Pick Yourself Up In New Orleans

New Orleans is a hard habit to kick.  Once you've got New Orleans under your skin, you've got to come back to scratch an itch that can't be satisfied anywhere else.  Some people have New Orleans in their blood.  Some people live in a New Orleans state of mind.  They are all lucky people.  I know.  I'm one of them---aaaaand---I live in New Orleans, too.

Your humble narrator.

Ink-a-dink-a-doo.  Fiddle-dee-dee.  

The stars are reflected in the wakes of the barges that head up and down the Mississippi River in front of the French Quarter.  Fortune tellers crowd Jackson Square in front of St. Louis Cathedral----even at 3:00AM.  When the sun rises, New Orleans is all aglow; the white herons are tinted pink as the clouds before anyone but beignet cooks are awake.  New Orleans is a city of details.  New Orleans is a city of light.  

When I want to be happy I close my eyes and I think of New Orleans.  Then, I open my eyes and I am already here.  You belong in New Orleans, too, if only for a week.  One week in New Orleans is better than one month anywhere else.

New Orleans is a tonic.  It's a spritzer.  It's a pick-me-up.   

In a New Orleans state of mind, there are no strangers; there are only friends you haven't yet met.  In a New Orleans state of mind, three 25-cent martinis are enough for one person over the course of a three-course lunch.  In a New Orleans state of mind, beads sparkle dangling off the branches of every tree, so pretty.  In a New Orleans state of mind, sno-balls are something you eat, not that you throw.  In a real New Orleans state of mind, you'll feel like you belong here.  Why?  Because you do belong here.

New Orleans is calling you.

Kitty-Kat knows you belong here.

A Word From Our Sponsor:

If you want to visit New Orleans like you belong here----and you do belong here...  If you want to discover what it means to fall in love with the real New Orleans----I know where you should stay.

Nobody ever says their visit is too long.  Stay for as long as you can.  Nobody ever is bored in New Orleans.  If you are a sinner drawn to New Orleans' reputation or if you are a saint looking for a place to call home, we hope you consider staying at the #1 small hotel in the city: La Belle Esplanade.  We look forward to meeting you and sharing our part of the city with you.

New Orleans Man of the Year.

I took a picture of some joker taking a picture of himself in a Time Magazine Man of the Year mirror.  This was in a men's room in some forgettable 24-hour bar.  He had his pants above his waist, buttoned, zippered, and belted when I took this photo.  I know what kinds of ideas people have of New Orleans.  New Orleans is a city that attracts sinners but it also a city that saints call home.  I am not saying I'm a saint.

Time Magazine's New Orleans Man of the Year.

There are no strangers in New Orleans.  There are only friends you haven't yet met.  Say hello.  You have a friend in New Orleans.  You belong here.  Good memories are made in New Orleans.  The best memories are made on Esplanade Avenue.

New Orleans inspires peace of heart.

No one has taken a census to compare the ratios of saints to sinners by neighborhoods in New Orleans.  Anecdotal evidence leads to the conclusion that they are all pretty much the same as much as they are very, very different.  A New Orleanian is only human, still.  New Orleans is the City Care Forgot.  Elysian Fields Avenue is in New Orleans.

Pinch a New Orleanian and he or she won't awaken from a dream.  They are already living it.  Each and every one is Person of the Year.

A Word From Our Sponsor:

If you want to visit New Orleans like you belong here----and you do belong here...  If you want to discover what it means to fall in love with the real New Orleans----I know where you should stay.

Nobody ever says their visit is too long.  Stay for as long as you can.  Nobody ever is bored in New Orleans.  If you are a sinner drawn to New Orleans' reputation or if you are a saint looking for a place to call home, we hope you consider staying at the #1 small hotel in the city: La Belle Esplanade.  We look forward to meeting you and sharing our part of the city with you.

