass, or they are only full and sleepy after a long night of rich food and jazz in the French Quarter or on Frenchman Street, is a matter of conjecture.  At an adventure’s end, it is probably better to hail a taxi than to navigate New Orleans’ tilting sidewalks at night.  It is trepidatious enough during the day.  The cost of a cab from the the foot of Esplanade Avenue to the 2200 block?  Five minutes travel for five bucks, plus tip for prompt service.  It is a straight line.

Esplanade Avenue is a real street in a real city.  It is alive and full of busy life, all kinds.  Many visitors to the Crescent City choose to stay in a corporate chain hotel in the French Quarter or the Central Business District to partake of a pre-packaged experience without surprises.  A traveler looking to experience the real New Orleans, the city as it is lived by the people who live here, chooses to stay in a neighborhood.  New Orleans is full of surprises around every corner.

There are a number of bed and breakfasts and small inns scattered throughout the city.  Esplanade Ridge is thick with them.  For all the available options, please check out the Professional Innkeepers Association of New Orleans (PIANO).  Consider La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, located mid-way between the Mississippi River and City Park, where Bayou Road crosses Esplanade Avenue to form Gayarre Park.  

Another Esplanade Avenue Testimony

The tip of Gayarre Park, New Orleans, LA 

I couldn't have written a better description of Esplanade Avenue myself.  

The only thing missing from the article is mention of the orange house with the blue shutters in the middle of the 2200 block.  Every room in that house is a different color, and it is a beautifully preserved manor chockablock with curiosities and charm.  It is a New Orleans bed and breakfast inn on Esplanade Avenue.  

Clio Suite Update

Clio Suite, La Belle Esplanade

The Clio Suite has been open for awhile now, so it is time to post the latest photos from the front room.  The finishing touches are done.  This second-floor two-room suite with private bath also has a private balcony that overlooks Esplanade Avenue.  Everyone loves to sit on the balcony and watch the world go by below.

An extra bed, if needed

This suite can comfortably accommodate three guests (the third guest pays an additional fee at check-in).  The antique twin bed in the front room alternates with the sofa as a favorite place to relax.

Antique full bed in the second room

The bed in the second room faces the balcony.  Draw the shutters if you like, but it is nice to wake up with the dawning day filtered through the old oaks that line Esplanade Avenue.

*****

In other news, I was wetting my whistle in the Marigny yesterday and I bumped into a stranger who recognized me.  "Don't you have a motor scooter?" he asked.  "I always see you in the morning zipping past my house on Bayou Road."

I do have a motorscooter.  We both do.  We are a scooter family, running all our errands on two wheels.  It isn't necessary to own a car in New Orleans.

One of the scoots parked in our garden

I explained that I am an innkeeper.  The reason he sees me zipping past is because I am picking up fresh bread and pastries for breakfast before anybody else is awake.

"Is that your orange house on Esplanade?" he asked.  "That house is beautiful.  If I didn't live up the street, I'd take my wife there for a romantic getaway."

*****

While I was taking a picture of the scooter, I couldn't resist a close-up of the fountain.

Leda and the Swan

We will be putting some fish in the pool in the next week or so.  

Two couples spent the last couple of nights in the garden sharing a bottle of wine and enjoying each others' company, enjoying the sounds of the neighborhood, and enjoying the gentle splish-splash of the fountain.

Stepping back to the rear of the garden, I had to take another picture, one that says a thousand words.  As much as the front of La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast is a show stopper on the tour bus route, I always like the look from the back.

Excelsior!

The sky is the limit in New Orleans.

Bienvenue a la Nouvelle Orleans.

Feed the Ducks in New Orleans City Park

A resident of City Park, New Orleans

There are always a few slices of bread leftover after breakfast.  We encourage our guests to take it to City Park to feed the ducks that inhabit the lagoons threaded around the New Orleans Museum of Art at the end of Esplanade Avenue.  No one was taking their bicycle up to City Park yesterday, so we took upon ourselves to bundle up the leftover bread to feed the ducks.

