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!

Doing Time in New Orleans

Life is a parade in New Orleans

I was telling Frau Schmitt that I want to have a bird in the house.  Specifically, I would like to have a sulphur-crested cockatoo.  "Why?" she asked me.

Because some days I feel like Baretta.  



I don't like to go to bed with a price on my head and I don't do any crime when I can't do the time.  I keep my eye on the sparrow when the going gets narrow and I live in a place where the cold winds don't blow.  Well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well.

I don't even know what most of that means, but it always sounded good when Sammy Davis, Jr. sung it.  The song, "Eye On The Sparrow," was the number 1 song in the Netherlands in 1976.  The Dutch called it, "Baretta's Theme."  It's my theme, too.  Besides, no matter what happens, I'll always be a little rascal.

"I'll take care of the bird," I said.  Frau Schmitt snorted.  "No you won't.  I'll end up taking care of it."  She is usually right about these things.  "No bird.  Do you hear me?" she said while she looked at me sternly.  I heard her---for now.  I think a sulphur-crested cockatoo has a lovely singing voice.


Recently, one of our guests told me I reminded him of one of the Bowery Boys.  "Do you know who they were?" he asked.  I do.  Do you, gentle reader?  They were originally known as The Dead End Kids.  I assume our guest was referring to Leo Gorcey and not Huntz Hall when he made the comparison to your humble narrator.  

I'm sorry if you are too young to get any of the associations I've been tossing out in this post so far.  

Let me throw you a bone.  I have nothing in common with Daniel Tosh.  In fact, sometimes,when nobody is checking in on a particular afternoon, I go to the Parkview Tavern on North Carrollton Avenue up the street from us and I write the blog like I'm writing it now, and they have Comedy Central on the television and they're showing Tosh.0, and I think, "This is like staring into a cesspool."  I like it when Futurama is on, though.  

Life is not a cartoon

I pay more attention to Futurama, but I usually have other things to do to occupy my time.  When you live in New Orleans, you don't have a lot of need for the mainstream culture.  We don't live in Oklahoma City or East Grand Rapids or Beaver Mills, Alabama.  There is enough going on on the streets in New Orleans.  Who has time to get the corporate commodified version of what is entertaining when there is already enough to do with our neighbors?  Wanna know what it's like to live like a local in New Orleans?  You'll never be bored here, I'll tell you that.

I could write more, but Kristine just led a bicycle tour past our house.  I'm going to go out to talk to her if you don't mind.  Tune in next time and I'll have another story that is more interesting, I hope.  Until then---

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

What's beautiful about New Orleans?

Motorcycles in our back yard

We recently had a troop of motorcyclists from the United Kingdom (that's England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, to you) who stayed with us for a couple of nights after making the "Music Tour" of Nashville, Memphis, Clarksdale, New Orleans.  We never know who is going to show up on our doorstep, but it's always a pleasant surprise.  They left early after breakfast and I snapped a photo of them suiting up with the sun streaming through the palm tree that's in the back gardens.

Then, I turned around and snapped a photo of the back of our inn:

An arrow points toward Heaven

The clouds have been breathtaking in the morning this autumn.  I've been taking pictures of them so that I can share them on the blog.  I know you have clouds where you come from, but everything is different in New Orleans...it's more magical.  That's the way I feel about it, at least, and I live here and I'm your humble narrator, so it's my opinion against yours.  We love living here.

I was in the gardens yesterday afternoon, and the Parisian couple who have been staying with us were taking the exact same photo.  They left this morning to tour Lafayette and other parts of the great state of Louisiana, but they asked if we have a room available when they come back to the city.  That's the kindest compliment of all.  We are very proud of our profession as innkeepers.  When people want to return, when they can't think of staying anywhere else in our fair city, well, that's the kindest compliment of all.  There is room at the inn.

Gayarre Place, New Orleans

The small triangular park in front of our house is called Gayarre Place.  It's named after the Father of Louisiana History, Charles Etienne Gayarre.  His grandfather was the first mayor.  Over the past couple of months, an anonymous art project has been underway.  An anonymous artist has been hanging identically generic signs that say "LOVE" all over the city.  It's been in the newspaper.  The other day, he or she finally got around to putting one of his or her signs in front of our house.  I like it.  Frau Schmitt thinks a nice addition to our stretch of Esplanade Avenue.  She is usually right about these things.