New Orleans Crawfish Dreams

Even when the world ends, New Orleans will endure.  Stated simply, New Orleans is an eternal city like Olympus, like Asgard, like Heaven.  Where there is a will, there is a way.  New Orleans is a testament to resilience.  Come Hell or high water, New Orleans forever.

New Orleans forever.

Miracles happen so often in New Orleans that it is hard to separate fact from fancy.  If some good thing is possible, you will probably find it in New Orleans.  Catch a wish.  Fortune and luck are interchangeable in New Orleans.  Love makes New Orleans go, love of neighbors with malice toward none.

New Orleans has the lowest suicide rate of any city with over 100,000 inhabitants in the Western Hemisphere.

New Orleanians are well-mannered drinkers.  They don’t spit.  They sip and they swallow.  Ours is a cocktail city that knows the proper use for aromatic bitters.  Southern Comfort was invented in New Orleans.  So were many other things.  If you can’t find happiness in New Orleans then you are dead from the neck up.

Now you've seen him.

Scratch an itch.  Swagger.  Take a dare.  Take a double dare, even.  Every day has a reason to celebrate, even when the reason is a funeral.  Every day is a roll of the bones in New Orleans.  Even skeletons dance.

Sanguine serendipity is the order of a New Orleans day.  There are more seraphim than succubi afoot on any New Orleans night.  Go to the right neighborhood and dreams will come true.  It will happen to you.  There are angels in New Orleans’ details.  There is a whole mess of crawfish, too.  Mmmmmm——crawfish!

An ugly man married an ugly woman.  They had beautiful children in New Orleans.  The secret to fertility is crawfish.  The secret to New Orleans is love of neighbor.  Love, crawfish, and dreams.  What a way to go.

There are saints hiding all over New Orleans.

-You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.  La Belle Esplanade is a small five hotel that has been rated the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014.  Visit New Orleans like you belong here.  You do belong here.  Check out our website to see what we offer.  

When you are visiting New Orleans, you can choose a lot worse---a lot worse, believe me.  Don't be a tourist in New Orleans.  Visit like you live here.  Don't be a stranger.

-La Belle Esplanade

Ask the New Orleans Answer Man

Zip-a-ding-ding-dong.  When you are in a New Orleans state of mind, you never know what you'll discover.  There are surprises around every corner.  Ask the New Orleans Answer Man.

I'm in your corner.

I'm not saying that I'm a know-it-all or an expert.  I am not.  I can only share what I know about New Orleans, which is more than a dram and less than a hogshead.  We've reinvigorated our YouTube channel.  It's called New Orleans State of Mind, naturally.  Subscribe.

Here is Episode 1 of Ask the New Orleans Answer Man:

I have a new assistant.  Ms. Richardson is born and raised in Louisiana, the great Pelican State.  When she isn't helping me manage all the projects on my plate, she is helping me shoot videos.  The format is that she asks me questions about New Orleans and I answer them.  

As someone prone to digression and with a lot of facts bouncing around in my head, my answers are rarely straightforward but they are always informative.  If you want to learn more about New Orleans, subscribe to our YouTube channel or just keep following this blog.  I'll post links here every time a new episode is published.  

I detect the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Ms. Richardson and I are in discussion about starting a podcast.  What do you think about that?  I know you can read all you care to about New Orleans from the convention and visitors' bureau website and from top ten lists on Eater or Thrilllist or wherever.  There is more to New Orleans than that off-the-shelf search-engine-optimized chum.  There is tourist New Orleans and then there is real New Orleans.

If you are on this blog, you know that we are all about the authentic New Orleans state of mind---what it is like to live in this wonderful city we call home.  

Your man in New Orleans, ready to answer any question you may have.

When you are ready to visit to New Orleans, we can only recommend La Belle Esplanade.  This small craft hotel has been ranked the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014, and it has also been ranked the #2 place to stay in the United States and the #16 place to stay in the whole world.  #16 in the whole world.  All those reviews can't be wrong.