More accurately, we went to feed the geese.  There weren't many ducks paddling around the spot we chose to have lunch and share our bounty with our webfooted friends.

His friends call him Whitey

We also fed the black swan that usually keeps aloof when we visit.

A City Park celebrity

We saw two pelicans.  One of them was perched on a sunken branch that dips under the waterline then reemerges in a triumph of photosynthesis.

A pelican in repose

Pelicans seem to be able to sit still for hours, minding their own business until they stretch out their wings and soar over Bayou St. John.  There was another pelican at City Park.

"Petunia"

We couldn't tell which pelican was more real.  In New Orleans, everything rings true.  Adventures await you no matter where you go.  Feeding the ducks in City Park is always full of surprises.

A votre sante.

New Orleans Living

The Benachi House

One of the nice things about staying on the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue is that it is a part of the living New Orleans.  When visitors walk through our neighborhood, they experience a real city street, albeit an enchanted one, not a shop-lined, Disney-inspired Neverland.  People are friendly to fellow pedestrians because they are friendly to everyone, not because they are trying to coax a dollar out of your wallet.

I took a walk up to the Fair Grounds yesterday to see how long it will take to walk to Jazz Fest from La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  It takes 8.5 minutes if you don't dawdle. 

I took some pictures along Bayou Road, the street that crosses Esplanade Avenue in the 2200 block and creates Gayarre Park in the neutral ground.  The Benachi House is diagonally across the park from our New Orleans bed and breakfast inn, behind the statue of Clio.  The Benachi House was restored by the same gentleman who first restored 2216 and 2222 Esplanade Avenue.

Across the street from the Benachi House

Next door to the Benachi House

I haven't included all the pictures, only the ones I find interesting.  Maybe next post I'll include some more.  Bayou Road, the oldest road in the city and which only runs three convoluted blocks lakeside from the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, is full of things I enjoy studying.  

Coco Hut, Bayou Road, New Orleans, LA

When I was taking a picture of Coco Hut, a Caribbean Restaurant, the proprietress came out.  "Are you from the city?" she asked.  I said I wasn't,  "Are you from the surveyors who are going to repave the street?" she asked.  I said I didn't even know Bayou Road is scheduled to be repaved, though I know Esplanade Avenue is.  "Yeah, the city is doing a big project on this square to pretty it up even more.  Not that it needs it," she said.

This part of Bayou Road is one of the very few New Orleans streets still paved in brick.  The only other one I can think of is Felicity Street, Uptown.

"Wait a minute," the Coco Hut Lady said.  "If you know that Esplanade is being repaved, you must not be a tourist." I have lived here two years.  "And you've never had lunch here?" she asked.  I always order the jerk chicken with a tamarind soda.  "Oh, that's you," she said.  "That chicken will put hair on your chest."  As we shook hands goodbye I replied that the jury is still out on that claim.

Domino Sound Record Shack, Bayou Road, New Orleans, LA

I haven't had a record player or cassette deck for more years than I care to remember.  I have never been in the Domino Sound Record Shack.  I have, however, been in the business next door.

Community Book Center, Bayou Road, New Orleans, LA

It is always nice to have a bookstore in your neighborhood.  It is a mark of civilization, much like a record store.  As the mural up top indicates, this shop specializes in African and African-American literature as well as handicrafts and gifts.  There is a very deep selection and this omnivorous reader always finds something to purchase.

St. Rose of Lima, pray for us

In the center of this mix is the former St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church.  Our plumber, who grew up in the parish, pronounces it "Saint Rose of LIE-ma."  We both agree that the statue of Clio in Gayarre Park is pronounced "KL-EYE-oh."  When in New Orleans, speak like New Orleanians do.  The St. Rose of Lima Parish was consolidated post-Katrina with Our Lady of the Rosary Roman Catholic Church at the Bayou St. John end of Esplanade Avenue, across from St. Louis Cemetery #3.  

