House of Broel

Take the train to New Orleans

Say what you want about Amtrak, and I'm from the Northeast so I have very little bad to say about it, but they have excellent taste in graphic design.  Their full line of posters is available here.  I was in the train station today admiring the Amtrak artwork.

I was taking pictures and the conductor behind the ticket desk asked if he could help me.  "The last place I lived was Boston," I told him.  "It was much busier in North Station and South Station than it is here."  He smiled.  "It depends on the time of day," he told me.  I suppose it does.  The Union Passenger Terminal in New Orleans only serves six trains a day.  Imagine that.  The signs don't have to change as the trains come and go.

A sleepy lobby most of the time

I stopped into the train station after visiting the House of Broel on St. Charles Avenue, which is really what this article is about.

House of Broel, New Orleans, LA

The House of Broel is a wedding venue and custom wedding dress shop with a dollhouse museum on the second floor.  I didn't visit for any of those reasons.  I'm already married and dollhouses aren't really my cup of tea, though I did help make one for my sister one Christmas, many, many years ago.  It was the 70's when making things from leftover pantyhose eggs and spray paint can lids was in vogue.  My brother and I made miniature ottomans out of the lids.

If you are too young to know what I mean by the term "pantyhose eggs," here is a peek at the past:




As long as we're going down Memory Lane about my family, I'll tell you that my grandfather always said he preferred Joyce Dewitt over Suzanne Somers in Three's Company.  He also preferred Kate Jackson out of all of Charlie's Angels.  He had good taste.  He married my grandmother, after all.  Connect the dots long enough and you'll be able to figure out why every room in our inn is a different color.  And yes, there was a time when shuffleboard was considered the attraction of a cruise that took place on a ship that was just like the Love Boat.  You'll notice how Joyce Dewitt dances a twirl with the yeoman purser.  I'm thinking of having a shuffleboard court installed in the back garden.  That or bocce.

Anyhow, I went to the House of Broel.  Here is what it looks like on the inside:

Inside the House of Broel

Inside the House of Broel

Ceiling in the House of Broel

It's a beautiful place and Bonnie Broel is a wealth of information, a gem of a lady who was gracious and patient with me as we talked about what I came to discuss.  She seemed a bit surprised when I rang her bell and told her my mission, but she adapted to the situation admirably and told me everything I wanted to know, and then some.  She is full of fascinating stories and she certainly doesn't look like someone who's father fought in WWI.

Why did I go to the House of Broel?  Because I was curious about an advertisement I had seen in the back pages of the November 1952 issue of Popular Mechanix that I was reading while waiting for our guests from Dallas, TX to arrive the other day:

American Frog Canning Company advertisement

What does this have to do with anything?  Regular readers of this blog know that I tell as much as I keep under my hat.  The people who stay with us know that I spill the rest of the story over breakfast, if they are interested.  If you want to know the answer, you will have to make a reservation.

By the way, we have recently received some kind and thorough reviews on Trip Advisor.  We are still mired in the #15 and #16 slot out of 150 bed and breakfasts in New Orleans according to the rankings, but it isn't a bad place to be.  We are not competitive people so we haven't checked out the competition.  Thinking about it, I'm tempted to read the reviews of #149, but it's really none of my business.  I'm too busy trying to be the best innkeeper I can be. It's a pleasant profession.

We don't serve frog legs for breakfast.  I mentioned it to Frau Schmitt and she didn't quite cotton to the idea.  She is usually right about these things.  We offer plenty of tasty surprises without serving frog legs.

Next time, I'll have to remember to post the photos I took of the murals in the train station.  They'll knock your socks off.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.