You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue.  Get your head wrapped around the New Orleans state of mind and visit New Orleans like you belong here.  You do belong here.  Visit like you mean it.

New Orleans Author Announces New Book in Progress.

If you don't mind, I'd like to get all literary today.  I am working on a book.  What's the book gonna be about?  C'mon, Silly!  You know it's about New Orleans.  You read it here first: New Orleans Author Announces New Book in Progress.

Your humble narrator under a picture of Walt Whitman.

In a New Orleans state of mind everyone has the soul of a poet.  Everyone dances like nobody is watching.  Everyone is inspired to be their own best self.  Everyone finds their Muse.  Everyone who moves to New Orleans, the first year or two, they're all writing poetry.  Happily, most of them get it out of their system.  New Orleans is a special place.

I have lived in New Orleans for nine years.  Not too long, as a native may say, but not fresh off the airplane, either.  I am a hotelier.  I run a small 5-suite hotel in a colorful mansion on Esplanade Avenue.  You can call it a bed and breakfast if you want to.  Personalized service and hands-on, tailored recommendations is what we offer as New Orleans goodwill ambassadors.  Visit New Orleans like you belong here.  You do belong here.  

New New Orleans Book In the Works!

I don't think the newspaper is going to pick up this news but I've got a new book in the works.  It is about New Orleans, naturally, Silly.  You are among the first to know.

He's got more than one turn-of-phrase up his sleeve.

The first people to know were Frau Schmitt, who is the better half of this operation, Ms. Richardson, my Gal Friday, and Phil, the valet at a restaurant I like to visit regularly.  

Now it's you.

I like to write one-page expository essays.  Here is a sample:

Defend New Orleans Forever

New Orleans is crooked, or, more accurately, New Orleans is curved.  The streets and the neighborhoods follow the turns of the Mississippi River.  The river is the reason New Orleans is here.  It couldn’t be anywhere else.  It wouldn’t be the same.

New Orleans is a city of deviations from the norm.  Nowhere else looks like New Orleans.  Nowhere else smells like New Orleans.  No other food tastes like New Orleans food.  No other music sounds like New Orleans music.  It can rain in New Orleans while the sun shines overhead.  At least it’s not snowing.

New Orleans has one foot in the past and the other in a wet grave.  Defend New Orleans forever.  A tangled skein of parti-colored ribbon, a pot of gumbo, a mess of empty crawfish heads in the neutral ground, New Orleans is children tap dancing on Bourbon Street.  In a New Orleans state of mind, this hugger-mugger shoo-shoo of a city makes perfect sense and sensibility.  It’s not where you are, it’s where y’at.

The stars are aligned.  In satellite photographs, New Orleans glows a halo.  Catch a wish.  There is a physical New Orleans and then there is New Orleans spirit.  As long as people are happy, New Orleans will survive.  That is why New Orleans is here.

Walking in New Orleans is not an A-to-B affair.  It is a curlicue route.  In a New Orleans state of mind, even angels dream of spending time in New Orleans.  New Orleans is as close to Heaven that you’ll get on Earth.  Just look at the street names.

Celery, onion and bell pepper make up the holy trinity of New Orleans cuisine.  The hypotenuse of New Orleans is equal to its length and its breadth.   In New Orleans, we connect the dots.  The father is not the son.  Both their spirit resides in New Orleans.  Defend New Orleans forever. 

God writes straight between crooked lines. 

It's not every day that a New Orleans author announces a new book in progress.  Fasten your seatbelts, folks.  It's gonna be a wild ride with more samples to follow.  Check in regularly.

Be well,

-La Belle Esplanade

P.S.  Our Kettle-Head book is also still in the works.  There is so much to look forward to!  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.  

New Orleans gentlemen of distinction drink Dixie.