The church was recently sold by the Archdiocese of New Orleans to the Bayou Treme Center for Arts and Education.  More proof that New Orleanians are investing in this vibrant New Orleans neighborhood's future.  The city, in fact, has committed $700,000.00 for street scape improvements on this stretch of Bayou Road.

Broadview Crawfish House, North Broad Street, New Orleans, LA

One last stop before Bayou Road becomes Gentilly Road at the intersection with North Broad Street, the Broadview Seafood Market and Crawfish House around the downtown corner.  Not only do we regularly visit this neighborhood icon for a few pounds of boiled crawfish, so do our guests.  We only ask that guests enjoy this messy food on the balcony or in the garden and, that they leave the shells outside for us to pick up during our morning cleaning.

Some of La Belle Esplanade's back yard

There is more to New Orleans than what is found in a tourist brochure.  There is a whole living city, arranged one street at a time, one block at a time, one person in love at a time.  Walk it or bike it, New Orleans is full of pleasant surprises.  Please forgive me for placing another shameless link to our website: whaleheadking.com.  

A votre sante.

Where to stay with your spouse in New Orleans

The answer is obvious, isn't it?

One thing we’ve heard over and over again is how nice it is to stay at La Belle Esplanade.  I am not writing this to pat ourselves on the back, but to point out the advantages of staying somewhere besides in the neighborhood of the Convention Center when you are in town with your spouse for a conference or convention in New Orleans.

We are currently hosting a couple in town for a big neuroscience conference.  Only the husband is a neuroscientist. They have both taken advantage of our complimentary bicycles.  They pedal down to the Convention Center in the morning, passing through the French Quarter while it is still quiet.  For the rest of the day, the wife pedals around the city, enjoying the sights and the people while scouting likely spots to have dinner.  They have dined on Bourbon Street, but they have also enjoyed less-travelled, more local parts of New Orleans.  “I love Magazine Street,” the missus says.  “And we both love City Park,” the neuroscientist adds.

The Clio Suite

Staying at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, you can enjoy the best of three worlds.  The French Quarter and Frenchman Street are only a stroll away.  Using our bicycles, you can sample the delights of Uptown and the Garden District.  We are located Downtown, where the atmosphere is unpretentious and relatively free of other conventioneers.  

Thus far, everyone who has stayed with us has walked up Esplanade Avenue to Bayou St. John were they have eaten a meal on a patio shaded by southern oaks.  Said the current guest from Finland, “I can’t believe how nice and warm it is in New Orleans.”  He ate at Mandina’s last night for a real New Orleans meal.

Les Fleurs Suite

Plenty of people come to New Orleans and only see the things found in a tourist brochure.  New Orleans is bigger and more than that.  It is more than three worlds for people who take the time to explore.  Tell us what you want to see.  We will give you detailed directions and plenty of detours.

Looking at the calendar, I see that a number of conventions and conferences will be in New Orleans in November.  If you are coming to any of these with your spouse, consider La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  He or she will love you for it.

La France Suite

International Pool and Spa Expo New Orleans

Design-Build Institute of America Conference  [Our house is preserved from the 1890s as are its neighbors on either side.  All of them built at the same time by the same man.]

American Association of Respiratory Care  (AARC) Congress 2012 in New Orleans [Walking or pedaling from the 2200 Block of Esplanade Avenue to the Convention Center is good for your lungs.]

U.S. Marine Corps Birthday Celebration 2012 [You can run your morning PT through the Central Business District, or you can run along Bayou St. John or through City Park.]

Le Pelican Suite

In addition, there are a number of big events coming to New Orleans in November.

The International Jewelry Fair and General Merchandise Show 2012 draws people from around the world, and from the North Shore, with its over 1000 vendor booths.  If you are driving to the fair from Louisiana or Mississippi, consider staying overnight and making a memorable vacation of your shopping trip.  

