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...
NOPSI 934 and 935 were Canal Line Arch roofs in the 1960s. 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...
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!
Recent Comments