The Best City on the Gulf Coast

In America, we've got our East Coast and we've got our West Coast.  Middle America is referred to as 'flyover country' but you rarely hear about America's Best Coast.  That's the Gulf Coast, in the south, along the Gulf of Mexico.  The best city on the Gulf Coast is New Orleans.  We can debate it if you like, but, really, the case has already been made time and again.  Why bother?

You never know who you'll meet in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The best city on the Gulf Coast is New Orleans.  New Orleans is on the Mississippi River and people are always surprised to learn that we are located about a hundred miles from the Gulf of Mexico, following the twists and turns of the river.  There are other cities that are directly on the Gulf Coast.  Mobile, Alabama and Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi are three that come to mind.  There is Corpus Christi in Texas, a city that is gloriously named, but, like the other three, I wouldn't want to spend a lot of time there.  There only city where I think you should spend a week or more is in New Orleans, Louisiana.  New Orleans is the best city on the Gulf Coast.

You've heard of it.  That's a start.  I can go anywhere in the world and tell people I live in New Orleans.  They'll know where I mean.  The first Mardi Gras celebration in America was held in Mobile, as they'll be happy to tell you (especially if they learn that you live in New Orleans).  It's true.  As in most things, New Orleans does everything at least 3x better.  Usually it's more than that.

New Orleans is a world unto itself.  Food tastes better here.  The air is thicker.  Drinks are more satisfying.  Colors are more vibrant in the sun and they are more seductive in the moonlight.  New Orleans just feels good.

An artist's interpretation of La Belle Esplanade

Take the time to get to know the best city on the Gulf Coast.  Some people say New Orleans is the best city in America.  Tennessee Williams, of all people, said: "There are only three cities in America: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.  Everywhere else is Cleveland."

We have nothing against Cleveland.  It is a wonderful city.  So are so many other cities, large and small, that power this great nation---and so many towns, villages and homesteads, too.  New Orleans is unique but New Orleans is not alone.

Discover what it means to fall in love with New Orleans.  Home is where the heart is.

If we've whetted your appetite to discover more about the real New Orleans and experience this wonderful city in an authentic New Orleans state of mind, there is only one place you should stay:  La Belle Esplanade.  We run a small craft hotel on a beautiful street.  Go to our website to learn more.  You can read the blog there, too.  There is no such thing as too much New Orleans.  Take it from someone who lives here.

Sincerely,
Your friends at,
-La Belle Esplanade

New Orleans Will Survive Hurricane Barry

The phrase I heard the most today?  "Somebody shut that Weather Channel off!"  No one I know in New Orleans is freaking out over the storm predictions.  New Orleans will survive Hurricane Barry.  How do I know?  I live here.

I didn't take any pictures of the flooded streets the other day.  I'm not going to take any tomorrow, either.  Instead, I give you a picture of a squirrel in City Park.  He is as concerned about Hurricane Barry as any other New Orleanian.  Que sera, sera.

Mr. Nutty

When you watch TV, you think the world is ending, especially when a tropical storm is brewing in the Gulf of Mexico.  In New Orleans, we take these things in stride.  I have a prediction:  Hurricane Barry will not be anything like Hurricane Katrina.  Get Katrina out of your mind.

New Orleans will survive Hurricane Barry.  New Orleans, like you, has miles and miles of heart.  New Orleans perseveres.  New Orleans will go on.  NOLA forever.  New Orleans strong.

New Orleans has stick-to-it-iveness and gumption and bravado.  New Orleans is devil-may-care about whatever the weather wants to dish out.  With a cavalier laugh and mischievous wink, New Orleans will live to fight another day.  New Orleans is resilient.  Nothing can keep this good city down.

Two pigeons on a lion in New Orleans City Park.

New Orleans' spirit is as immortal as it is infectious.  New Orleans is about seizing the day.  New Orleans is about making good memories, tonight's better than last night's.  New Orleans will survive Hurricane Barry.  For the people who live here, thinking otherwise is preposterous.

