New Orleans B&B Recommendation

This is in New Orleans

Somebody asked me what New Orleans B&B I would recommend if I were going to recommend a New Orleans bed and breakfast as the best way to experience the city in an authentic neighborhood, where a vacation becomes an immersion experience of what it's like to live here.

I had a few ideas, and I tossed them around until I decided on my answer.  

We were up at Fort Pike last weekend because we wanted to get out of New Orleans, but we still wanted to be here.  

This is in New Orleans

Some people think Fort Pike is part of the Orleans Parish Prison System (OPPS).  It isn't.  It's a historic fort that was abandoned and now it's a state park.  It's on the uptown side of the Rigolets that separate Lake Pontchatrain from Lake Borgne.  It's the last toehold of New Orleans before Orleans Parish ends and Slidell, Louisiana, begins.  Hardly anyone visits there.  Some people say it feels forlorn.  A lot of people do, actually.  Even the people who are neutral don't claim the place is even remotely cheerful.  People died there.

This is what the end of New Orleans looks like out in the East:

This bridge leads to St. Tammany Parish

If you want to know what New Orleans B&B I would recommend, I'll tell you.  It is House of the Rising Sun.  It's in Algiers, at 335 Pelican Avenue.  It's close to the ferry, be that as it may, but it's in Algiers Point and there's something to be said for that.  The Point isn't like the rest of New Orleans.  It looks like New Orleans, heck, it is part of New Orleans, but everything is quieter.  Algiers is like a snow globe where the sun always shines.  It's relaxing.  It's a sweet locale for a New Orleans B&B.

Vince and Lola stayed with us once.  They were live-in innkeepers at another bed and breakfast in a city I can't remember.  They stayed with us to do reconnaissance for their employers, seeing what the competition was doing well and, well, the most polite to say it is, copy it.  That's the implication, but Vince and Lola weren't really spies and those aren't even their real names.  They were the nicest people you'll ever meet.  I've obscured their personal details.  They weren't Dutch, they were Walloons.  Once they told us that, we couldn't forget them.

Fats Domino's House, Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans

Vince told me that he wanted to meet Kevin, or, as Vince liked to call him, Cockney 007.  Vince was very impressed by Kevin's innkeeping skills.  I've always been, too.  That's why I'm recommending House of the Rising Sun if La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast if full.  

Now, pay attention because I'm gonna warn ya: It's gonna be a totally different experience.  The 330 block of Pelican Avenue in Algiers Point is nothing like the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans.  Algiers is New Orleans, of course, but it's different.  It's quieter on the West Bank.

Neither Frau Schmitt nor your humble narrator really know Kevin and Wendy.  We've seen them, and vice versa, of course.  We've said hello.  I've shaken Kevin's hand (having washed mine many times since), but none of us has ever really talked about business.  It was mostly about...  well, I don't remember what it was about.  That's what competition is like in New Orleans.  It's always good to see them.

Fats Domino's house

The inn Vince and Lola were keeping was listed #1 on Trip Advisor  when we met them.  Vince told me that House of the Rising Sun had been #1 for the longest time.  "I'll tell you a secret," Vince told me.  "I think Kevin knows more than I'll ever know."  I've thought about that statement for a long time afterwards and I think Vince said more than he realized at the time.  A lot of people feel that way, your humble narrator included. 

If I were going to stay on the West Bank of New Orleans, I wouldn't stay in one of the rebranded drive-in Ho-Jo motels along the Frontage Road in Gretna.  I'd stay at House of the Rising Sun.  It's beautiful in Algiers.  

I read a lot of online reviews in my profession.  I want to see what the competition is doing well and, well, the most polite way to say this is, copy it.  I don't find a lot to copy.  Every B&B is unique.  I'll tell you one thing though:  House of the Rising Sun is an option I would consider if I was visiting New Orleans instead of living here.

Read the Fence: F-A-T-S

The city is a kind of kaleidoscope.  Fats Domino's House is in the Lower 9.  House of the Rising Sun is in Algiers.  Uptown is different from Downtown.  The West Bank is different from the East Bank.  New Orleans is a city with a rhythm all its own, 24 hours a day, every day of the year.  If I didn't link to it enough already, here it is again: House of the Rising Sun, 335 Pelican Avenue, New Orleans, Louisiana.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.