Crow in City Park, New Orleans

When I was walking the dog in City Park the other day, in the wide lawn in front of the art museum that's at the end of our street, I saw a raven.  I snapped a photo of that, too.

A view of breakfast at La Belle Esplanade B&B

I was walking the dog in City Park early in the morning, before the bakeries open.  We were on our way to Blue Dot Donuts, where we picked up a half dozen fruit-glazed cake donuts for breakfast; blueberry, strawberry and orange.  Then we went down to Alois Binder Baker to pick up a loaf of po' boy bread.  We were home before anyone was up, and Frau Schmitt worked her usual magic in the kitchen.  Good stories were swapped over good food that morning, they way they always are, every day, in our block of Esplanade Avenue.  At least, that's the way the days start in the big orange house with blue shutters.

If you are looking for a place to stay in New Orleans that marries good conversation with delectable eats, I have a place I can recommend.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.
A Diamond Collection B&B.  

Crescent City Classic 2014

Esplanade Avenue after the Crescent City Classic

The Crescent City Classic is an annual 10k road race that goes down Esplanade Avenue every spring.  It went by our house this morning.  This is what it was like:

1.  9:30 last night some trucks stopped in front of our house to set up an archway over the street at the 3-mile mark.  While they were setting up, a driver heading lakeside up Esplanade Avenue was gawking at the work in progress and he rear ended the car in front of him.  The police arrived and flashed their lights at least until 30 minutes past midnight. 

2.  At 5:00 this morning another work crew arrived to install a sound system and make a general racket putting the finishing touches on the archway.  They finished up about an hour later.  They enjoyed listening to classic rock while they went about their business.

3.  The race started at 8:00AM.  By 8:15 the first runners went by our house with police escort.  Motorcycle police with sirens.  It's a different layout every year.  This year we had water stations set up two houses down from us and portable toilets in the park across the street from us.  Some years, there is nobody but us and the neighbors watching the race.  This year, there was a crowd in the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, everyone cheering.

4.  The last of the walkers passed by, bringing up the lagging rear, at about 10:30.  Then the street was a wasteland of empty conical paper cups.  The sheriff's department came by and prisoners picked up all the trash.  Nice guys.  All of them smiling as they went about their assigned duties in orange OPP (Orleans Parish Prison) jumpsuits.  It was beautiful weather.

5.  By 11:30 all the trash had been picked up.  The archway was disassembled and you wouldn't have known there was a race today except for the people wearing numbers walking back to the French Quarter from City Park.  Everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans

There is no parking on our street between midnight and noon on the day when the Crescent City Classic is running.  I took advantage of the lack of cars in front of our house to take a picture.  As I mentioned above, it was a beautiful morning.  It's springtime in New Orleans.

I wasn't the only person taking pictures of our house.  People are always stopping to snap a few pics.  I fit right in.  I never get tired of taking pictures of our inn and it's neighbors.  The inn is the orange building in the middle.  2216 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119.

A closer view

The sun was so bright and the day was so cloudless that I haven't doctored the exposure or the shadows of these pictures.  This is what it looks like to live in New Orleans in the middle of April.  We love it here.  Most people do.  If you can't be happy in New Orleans... well, I don't know what to say about that.

Let's take a closer look at those three houses.  They were all built at the same time, in 1883, by the same man.  He built them for the old Creole families who were moving out of the French Quarter at the time.  The Quarter was being overrun by Sicilian immigrants and the old French families wanted a change of scenery.

2212 Esplanade Avenue

The blue house was built to be a one-family domicile.  

2216 Esplanade Avenue

The orange house was built for two families, side by side.  The actual address is 2216 on the riverside and 2218 on the lakeside of the building.

2222 Esplanade Avenue

The green house was also built for two families; one on the ground floor and one on the second story.  The addresses for this building were originally 2220 for the porch and 2222 for the balcony.

When I sit out front waiting for guests to arrive, I have the opportunity to chat with people walking by.  They all have nice things to say about the paint jobs.  These are cheerful landmarks in the middle of one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans.  It is like magic to live here, whether you spend a lifetime or just a few nights.

We like it here.  You will, too.  If you don't... well, I don't what to say about that.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Let's take one last look at all three:

Middle of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans

Springtime on Esplanade Avenue

View from La France Suite's balcony

Around this time of year, the ravens return to New Orleans the way the swallows return to Capistrano.  We know spring is just around the corner.  Can't wait for the temps to get into the 60s, then the 70s, then, you get the idea...