New Orleans streets flood city-wide 2-3 times a year.  It doesn't make the national news but it does happen.  People who live are used to it.  We adapt.  We survive.  

Tropical rains inundate New Orleans every summer, more times than anyone outside the city realizes.  It happens all the time.  We've adapted to it.  We thrive.

NEW ORLEANS' PROTECTION AGAINST HURRICANE DAMAGE

Our lady of Prompt Succor is the patroness who has a special place in her heart for New Orleans.  She is also the patron of all of Louisiana.

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us.

Every day, New Orleanians ask our Lady of Prompt Succor to pray for us, to intercede for our city to spare the people who live here from loss of life and property due to hurricane damage. 

NEW ORLEANS WILL SURVIVE HURRICANE BARRY

There will be wind and there will be rain.  Then it will all blow over.  It will be a memory.  New Orleans will still be here.

When you are ready to visit New Orleans, La Belle Esplanade will be here, too.  Go go our website to see what we offer as the #1 small hotel in New Orleans and (according to TripAdvisor) the #2 small hotel in the United States AND the #16 in the world. 

Friday, July 12, 2019: Wherever you are today, whatever the weather, we hope you'll have a great New Orleans day today.  Stay dry, friends!

A toast to New Orleans!

Providence and New Orleans.

What is steamboat gothic?  You'll know it when you see it.  It's not steampunk.

I was in New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward the other day to poke around and to see the two steamboat gothic houses that are located down there, at the end of Egania Street.  They are beautiful houses.

Here's one:

The garden-ringed steamboat gothic house in New Orleans.

Here's the other:

The levee-side steamboat gothic house in New Orleans.

They are exact replicas of each other.

People ask me about the 9th Ward.  "I hear that's where the flooding was the worst after Hurricane Katrina," they'll say.

Well, 80% of the city was flooded to one extent or another.  What makes one part of the city worse?  Most everyone lost everything they owned, both house and contents.  It's a matter of degree, perhaps, but it's the nth degree.

The Lower 9 is part of the 9th Ward.  The 9th Ward is the biggest ward in New Orleans, by far.  It includes the Lower 9, the Upper 9, Gentilly, and New Orleans East.  Wikipedia describes the boundaries helpfully, though, for whatever reasons, the article doesn't describe the East.

The thing about New Orleans is that you have to live here to really get a handle on all this convoluted city's facets.  New Orleans is a kaleidoscope, different every time you take a turn.  Familiarity breeds bewilderment the first couple of years but a person eventually gets an instinctual feel for the neighborhoods after enough time spent here.   With practice, New Orleans is as navigable as a familiar dreamscape.  

I don't know why H.P. Lovecraft never felt at home here.  New Orleans is Providence on steroids.

New Orleans City Park.

I've been to Providence.  I love Providence.  It is my favorite city in New England (and, as someone from Connecticut, that takes some guts to say that).  I live now in New Orleans.  I love New Orleans.  I know very few people who don't love New Orleans.  There is only one Providence.  There is only one New Orleans.

Tennessee Williams said there are only three cities in America: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.  Everywhere else is Cleveland.  Tennessee Williams was wrong.  There are plenty of cities in America that are interchangeable with Cleveland but Providence isn't one of them.

Back to New Orleans....

La Belle Esplanade, the #1 small hotel to stay at in New Orleans, is located in the 6th Ward.  Where's the 6th Ward at?

These boots were made for walking to the most colorful houses on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.

In New Orleans, if you meet someone you know, you don't say hello or "How are you doing?"  You say, "Where y'at?"

We live on the 6th Ward side of Esplanade Avenue.  The other side of our street is the 7th Ward.  The 6th Ward is bounded by Esplanade Avenue and St. Philip Street and the Mississippi River and Bayou St. John.  The 6th Ward is four blocks wide and forty blocks long.  

