Thursday, April 9, 2020

The Porky Chops Social Aid and Pleasure Club

No one is a stranger in New Orleans.  Everyone belongs to a Mardi Gras krewe, or a marching society, a confraternity, a secret society, or a charitable organization, or some kind of club that won't let me join.  

The Porky Chops Social Aid and Pleasure Club won't let me join.  I was turned down for membership.  That's okay.  I wouldn't join a club that would let me in, anyway.



When life gives me sour grapes, I choose to make grappa.

The Porky Chops have been around since 1918.

Unlike Mardi Gras krewe dens, most social aid and pleasure clubs (SAPCs) in New Orleans don't have official headquarters that they own.  SAPC's meet at their neighborhood bars to support local businesses and to be seen out in the community.

Every SAPC has its own constitution, its own by-laws, and its own traditions.  Everyone of them is different.  Some are strict while some are loose.  Some require background checks and fingerprints and credit reports before a person can join.  Some are hereditary.  Some of them are pretty open to everyone interested in what the SAPC stands for, but even they won't let just anyone join.

The Porky Chops SAPC is somewhere in the middle.  They keep out of the public eye but they have been around long enough that anyone who wants to know something about the Porky Chops can easily find out by asking someone sitting on their front porch.

The Porky Chops own their own clubhouse.  It's in one of those neighborhoods that doesn't have an official name in the City of New Orleans Zoning and Land Use Master Plan.  It's on the border of different neighborhoods, neither a part of St. Roch, nor a part of Gentilly, nor of Dillard.  It is in a world of its own, hence, even though the city doesn't recognize the name, the people who live there call their part of New Orleans Benefit.

This stretch of Benefit Street runs parallel to this elevated stretch of Interstate Highway Ten.  Humanity Street runs on the other side of I-10.  The next street riverside from Benefit is Treasure Street, and, after that, Abundance Street, Agriculture Street, and Industry Street.  Any of these streets would provide an equally suitable name for this neighborhood.

Some hotshot real estate agents got together and tried to rename this part of New Orleans RUTITO: Riverside Under the I-10 Overpass.  It didn't stick.  Neither did their suggestion for the other side of the highway: LUTITO.  They were looking to make a killing but it came to nothing.


The Porky Chops headquarters, what they call, "The Slophouse," is in a nondescript house in the neighborhood.  I'm not going to tell you the address.  You go and see if you can figure it out.  Don't cheat by googling it. 

Once a month the Porky Chops SAPC gets together at the Slophouse for ---wait for it--- a pork chop dinner.  These dinners are closed to the public except by special invitation only.  You have to know somebody who's a member.  Or, conversely, you can be a politician, celebrity, or all-around good person who has caught the Porky Chops' attention, and, then, they'll invite you to a dinner and ask you to make a speech before the final toast of the meal.

I'll let you guess how I got invited to one of those dinners.




À votre santé.

A WORD FROM OUR SPONSOR:   




When you are ready to visit New Orleans like you mean it, there is only one B&B hotel where you should stay.  It's La Belle Esplanade, the small hotel that will respect your intelligence.  You belong here.  Here's the link to La Belle Esplanade's blog.  This New Orleans State of Mind blog is good but La Belle's blog is "The Best Written Blog in New Orleans."  

Visit New Orleans like you belong here.

To your health, my friends!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...