You've Got A Buddy In New Orleans Tours and Travel Advice

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06/23/2023

Don't forget about me! Here's a little more drone footage of Jackson Square. months back and at least 30 degrees cooler out. Yikes, it's been hot!
I'm getting my ducks in order, for the next phase of You've Got A Buddy Tours, and providing fun content - more soon!

05/25/2023

Here's this week's drone footage of French Quarter Fest 2023 - just lovely!

05/18/2023

I'll be back at Royal Street research but here is some more drone footage from the FQ Fest. It's gorgeous!

05/08/2023

Jazz fest just ended, but I still have some of this wonderful drone footage of the French Quarter during that FQ Festival a few weeks back. Enjoy!

05/03/2023

I'm taking a break on the Royal St. Ramble, so I can create a better template. In the meantime, I was gifted some incredible drone footage of the French Quarter Festival a couple of weeks back. Gorgeous!

319 Royal St : And always, after yesterday's history, here is the close-up of the balcony iron-work. It's for taking a d...
04/22/2023

319 Royal St : And always, after yesterday's history, here is the close-up of the balcony iron-work. It's for taking a deep breath in your day, and just enjoying the beauty.

04/21/2023

319 Royal St, is this week's property we'll explore.

There are many typical trends in this building's titles…
The designation of f.w.c appears on many of them, during the Spanish period, as women of color are becoming Free Women of Color, and begin working their way into property ownership.

The earliest is (1799) from someone named, Pedro Clermont, giving this to someone named Gabriela
(f.w.c.)

The current building was built in 1831 (as I mentioned with last week's property) when a building boom seemed to occur.

However, going back to the original land grant from 1722, it was initially given to Milhet. That name ends up on the FQ's historical signage, for that family's contributions, during our French Rebellion against Spanish control. Milhet's sons (?) being prominent in that cause, are written about, by one of our earliest historians Gayarre: " Jean Milhet, the wealthiest merchant of the colony, Joseph Milhet, his brother"

I can't tell from the title, which Milhet this might be - I am guessing the father/grandfather, since it's almost 50 more years to the rebellion. It's not impossible, there is no relation - but this early on - there is likely a relation.

The early maps in the video show property 227 (now 319), not having a building. Those early titles say, "Land Grant", so it may have been empty of a structure for some time.

Wow, another great French Quarter Festival wrapped up yesterday. Other than a little rain, it was a gorgeous weekend. It...
04/17/2023

Wow, another great French Quarter Festival wrapped up yesterday. Other than a little rain, it was a gorgeous weekend. It's our best festival! Yah like music? Come on by next year!

316 Royal Street: As promised in yesterday's description of this building, here is the close-up of the balcony. A world ...
04/14/2023

316 Royal Street: As promised in yesterday's description of this building, here is the close-up of the balcony. A world of artistry, in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

04/13/2023

316 Royal St, is the next building we'll explore. Part of a larger parcel early on (as the older maps in the video indicate), this building was built in 1834. That period was a building boom for the French Quarter, as the entire country was about to slide into an economic depression. "This building was owned 1834-59 by the Cuban merchant Manuel Julian de Lizardi and built for a group of American businessmen" The Alciatore's own it between 1963 to 64, and they are famous for running Antoine's, our oldest restaurant from 1840. James Lindsey is on the first title, being the owner passing on the property to build the existing structure. As I mentioned on near-by properties we already explored, James was Earl Of Balcarres from Scottish nobility, who attained the entire parcel as a debt payment. It would seem, that during the building boom of the 1830's, he is dividing up this property and selling it off. Now, it's one of the many Bevelo stores, making gas lanterns since 1945. The close up of the balcony artistry - tomorrow.

Happy Easter from the great city of New Orleans! Don't let the rabbit get you!
04/09/2023

Happy Easter from the great city of New Orleans! Don't let the rabbit get you!

313 Royal Close up of Iron-work: As I mentioned in yesterday's description of the building, records indicate a balcony i...
04/06/2023

313 Royal Close up of Iron-work: As I mentioned in yesterday's description of the building, records indicate a balcony in the past, but now we just have mini-gates covering the window. And they're beautiful, coupled with some lovely artwork from the Lozano and Barbuti gallery - peeking through.

04/06/2023

313 Royal St is this week's property. No balcony nowadays, but the title indicates there was one in the past. There is some ironwork on the windows, so I'll do it. Now it's the Lozano and Barbuti Gallery. The earliest title indicates the property was given to the Livaudis in 1722, mentioned here many times as our early French aristocratic family. The current building was built in 1830, for $14,800. I have a description of the property before then, I'll put it in the comments. Late 1800s, it belongs to a pharmacist, Paul Gabriel Gallet who dies, starting a 36 year search to find his heirs - all of whom seem to be in France. I imagine it had to be a peculiar day to live in France, and have a letter show up one day, saying you owned property in New Orleans. As often it goes on Royal St, it was an Antique shop in the 1900s. Close-up the window ironwork tomorrow.

312 Royal Street - Here's the close up of the iron-work, from yesterday's video. I love how the ornamentation at the top...
03/30/2023

312 Royal Street - Here's the close up of the iron-work, from yesterday's video. I love how the ornamentation at the top splits, and goes in separate directions, at the split point.

03/29/2023

312 Royal Street - Back at exploring Royal St, but now giving a video a go. Attached to the property title is an past exploration by Betsy Freund, from 1977. She comments on how this was owned by the Earl of Balcarres, as I mentioned with the other properties on this block. Apparently the Earl received the properties to settle a debt, but never did much with it. Her research guesses at this building be built between 1834 and 1863. 1834 puts the property into the hands of John Slidell. This Slidell, is contemporaneous with the John Slidell that settles on the other side of the lake, with a future town named after him. Is it the same person? Close-up of the balcony iron-work tomorrow.