If you want to learn more about New Orleans, I know a good place where you should stay when you visit.  La Belle Esplanade is staffed by New Orleans goodwill ambassadors who offer personalized recommendations tailored to what interests you.  Even if you aren't interested in New Orleans wards or steamboat gothic, there is plenty more for us to talk about.  Make a reservation today at the #1 small hotel in New Orleans.  We'll be more than happy to share what we know about this wonderful city we call home.  It is what we do.  We love what we do.  You will fall in love with New Orleans, too.

La Belle Esplanade: Price is what you pay; value is what you get.

New Orleans is Delicious

Where does the time go?  It goes down the memory hole.  In New Orleans we don't forget our days.  We don't forget our good times.  Good memories are made in New Orleans.  They are the kind of good memories that will last us the rest of our lives.  Mmmm-mmmm good.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.  New Orleans is delicious.

When I lie on my deathbed, I'll think back to any random New Orleans day and I'll be smiling.  I will slip into the sleep of the eternally contented.  A week in New Orleans will give you a taste of Heaven.  New Orleans is delicious.

There are very few places on this wonderful round earth so nice as New Orleans.  New Orleans is a slice of Heaven more tasty and savory than a slice of anchovy pizza.  Happy are those who have spent time in New Orleans.  The luckiest people of all live here.  Ask them.  They wouldn't trade a day in New Orleans for all the pizza in Italy.

In a New Orleans state of mind, even the angels dream of living in New Orleans.

New Orleans loves you.  Accept its sweet embrace.  New Orleans is delicious.

New Orleans loves you.  You'll know it as soon as you set foot on its bumpy and shady streets.  There is only one New Orleans.  We smoothly sail from day to day, catching the breeze while we shoot the breeze amongst friends.

Look in the mirror.  You are unique.  New Orleans loves you for who you are.  

I didn't lose my heart in San Francisco.  I found my heart in New Orleans.  Home is where your heart is.  Once you get New Orleans, New Orleans has got you hooked.  Make yourself at home.  You belong here.

Take your chances.  Make your mark.  Be yourself.  You belong in New Orleans.  Game on!

There are no illusions in New Orleans.  This is reality.

Be ready to reach the stars.  Be ready to be your best self.  Be ready to swallow your soul and eat to your satisfaction.  Be ready to be ready for anything that may happen next.  What's gonna happen? Something startling and enlightening and magical and transcendent.  Be ready to live your best future.  Catch a wish and carry it with you forever.

When you are in New Orleans, nothing is like things are where you live.  In New Orleans, there is magic in the air.  Open your nose.  Open your eyes.  Open your ears.  Touch the flowers that grow along the sidewalks.  Touch a fork---it is an extension of your hand.  Kiss a spoon full of gumbo.  Kiss a lover.  Love makes New Orleans hum.  New Orleans is an eternal thrill.

Have you ever had a dream that you can't forget?  If you haven't, you should get your good self to New Orleans.  After six or seven days in New Orleans, you'll know what I mean.  You'll be hooked.  New Orleans is delicious.

I'm not saying that New Orleans will spoil you from enjoying other cities, but, man oh man, once you get New Orleans in your heart, well, I guess I really am saying that New Orleans will spoil you from enjoying other cities.  New Orleans is delicious.  There is only one New Orleans.  There is only one.  If there were more, the world would be overcome with a frenzy of joy.  No one would be clinically depressed.

Some people suffer heart attacks.  In New Orleans, people suffer love attacks.  There are worse ways to live.  Ask anyone who calls New Orleans home.

---And now a word from our sponsor:

La Belle Esplanade is a small craft hotel located on a beautiful street in a very interesting part of New Orleans.  We only have five suites but that is what makes our small hotel special.  Not everyone can stay at La Belle Esplanade, only the five people or couples who make a reservation to stay here on any given day.  Lucky people.

La Belle is the orange house in the middle.