The Bayou Classic will be played in the Superdome on November 22 this year.  This classic football rivalry between the Grambling State University Tigers and the Southern University Jaguars is a honored tradition.  Stay away from the crowds and enjoy the flavor of real New Orleans before and after the game.

Lastly, Wizard World New Orleans Comic Con will be at the end of the month.  What better way to indulge your fantasies than to stay in a colorful 1890s manor full of curiosities, a Mardi Gras Indian suit in the lobby, and a collection of pulp magazine reprints?  The Comic Con is about 15 minutes away by bicycle.  Before it opens and after it closes, indulge in the rest of the magic New Orleans has to offer.  Stan Lee is going to be in town but he hasn't made a reservation with us, yet.

The couple from Belgium told us every day, “We both love the breakfast.”  

The hostess,  Frau Schmitt, puts a lot of effort into devising a daily menu that provides a balanced mix of sweet and savory, and hot and cold, to provide a delicious, locally sourced start for the day ahead.  Before anyone else is awake, the host gets to zip around town on his motor scooter to the local bakeries to pick up fresh bread and pastry.  Somebody’s got to do it.

View of the gardens from the Adirondack chairs

A votre sante.

What to do in New Orleans in November

Truth in advertising?

You can make a plan before you visit New Orleans.  You can read the guide books and you can study the map, but you will have no idea what New Orleans is like until you arrive.  The best laid plans will be pleasantly upturned by happy surprises.  There are angels in New Orleans' details.  

You can imagine ordering a whole oyster loaf while sitting at your dining room table in September, but once you get to New Orleans in November, you realize the city offers too much good food to eat at one sitting.  

The small print on Ye Olde College Inn's sign, on S. Carrollton Avenue across from Notre Dame Seminary, reads, "ALMOST ACTUAL SIZE."  When you put an everyday object in front of this sign for some context of scale, it seems extraordinarily plausible.

Truth in advertising

To be sure, things will be happening in New Orleans in November.  There will be festivals, conventions, art markets, open air concerts, parades, and gala spectacles in November.  The city will go about its business.  If New Orleans has an industry, it is the manufacture of fond memories.  Both tourists and citizens are employed in the magic.  Whatever you plan to do in New Orleans, make sure you allot enough time.

Two nights in New Orleans is like your life flashing before your eyes.  Four days is not enough to explore the city by bicycle.  Seven days is better.  A lifetime is the ideal.  

No matter how many nights you want to sleep in New Orleans, you should consider staying at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, "the colorful inn in the ideal location."  No matter what you plan to do in New Orleans, you will end up doing what you wish, and more.  Keep your dance card open.

The view from the front porch of 2216 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA

I live here and I've learned that nothing goes according to plan in New Orleans.  I wanted to see how long it would take to walk from  our front door to Jazz Fest.  I learned that it should take less than 25 minutes if things don't go according to plan.

En route, I talked to the proprietor of Coco Hut who was getting the grill ready for a sidewalk cookout, I ran into Bill who was walking home from McHardy's Chicken with a bag that smelled like Heaven, and I spent about twelve and a half minutes talking to Mr. White about how the Fair Zone Food Store is going to be torn down because it is structurally unsound.   I caught Mr. White's attention because I was taking a picture of the Fair Zone's facade.

There is no way they sold a sandwich that big

After I shook Mr. White's hand in farewell, I walked another 45 seconds to my destination: the entrance to Jazz Fest as it looks today.  It will look very different come April and May 2013.  

Entrance to the Fair Grounds Race Track, New Orleans, LA

No matter how many days you want to attend Jazz Fest, you should consider staying at  La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast, "the colorful inn in the ideal location".  2216 Esplanade Avenue is about a ten minute picturesque stroll away from Jazz Fest if you don't talk to anybody along the way.  Your mileage may vary.

