NOPSI 888, a wrecked streetcar, outside Carrollton Station.
Wrecked streetcar
The running joke is, when there’s a streetcar-versus-automobile confrontation, the streetcar wins. While this is true, it doesn’t mean the streetcar comes out unscathed. Such was the case on 13-May-1947. NOPSI 888 became a wrecked streetcar, after striking a vehicle while operating on the Desire line. NOPSI 888 received a lot more damage than those involved in wrecks with automobiles because it hit a truck. The streetcar left the scene with heavy damage on the opposite end. We documented the wreck some time ago. Franck Studios photographed 888 from all sides. From this angle, the streetcar appears fine, unless you look through the window! While the Desire line operated out of Canal Station, the Rail Department brought 888 back to Carrollton Station. NOPSI 888 stands here on Jeanette Street. Once the photographer finished, they rolled the streetcar into the barn.
Desire Line
The “Streetcar Named Desire” operated until May 30, 1948. NOPSI replaced the 800- and 900-series arch roof streetcars with White Company buses. These buses bore the classic maroon-and-cream livery of the “old style” buses. The streetcars operating on Desire shifted to the two remaining lines, St. Charles. NOPSI chose not to repair 888. So, it was the first 800-series car scrapped. The remaining 800s, with only a couple of exceptions, joined 888 on the junk pile in the summer of 1964.
While the Desire line gained immortality thanks to Tennessee Williams, it didn’t happen because of traveling on Desire Street. The Desire line rolled inbound on Royal Street, and outbound on Bourbon Street, for the length of the French Quarter. Since Williams lived in a third-story walk-up on Royal Street, he heard those streetcars running past, night and day. Even had Williams not gotten around town much, those streetcars would still stick out in his memory.
Streetcar advertising
On this day, NOPSI 888 sported ad signs on the ends for Regal Beer. The American Brewing Company owned the Regal (“lager” spelled backwards) brand. They brewed and bottled Regal from their plant on Bourbon Street, from 1890 to 1960.
NOPSI 934 and 935 were Canal Line Arch roofs in the 1960s.
NOPSI 934 and 935 at the Cemeteries Terminal, 17-Feb-1960. Photographer unknown. Thanks to Aaron for the find.
Canal Line Arch Roofs
900-series streetcars operating as Canal Line arch roofs, 17-February-1960. I can’t make out the ads on either streetcar; if you can, let me know! NOPSI 934 and 935 sit at the Cemeteries Terminal. Tennessee Williams mentions the “cemeteries” in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” While Williams employs a bit of artistic license, connecting Elysian Fields to the cemeteries, this is the real-life basis.
Perley A. Thomas streetcars
The arch roof design dates back to 1915. New Orleans Railway and Light Company (NORwy&Lt) acquired several from the Southern Car Company. Perley Thomas designed the streetcars. New Orleanians liked them. The streetcars offered decent seating and lots of windows for ventilation. Thomas opened his own streetcar company in High Point, NC. He took the arch roof design with him. NORwy&Lt’s successor company, New Orleans Public Service, Incorporated (NOPSI) purchased two production runs of the arch roofs. They ordered the 800-series in 1923. NOPSI worked with Thomas, changing aspects of the design. That produced the 900 series. So, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, three generations of arch roofs operated in the city. The original 400s, then the 800s and 900s.
NOPSI kept 35 of the 900 series when they discontinued streetcar service on Canal in 1964.
The Terminal
The streetcar tracks at Canal Street and City Park Avenue underwent numerous changes over the years. After the West End line converted to bus service, the city cut the streetcar tracks back. Instead of turning left upon reaching City Park Avenue, the Canal line arch roofs terminated on Canal Street. They stopped in between Cypress Grove Cemetery and Odd Fellows Rest.
NOPSI designed this iteration of the terminal with two tracks and a double crossover. This is similar to the terminal built at S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne Avenues uptown. When NOPSI discontinued belt service on the St. Charles, Tulane switched to buses. St. Charles ended at S. Claiborne. That location remains the line’s endpoint today.
Back on Canal Street, the line used this terminal until 1964. When NORTA restored streetcar service on Canal in 2004, they built a single-track terminal. This was meant to be temporary. The line now ends in the 5500 block of Canal Boulevard, between Greenwood and St. Patrick No. 3 cemeteries.
House with a screen porch on Iberville Street in #NOLAMidCity
Screen porch houses
Before central air-conditioning became part of everyday home life, screen porch houses lined the blocks of New Orleans neighborhoods. Residents escaped the heat of summer by going outside. There were two problems with being directly outside, though. First, most folks avoided direct sunlight and sunburn. Second, the mosquitoes! So, homeowners screened in their front porches. Screens allowed the breeze in, but not the bugs. The offered protection from the sun. The wood floor gave the rocking chair a smooth surface.