The fountain out back

Most mornings as I head out to the bakeries before everyone else in the house is awake, I hear the crows rustling and calling to each other in the oak trees that line our street.  In the afternoon, they move to the oak tree in back.  They like to drink from our fountain.

View from Le Pelican Suite balcony

As the sun sets in the west, we aren't sure where the crows go.  Maybe they wing their way Uptown.  Come morning, they are back again, pleasant company that adds to the neighborhood's charm.

You'll see them when you're here.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

I was reading something on the internet this morning about 10 Myths about New Orleans.  One particular observation was that wearing Mardi Gras beads any time of year except after a parade is like carving a jack-o-lantern in May.  I'm going to remember that.  

It is also true that I have never heard anyone who lives here say "N'Awlins."  Never.  Not even with quotation marks.  I was going to link to the full list, but nothing shows up on welovenola.com for me anymore.  Maybe it will work for you.  I know I didn't imagine it.  I'm thinking about writing a synopsis, but it probably won't be as interesting to you.

The hat makes the man

You might think that I spend all my time on the internet, but it wouldn't be true.  Too much, perhaps, but not all of it.  I do a lot of research.  I have to.  I'm going to be a licensed tour guide.  I went to the airport today to get my fingerprints taken as part of the application process.  Soon, you can rest assured that your humble narrator has passed and FBI background check.  

We're going on a group bicycle ride tonight.   It starts at Finn McCool's on Banks Street, about fifteen minutes away and it ends up at the Bayou Beer Garden about ten minutes away.  Two Irish joints.  It is supposed to be about an hour and a half ride, so it's going to be a very scenic route.  Especially at night.

Every night I walk our dog, and every night I say, "Our neighborhood is so beautiful at night."  I say it during the day, too, but at night New Orleans is even more magical.  

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

The dog is usually just interested in finding the next chicken bone.  Either that or he's watching the cat dance with the owl.  You never know what you'll find when you turn the corner here.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  

Where to eat in Mississippi

Rocket engine testing tower

We went to South Mississippi recently to the Stennis Space Center and the Infinity Science Center.  We enjoyed the bus tour of the space center.  It's about an hour from where we live.  After that we decided to find someplace to eat other than the NASA snack bar.

We went to this place:

The second best catch in town

This is what it looked like on the inside:

Hand painted mural in the main dining room

It was spotlessly clean.

Mural close up

It was next to this place:

The best catch in town

We think they shared the kitchen, which was in the middle.  

It was a nice place to visit, but it good to be back in New Orleans during Satchmo Summerfest.  It's been hot.

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.   

Refreshing New Orleans

Esplanade Avenue and Bayou Road

I took a panoramic sequence of photos during a rainstorm from the balcony of the Clio Suite.  This sequence is from lakeside to riverside.  

Two seconds later

Two seconds later...

The tree in front of 2212 Esplanade Avenue

It was raining where North Tonti Street crosses Esplanade Avenue to our right.  It was raining on North Miro Street, too, a block away.  Thunderheads were roiling over North Tonti Street.  The sun was shining over North Miro Street.  If New Orleans has an aversion to water, the city cannot blame the kind of rain that fell on the corner of Esplanade Avenue and North Miro Street when I took these pictures.  

The 180th degree

It was pouring buckets.

The Gasoline Stranger

That is the way it is sometimes in New Orleans.  Sometimes it rains and sometimes it pours.  There is always someplace to be.  Where?  Someplace dry.  We'll meet you at Napoleon House.  

Esquire magazine ranks Napoleon House as one of America's 10 best bars.  Esky is right.  La Belle Esplanade, LLC is ranked #16 out of 150 New Orleans bed and breakfasts on TripAdvisor.  We are waiting for someone from Esquire Magazine to book a reservation.  

Our business relies on honest reviews through word of mouth.  Like Larry told me, "The only question that matters is, would you recommend us to a friend?"

A votre sante,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

A City Full of Good Memories

Apartments are common in New Orleans

When people say New Orleans is dense, they don't necessarily mean that the city is stupid.  What they usually mean is that there are a lot of people in New Orleans, and they are packed closely together.  That much is true.

There are about 360,000 people who officially call New Orleans home.  They vote at the ballot box, they pay sales taxes, they get mail delivered to their New Orleans address, and they make their livelihoods here.  