When you are ready to get off the typical tourist grid and immerse yourself into the densely woven and richly textured culture of this wonderful city we call home, we hope you'll make your New Orleans headquarters at La Belle Esplanade.  We only have five boutique suites so we tend to fill up early.  Go to our website, read more about we offer, and make a reservation today.  The "Check Availability" button is located in the upper right of our website's screen.  We look forward to meeting you and to sharing our part of New Orleans with you.

Discover what it means to really fall in love with the real New Orleans.  We're here for you.  You have a friend on Esplanade Avenue.

À votre santé,
Your ever-loving pals at----
La Belle Esplanade

Welcome to the most unique hotel not only in New Orleans but, maybe, in the world.  We look forward to meeting you and to sharing our part of New Orleans with you.

In the meantime, be well, friends.  You have two friends on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans.  We look forward to meeting you in person.

Saints and Sinners in New Orleans

Nobody is perfect.  We all have weeds in our garden.  You will find both saints and sinners in New Orleans.  Some people look for one kind of person, other people look for the opposite.  Me?  I've spent enough time being an aristocrat of the gutter.  I'll err on the side of good.

Mural of Dr. John on the side of a house.

Who's to judge?  I'm not writing this blog to get into an ontological debate, which is one reason we don't allow comments here.  You are free to do as you please, whistling past the graveyard.  In New Orleans, though, there are signs and symbols of transcendence everywhere you go.  You never know what you'll find when you turn a corner in New Orleans.  It really is magical here.

Statue of St. Jude in a tree.

Keep your eyes open.  Keep your heart open.  Keep your senses sharp.  New Orleans is full of surprises with those who are willing to find them.  Or, you can just get drunk on Bourbon Street.  To each his or her own.  I'm not here to judge.  It's your vacation.

There are both saints and sinners in New Orleans.  There is probably equal proportion of the former to the latter.  40/40 with the other 20% willing to go one way or the other as the wind blows.    Be yourself.  Be true to your code.

Muriel Hauptmann.

What do you see when you look in the mirror?  A mirror contains all sorts of beauty.  New Orleans contains all sorts of beauty.  

New Orleans is a kaleidoscope of a city with different facets and different views all coalescing around a single focal point.  New Orleans can make you dizzy, especially if you stay in the tourist zone.  Outside the tourist treadmill, there is a whole wide and wonderful city out here, full of surprises, full of magic and the stuff from which irreplaceable good memories are made---the kind of good memories that will last a lifetime.

Be a saint or sinner in New Orleans.  La Belle Esplanade is a small craft hotel.  We only have five suites.  We are located on a beautiful street.  La Belle Esplanade is close to the French Quarter and Frenchmen Street, they are just a picturesque stroll away, but La Belle is in the real New Orleans, the authentic New Orleans.  You never know what you'll find when you are in the real New Orleans. It won't be a novelty tee shirt shop.  It will be people going about their lives, happy to share their city with you.  Welcome to the New Orleans state of mind.

One of the proprietors at La Belle Esplanade.  Let us be your New Orleans goodwill ambassadors.

When you are ready to get off the typical tourist grid and immerse yourself into the densely woven and richly textured culture of this wonderful city we call home, we hope you'll make your New Orleans headquarters at La Belle Esplanade.  We only have five boutique suites so we tend to fill up early.  Go to our website, read more about we offer, and make a reservation today.  The "Check Availability" button is located in the upper right of our website's screen.  We look forward to meeting you and to sharing our part of New Orleans with you.

Discover what it means to really fall in love with the real New Orleans.  We're here for you.  You have a friend on Esplanade Avenue.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade

Monday, July 1, 2019: Plus ça change plus c'est la même chose.  The more that things change the more they stay the same in New Orleans.  It's magical here.  Stay at the small hotel that has been ranked the #1 place to stay in New Orleans since April 2014, #2 in the United States and #16 in the world.  What do you have to lose? Nothing.  You deserve good memories.