A New Orleans State of Mind: New Orleans Institutions

Thursday, May 16, 2013

New Orleans Institutions

It's been too long

We usually serve fresh pastries and bread for breakfast, among many other things, but if Hubig's Pies are ever sold again, they will be on the menu. It's been too long since I've seen a Hubig's Pie truck driving down Esplanade Avenue.

The corner of North Rampart and Frenchmen Streets

When something good is made in New Orleans, it lasts. Look at the venerable sazarac and Southern Comfort. Look at a menu. Listen to the music. Walk the streets. A whole city mourns the loss of fried fruit-filled pies and it rallies to help Savory Simon pull a Lazarus. It is rare to see Che Guevera on a tee shirt in New Orleans. It is less rare to see somebody wearing a Hubig's shirt.

New Orleans loves its institutions. The past is mixed with the present to make a bright future. The old Falstaff brewery still dominates the Mid-City skyline. You can see it from the balcony off Le Pelican Suite. The guy mixing Crystal Preserves still works all night. The Blue Plate Foods building may be the Blue Plate Artist Lofts, but you can still buy Blue Plate mayonnaise at Canseco's Market. The American Can Building still looks over Bayou St. John.

Orleans Avenue, New Orleans

I don't know if American Can is still in business, but I do know that they were not a local company. My uncle worked for them in Connecticut. Regardless, the American Can Building is an icon and an anchor for its neighborhood. Besides high ceilings and a farmers market every week, there is a wine bar, a package store (as we would say in New England), and a branch of the New Orleans Public Library.

If you know me, you know that I like to wear a hat. Many of our guests think that your humble narrator is bald. He isn't. I have a full head of hair. Frau Schmitt can attest to this. She is usually right about these things.

Hat band card from Meyer the Hatter

When more men wore hats, they would check their hats at the door with the hat check clerk. While there are plenty of bars in New Orleans that are open 24 hours a day, there have always been some that are only open 'till they close.

In olden days, when professional hat check clerk was a viable career option just like cigar-cigarette girl was, when the musicians packed up their instruments, there would be a run on the hat check desk. Since so many fedoras look the same, gentlemen of distinction put identification cards in their hats.

I bought my fedora from the South's largest hat store, Meyer the Hatter on St. Charles Avenue, just off Canal. It's a full-service hat store. My fedora came with an ID card.

It isn't really true that every fedora looks the same. The same fedora on two different people will be two different hats. Life is what you bring to it. Good memories are made in New Orleans.