There are also about 12,000,000 people who visit New Orleans every year.  They vote with their feet and their plane fare, they pay sales taxes, they address the city with respectful affection, and they make neighborhoods more lively than they would be otherwise.  

There is no love like familiar love.  Ask anyone who has lived in New Orleans for more than a month.  There is also no love like new love.  That's the kind of love that people bring to the city every day of the year, though less so in August.

Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us

You never know who you'll bump into and you'll never know who you bump into, again.  New Orleans is as busy as a bigger city, and it is as friendly as a smaller town.  Something is always going on, and everything overlaps like the boundaries of Mid-City.

Everybody is ready to give directions and recommendations, to tell you their story, and to introduce you to the chef.  If they saw you on the streetcar yesterday, they will buy you a drink.  You looked thirsty then, so you must be mighty thirsty now.  Anything for a pal, even a go-cup.

Separated at birth

There are all sorts of people in New Orleans.  They have adventures in the city, strolling arm in arm, holding hands, cheek to cheek and joined at the hips.  Love is in the air in New Orleans when you and the city see things eye-to-eye.

There is the kind of love that is inspired by finding a soul mate in the right person.  There is also a love that comes from being baptized in the spirit of a sensuous city.  There are places in this world that are magic.  One of them is in Louisiana, U.S.A.  

Right before the Mississippi River ends, it gets bigger, more curvaceous, and muddier.  Old Man River, like good times, just keeps rolling along in New Orleans.  The tides you see today are made of different water than they were yesterday, but its the same waterfront.  So is everything back from the sliver by the river.  All of  New Orleans is different every day, but it always full of love of place and love of people.

You can make a home here, whether for a two-day stay or a lifetime.  History lasts for eternity, one good memory after another.

There are all kinds of homes in New Orleans

There are all kinds of homes in New Orleans.  All of them have plenty of room, no matter how small they look from the outside.  A shotgun shack can stretch back a dozen rooms, not counting the camelback.  Some homes are more eye candy than others.

2216 Esplanade Avenue at night

Do you know what's the best thing about being an innkeeper in New Orleans?  We get to live here, and every day we get to see the city through fresh eyes.  Be a New Orleanian wherever you are. New Orleans is dense with good memories.  The rest of the world needs good New Orleans memories.

Our Lady of Rocheblave and Our Lady of Dourgenois

A votre sante,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

(Nighttime photo courtesy of Ann Warner)

Who Loves New Orleans?

Great Seal of the City of New Orleans

Who loves New Orleans?  Everybody.  You know what Tennessee Williams said?  "There are only three cities in America: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans.  Everywhere else is Cleveland."  After visiting New Orleans, everybody agrees, even people from Chicago.  

People are different in New Orleans.  Time moves at a different pace, one that allows all of life's joys to seep through.  In the 1920s, some marketing types coined a nickname for New Orleans that is as apt today as it was then.  They christened New Orleans "The City That Care Forgot."  There isn't a worry in all of New Orleans, especially along Esplanade Avenue.

Bon vivant "Lucious" Lucius Beebe

I was going through one of the drawers in the antique dressing stand in the Pelican Suite.  I found a folded, yellowed piece of paper which contained a handwritten note dated August 12, 1951.

"My dear Mdm. Etoile," it began.  "Thank you so much for your kind hospitality during my stay.  I enjoyed my meals at Arnaud's,  at Galatoire's, and at Tujague's.  I especially enjoyed the oysters at Casamento's.  I will forever remember you rescuing me from my rooms at the Roosevelt Hotel.  I was considering the Hotel Monteleone, but you came to my aid with open arms and grace.  As a boulevardier and flaneur, I could think of no finer street to stroll than your beautiful Esplanade Avenue.  Sincerely, Lucius Beebe. P.S. You're breakfasts were divine. -XOXOXXO."

I suspect it was written by the famous Lucius Beebe.  The one nobody remembers anymore.

Living well in New Orleans

Something comes over people who spend time in New Orleans.  They succumb to its magic.  Even during the worst storms, Esplanade Ridge rarely floods, but it is always awash with charm.  

Many of our younger (mid-20s/early 30s) guests at La Belle Esplanade report that this is their first stay in a bed and breakfast.  "We don't want to stay in a place that is like grandma's house," they say.  Frau Schmitt and I always enjoyed visiting our grandparents, but we understand what they mean.  We are as hep as the next cat and our inn is anything but stodgy, fussy, or twee.  