Nothing to fans to a/c
It’s hard to remember a time before so many homes in New Orleans had air-conditioning. By 2011, 88% of homes in the United States were built with central a/c. Prior to the suburban expansions of the late 1960s/early 1970s, homes lacked a/c. While many were retro-fitted with wall units in bedrooms, living spaces often were not. Families believed you should go outside. Sit on the porch. Talk to the neighbors. Many a writer and literary critic supports the notion that central air conditioning dramatically changed the genre of “Southern Literature”, because people just didn’t socialize like they used to. They holed up inside and stayed cool.
There’s a lot of merit to this concept, In New Orleans, we sit outside for a few weeks in the Spring and the Fall. The rainy season (what the northern parts of the US call, “Winter”) just doesn’t accommodate outside activity. The humidity of the Summer and early Fall drain us.
New Orleans homes
Not everyone has a Spanish Colonial courtyard to retreat to on a hot day. Shotgun homes offer good airflow, but privacy concerns often outweigh the breeze running through the house. That leaves the backyard. Thing is, the backyard isolates the family from the neighborhood. Porch-sitting brings folks together.
The Tennessee Williams / New Orleans Literary Festival is a fantastic annual event. It’s in the French Quarter. I’ve been asked to be part of a panel titled Retail Giants. The panel will be on Friday, March 23, at 10am. It will be in the Queen Anne Ballroom of the Hotel Monteleone.
The Festival runs from Wednesday, March 21 to Sunday, March 25. Festival HQ is open on the Mezzanine level of the Hotel Monteleone. The hotel is at 214 Royal Street. HQ operates from Thursday-Sunday, from 9am to 4pm. There’s lots of interesting talks, discussion panels, and other events. Check out the full festival schedule.
New Orleans is a nostalgic town that cherishes its diehard institutions, particularly the retailers who became household names over multiple generations. David Johnson of the New Orleans Museum of Art moderates a panel of authors whose work chronicles where New Orleanians made groceries, furnished homes, and browsed for bric-a-brac. David Cappello is the biographer of John G. Schwegmann; Ed Branley writes about Krauss Department Store, and John Magill is the author of a recent book about that popular commercial and social thoroughfare, The Incomparable Magazine Street.
I’m looking forward to this. The authors know their stuff! So, I’ll be the lightweight in this group.
Krauss, Maison Blanche, and Streetcars!
Maison Blanche Department Stores, by Edward J. Branley
I was invited to participate on this panel because of the latest book, Krauss – The New Orleans Value Store, but my earlier book, Maison Blanche Department Stores, fits the subject wonderfully. I’ll be talking both Krauss and MB, and how retail evolved on Canal Street. There’s lots of New Orleans history here, as Canal Street was the nexus of many separate communities, as folks came downtown to shop. Therefore, we’ll talk a bit about streetcars as well, since they were an integral part of shopping on Canal and Magazine Streets.
There will be a lot of stories and fun on Friday. I’m looking forward to seeing y’all there.
NOPSI 830 on Bourbon at St. Peter, 1947. (Courtesy the Thelma Hecht Coleman Memorial Collection, Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries)
This weekend is the annual Tennessee Williams Festival, and tomorrow will be the festival’s “Stella” yelling contest, conjuring the spirit of “Streetcar Named Desire” in the streets of New Orleans. “Desire” was a metaphor to Williams, but the Desire streetcar line was real, and an important route, tying the Upper Ninth Ward to the rest of the city.
Show notes:
Signbox for a 900-series arch roof streetcar. “DESIRE” sign made for the box by Earl Hampton.
Desire!
Tennessee Williams (courtesy of Hotel Monteleone)
Tennessee Williams, relaxing at the Hotel Monteleone, 1950s.
“Why, they told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemetery and ride six blocks and get off at Elysian Fields.”
722 Toulouse Street
When Tennessee Williams arrived in New Orleans in 1938, he took a room here, at 722 Toulouse Street. Now it’s the offices of the Historic New Orleans Collection. WGNO “News with a Twist” did a great spot on the house this week.
Royal Street in Faubourg Marigny, 1951 (Franck photo courtesy HNOC)
The streetcar tracks are gone in this 1951 photo of Royal Street in the Marigny, but it’s a good idea of what riders of the Desire line saw on their way into town.
Looking down N. Tonti at Pauline Street, 1947 (Franck photo courtesy HNOC)
Looking up N. Tonti at Pauline Street, 1946 (Franck photo courtesy HNOC)
Two views of the Upper Ninth Ward from 1946 and 1947. These shots of N. Tonti Street at Pauline are a good illustration of the houses and buildings in the neighborhood serviced by the Desire line.
NORTA 29, the last Ford, Bacon, and Davis streetcar. (Edward Branley photo)
The first streetcars to run on the Desire line were single-truck Ford, Bacon, and Davis cars. NORTA 29 (ex-NOPSI 29) is the last FB&D streetcar.
NOPSI 888, running on the Desire Line, 1947 (Franck photo courtesy HNOC)
The 800- and 900-series arch roof streetcars operated on the Desire line from 1923, until its discontinuance in 1948.
NOPSI Bus on Dauphine, 1954 (Franck photo courtesy HNOC)
The streetcar tracks were ripped up in 1948, and “A Bus Named Desire” took over bringing commuters to and from the Ninth Ward to Canal Street.