What is there to do in New Orleans in November besides thinking about next year's Jazz Fest?  Just show up and you'll find out.  I'll tell you one thing: your memories will be better than you expect.

A votre sante.

Clio Suite Open for Business

A quiet yet colorful corner

It's official.  The Clio Suite is officially open at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  While no newspaper stopped its presses when the news was announced, it is a new day in our story.  

Frau Schmitt took the helm decorating this suite.  The sitting room and bath are turquoise.  The bedroom isn't quite pink, and it isn't quite lavender, but somewhere in between.  The ceiling?  Oh, the ceiling is purple, of course.  This is one stunning suite.

Cheerfully homey

The Clio Suite has a day bed in the sitting room, so this suite can comfortably accommodate three people, if needed.  See our website for details.  

A comfy day bed

You might think I've taken enough pictures of the front room, but you're wrong.  There is third corner...

That's a mirror on the wall

There's a fourth corner to this room, too, but we'll leave that for you to discover.  Shall we move on to the master bed room?

The angels are in the details

The fireplace doesn't work.  It was converted to gas at some point in La Belle Esplanade's history and then closed up with this cast iron filigree work.  It doesn't produce heat, but it adds an extra touch of majestic style.

Let's get a full shot of the bed.  In a house full of beautiful beds, this bed is in a class by itself.

Sweet dreams come to those who wait

And, with thoughts of sweet dreams, we will take one last parting shot at the bedroom, with a view to this suite's best feature.  

This are big, airy rooms

There is a private balcony in front, through that window.  The balcony overlooks Gayerre Park with its statue of Clio (pronounced Kl-EYE-oh, in New Orleans).  It is the most beautiful bus stop in New Orleans.  The 91 bus stops there to take people to the cemeteries.

Clio greets the dawning of a new day

I stood on the balcony this morning to survey the scene.  The Clio Suite balcony is screened by the century-old southern oaks that shade Esplanade Avenue.  It really is a private oasis, far above the tranquil comings and goings along this peacefully historic street.

Peeking through the oak branches, I saw a professional photographer taking pictures.  He stops by regularly to get the right light on the front of the building.  

People love to take pictures of 2216 Esplanade Avenue

We hope to see you soon.

A votre sante.

What to do in New Orleans Next Friday

A true goodwill ambassador

If you are going to be in New Orleans on Friday, October 19, 2012, you can go to the French Quarter and revel with the drunken frat boys.  You can go to the French Quarter to hear some traditional jazz at Preservation Hall or at Fritzel's.  Or, you can go to Cafe Istanbul at 2372 St. Claude Avenue to support the Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong Jazz Camp.

Before you protest that you didn't come all the way to NOLA to sample the delights of St. Claude Ave over the delights of Bourbon Street, allow me to explain.  You won't only hear good music, you will be supporting a good cause.  

I know, this isn't a tourist destination, but people who want to experience the real New Orleans, its thriving neighborhoods and communities, choose La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast for a reason.  Our guests visit the French Quarter, but they realize that there is a great big, vital city outside the Vieux Carre.  They want the full New Orleans experience.  They want to make memories that will last forever.  This is why they choose a B&B close to the Quarter and Frenchman Street, but equally close to City Park and Bayou St. John. 

After the show, consider strolling Faubourg Marigny where the jazz is just as fresh and the nightlife is more friendly.  New Orleans is not all about making a buck off of visitors.  It is about giving more than a little lagniappe.  The price for the show is $30 per person, $50 per couple.  It will be money well spent if you want to meet some New Orleanians instead of bumping into an orthodontist from Oklahoma in town for a convention.

You can buy a ticket at one of the Jazz Camp links above.  You can reserve a suite at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast here.  We have a limited number of bicycles available if you prefer to pedal to the fundraiser on the evening of October 19.  

La Belle Esplanade's fleet of complimentary cruisers