Our suites are full of antiques, that's true, but there is nothing old-fashioned about La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.  There is free wi-fi and there are flat screen TVs.  Not that anyone comes to New Orleans to surf the internet or watch television.

If you want to treat your significant other to a Valentine's Day escape or a romantic anniversary getaway, our address is 2216 Esplanade Avenue.  Reserve a suite online and enjoy your stay.

Leaving nothing to the imagination

A couple from Mesquite, TX drove to New Orleans this past weekend for some time away from the kids.  They stayed with us.  "I'm so glad we did," the wife said.  "You've spoiled us from staying in a hotel."  Lucius Beebe felt the same way.  Esplanade Avenue is special, especially in the 2200 block.  Some things never change.

"We're driving back and were thinking about stopping in Baton Rouge," they said this morning.  They asked for recommendations of what to do there.

They were twenty years younger than me, so I had to start with a preamble before reporting on the state of the Capital of Louisiana.

"When I was a kid," I began, "It was the Cold War.  Nixon was President.  Brezhnev was the Soviet Premier.  Chairman Mao was running China.  I don't know about about when you were in school, but we knew the capability of different kinds of atomic weapons.  A regular atom bomb could level a whole city.  We knew that from seeing pictures of Nagasaki.  A hydrogen bomb, however was rumored to leave all the buildings intact, just eliminating all the people."

I paused to freshen up my cup of coffee with chicory.  "We never imagined all the dead bodies, of course.  We were just kids and couldn't imagine that.  Instead, we imagined that a city would be empty and everyone who had ever lived there was vaporized.  Absent.  We could wander a whole empty city at will."  The husband was patiently waiting for me to get to the point.

"We went to Baton Rouge last week," I said.  I wasn't lying.  We really did, and the memory was still fresh in my mind.  "Being from New Orleans, that's what Baton Rouge is like.  It's like somebody dropped an H-bomb."

La Belle Esplanade

New Orleans is not like Baton Rouge, the same way that is not like anywhere else on earth.  Good things unfold every minute in New Orleans.  You never know what is waiting around the corner.

We recently had some guests from Paris, France who wanted to spend a night in Baton Rouge.  They called us from the corner of North Boulevard and North 5th Street, right in the heart of downtown Baton Rouge.  "Do have any vacancies for tonight?" they asked.  We did.

After they returned the rental car and walked in our front door, the Parisian couple said, "C'est tres, tres bon to be back in New Orleans." 

It is always very, very good to be in New Orleans.

A votre sante. 

Christmas weather in New Orleans

Christmas on Canal Street

If you are from up north, you may be confused by New Orleans weather during December.  It doesn't feel like winter.  There is no snow.  Today, the high temperature will be 74 degrees Fahrenheit, with a midnight low of 65 degrees.  

There is no autumn to speak of in New Orleans.  Summer seamlessly slides into winter without a care in the world.  In New Orleans, autumn feels like springtime in Boston, Minneapolis, Chicago, or Spokane.  No wonder everyone in New Orleans is happy.  It is a city without snow shovels, without snowblowers, and without road salt or slush.

The fronds of the palm trees do not turn a burnished gold.  Nor do the leaves of the magnolia trees, the oleander, or the southern oaks that line Esplanade Avenue.  If you expect December to be bitter, come to New Orleans for a spell.  It is better than wherever you are now. 

In December, you can tell who is a tourist in New Orleans.  They are the people wearing shorts.  Those of us who live here tend to bundle up when the mercury drops below 70.  Both hosts at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast wore sweaters in the morning and in the evening.  Around noon, they shed their layers and basked in the sun, sitting in the garden in back as flocks of songbirds migrated further south overhead.

New Orleans is pleasant all year long.  This is true during Mardi Gras.  It is true during the Fourth of July.  It is especially true during the Christmas season.  In the Lower Garden District, Saint Alphonsus Church is hosting its annual nativity display: over 60 creche scenes from all over the world are displayed in a stately church that is no longer actively used but is slowly being restored.

The hosts at La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast don't know everything that is going on in the fair city they call home, but they have a good idea of the highlights.  You can make plans and an itinerary of what you want to see during your visit, but be prepared to be distracted.  In New Orleans, there is a fresh surprise around every corner.  It is Christmas in New Orleans.  Some people say this is the best time of year.

A votre sante and joyeux Noel.