The Streetcars of New Orleans, by Hennick and Charlton, 1964 (amazon link)
The Hotel Monteleone in the historic New Orleans French Quarter is rich with literary history – a stomping grounds for Williams, Capote and Faulkner.
Drawing of Hotel Monteleone in the 1930s, from a collection of works sponsored by the WPA (courtesy State Library of Louisiana)
The Hotel Monteleone is a French Quarter landmark celebrating its 125th anniversary this year. Its unmistakeable sign, the Carousel Bar and rooftop pool explain why it’s one of the premier destination hotels for tourists and professionals, and it has a rich history behind it making it the beacon of hospitality it has become. The hotel is a great example of the impact that Italian immigrants have had on New Orleans in general and the French Quarter in particular.
The Hotel Monteleone in the historic New Orleans French Quarter is rich with literary history – a stomping grounds for Williams, Capote and Faulkner.
The Hotel Monteleone in the historic New Orleans French Quarter is rich with literary history – a stomping grounds for Williams, Capote and Faulkner.”>Even though we call it the “French Quarter,” the architecture of the neighborhood is mostly Spanish, because the massive fires of 1788 and 1794 happened when the Spanish were in control of the city. After the Civil War, thousands of Italian families moved to New Orleans, settling in the Quarter, Faubourg Marigny and Bywater. By the 1890s, the Italian community in the Quarter had expanded to the point where they were the dominant force in the French Market. The Brothers of the Sacred Heart opened St. Aloysius College to educate the boys of these families. Most importantly, Italian-American businessmen began to flex their economic muscle in the Quarter.
One of these businessmen was Antonio Monteleone, a Sicilian shoe manufacturer. Arriving in New Orleans in 1880, Antonio opened a cobbler shop on Rue Royale, servicing the men working in what was then New Orleans’ financial/legal district. By 1886, Antonio was ready for another large investment, purchasing a hotel on the corner of Rue Iberville and Rue Royale. Just after he acquired this hotel, Antonio expanded his holdings by purchasing the Commercial Hotel in the 200 block of Rue Royale.
In 1903, Antonio expanded the Commercial by 30 rooms. Five years later, in 1908, he acquired the property adjacent to the hotel and added 300 more rooms. Also in 1908, Antonio renamed the Commercial to be the Hotel Monteleone, and it’s been that way now for four generations of the family.
Antonio passed away in 1913; his son, Frank, expanded the hotel by 200 more rooms in 1928. Frank and the Monteleone family managed to weather the Great Depression and World War II. In 1954, the middle of the post-war boom, Frank decided to close the hotel and raze the building. In its place, he constructed the building that is the hotel today. When Frank passed in 1958, his son, Bill, took over, adding more floors to the building along with a swimming pool and a Sky Terrace.
1964 expansion of the hotel (Franck photo courtesy HNOC)
Hotel Monteleone is a true immigrant family success story in New Orleans. That in itself makes it of historical interest, but the guest list over the years makes the hotel even more interesting. Through the years, The Monteleone has been a “literary headquarters.” Sherwood Anderson stayed at the hotel in 1921. The Monteleone didn’t have air conditioning until 1928, so you can imagine Anderson sitting around with other guests, trying to keep cool under the hotel’s ceiling fans. Truman Capote claimed for years that he was born in the hotel in 1924. Turns out, his mother was staying in one of the hotel’s suites, but actually gave birth to Truman in a nearby hospital. In 1951, both William Faulkner and Tennessee Williams stayed at the hotel (separately). Faulkner was in New Orleans that year to receive the Legion d’Honneur from the French Republic. Faulkner biographer Joseph Blotner wrote that Faulkner indicated The Montleone was the author’s favorite hotel in the city.
When Williams checked out, he found that Mr. Monteleone covered his bill, no doubt to show appreciation for all the publicity the author brought the city through the publication of A Streetcar Named Desire in 1947. Through the years, Ben Lucien Burmah, Eudora Welty, Winston Groom (Forrest Gump), and Richard Ford (A Piece of My Heart) have stayed at The Monteleone. Tennessee Williams gave Hotel Monteleone a shout-out in the play, The Rose Tattoo, and Ford’s A Piece of My Heart has a scene set in the hotel.
Tennessee Williams (courtesy of Hotel Monteleone)
In addition to being a literary fixture, Hotel Monteleone was also a Carnival destination, up until the 1960s. When parades would pass down Rue Royale, turning up Canal Street to go to Rampart Street and the Municipal Auditorium, the hotel sold tickets for the balcony on the corner of Rue Royale and Rue Bienville. The hotel even had a gas station in the garage, so guests could fill up and get their car washed before the drive home.
Plaque placed at the hotel in 2010 by the Friends of Libraries, commemorating Hotel Monteleone’s rich literary heritage (Steve Faure photo)
So, next time you’re at the Monteleone, stop by the Carousel Bar, have a cocktail, then walk around. Imagine yourself bumping into Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, or Winston Groom. The Monteleone may not be a box of chocolates, but you never know what muse will touch you there!
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