309 Royal St balcony close up.
03/06/2023

309 Royal St balcony close up.

309 Royal is our next exploration. The 2nd picture from 1959, doesn't look a day older. It's still the home of Royal Ant...
03/05/2023

309 Royal is our next exploration. The 2nd picture from 1959, doesn't look a day older. It's still the home of Royal Antiques. The earliest title from 1722 shows the lot being granted to Sr. St. Quentin. I can't find much on this person. The Sr. could mean Senior, or Sister. But, it is quickly re-granted to Sr. Lange and Livaudis 1728. So, does this mean another Sister, in joint ownership with the burgeoning aristocracy - the Livaudis? Close-up of the balcony tomorrow.

308 Royal Street - close up of the balcony
02/27/2023

308 Royal Street - close up of the balcony

308 Royal - Scottish Royalty obtains this property in 1828. The title indicates James, Earl of Balcarre becomes the owne...
02/26/2023

308 Royal - Scottish Royalty obtains this property in 1828. The title indicates James, Earl of Balcarre becomes the owner. This is James Lindsey the 7th Earl of Balcarre of Scotland. He designed Haigh Hall also pictured here. No word if he ever visited his property in the Quarter. The black and white photo is from 1964. I'll post the close-up of the balcony tomorrow.

02/23/2023

A little video from Mardi Gras yesterday. I don't think most visitors understand the neighborhood level of the celebration - arguably the best aspect of it. A lovely day!

Carnival Day was celebrated on February 20, 1917. In 2023 it's tomorrow. Today is Lundi Gras, so the Proteus parade will...
02/20/2023

Carnival Day was celebrated on February 20, 1917. In 2023 it's tomorrow. Today is Lundi Gras, so the Proteus parade will roll. "The Krewe of Proteus is a New Orleans Carnival Krewe, founded in 1882, the oldest continuous parading Old Line Krewe."

Here's a drawing of a Proteus costume design from 1907.

Carnival Day was celebrated on February 19 in 1985, 1980, and 1901. Here is a picture of Rex from that day back 1901. Re...
02/19/2023

Carnival Day was celebrated on February 19 in 1985, 1980, and 1901. Here is a picture of Rex from that day back 1901.
Rex Website: "Rex entered the picture in 1872. New Orleans was struggling to recover from the lingering effects of the civil war, and divisions and isolation prevailed. At the same time, many city leaders saw the need to bring some order to the chaotic street parades of Mardi Gras day. The news that Russia's Grand Duke Alexis Romanoff would visit Mardi Gras and New Orleans provided another impetus to add order and brilliance to the day.

The group of young men who founded the Rex Organization hoped not only to entertain the Grand Duke, but also to create a daytime parade that would be attractive and fun for the citizens of the city and their guests. True to the Rex motto, "Pro Bono Publico—for the public good," they succeeded beyond their hopes. They selected one of their members, Lewis J. Solomon, to be the first Rex, King of Carnival. Before he could begin his reign he had to borrow a crown, scepter, and costume from an actor who happened to be performing in town at the time."

As I move to 308 Royal I did find an older map from 1731, showing the corner property tied to Monteleone (the map I post...
02/18/2023

As I move to 308 Royal I did find an older map from 1731, showing the corner property tied to Monteleone (the map I posted yesterday), and the rest of the 300 block. The properties were larger back then, but that little house on the corner property (45), I can't find a title until 1780s (posted yesterday). Looking at all the pictures I've shared, it's certainly changed dramatically through the years.

For the sake of completeness I wanted to finish up the corner, that spun me into the Monteleone research. So, prior to t...
02/17/2023

For the sake of completeness I wanted to finish up the corner, that spun me into the Monteleone research. So, prior to that era, the earliest evidence of buildings would be this map from 1814(?). It shows these 2 buildings on the corner.

The earliest title is from 1785 and transferring the property from someone named Francisco Birot to Pelagia Dauphin f.w.c. When you see F.W.C that indicates a free woman of color.

During the Spanish period, slaves could buy their way out of slavery, and it became common to have informal relations with men of European decent. This was definitely against the rules during French and American period, but tolerated during the 40 years of Spanish control. The only thing I can find on Francisco is that he sold a few slaves around this time. But, this passing of property of a person of European decent to a F.W.C is definitely a practice picking up steam around this time (this could mean a number of things, but clearly he had some connection with Pelagia). This leads to her passing on the property to following generations and I stumbled on a recent book called Wicked Flesh, that directly addresses Pelagia Dauphin and the passing of property ownership through these years. A tale for another time, but this is strange chance that I would find the recent book, by searching the name contained on the titles from years ago.

All this happened in the spot that was the parking lot of Monteleone, I posted weeks ago. These are quite the stories buried in our history.

More pictures of balconies this week. After recovering from my Monteleone detour, I will return to the 300 block of Roya...
02/13/2023

More pictures of balconies this week. After recovering from my Monteleone detour, I will return to the 300 block of Royal. My initial research indicates that some of it was owned by Scottish royalty, a free woman of color, and John Slidell, for whom the future town is named, near the lake.

Happy Mardi Gras Day - well, if we were back in 1910. This picture is from the the New Orleans Times-Democrat titled: Fr...
02/09/2023

Happy Mardi Gras Day - well, if we were back in 1910. This picture is from the the New Orleans Times-Democrat titled: Frenchmen Street maskers February 9, 1910.

02/08/2023

This is a pretty risque parade behind our cathedral: Krewe du Vieux (Last Saturday). If you find the floats questionable, keep in mind that, that is our St Louis Cathedral, in the back, with a shadow of Jesus cast upon it. If the parade is tolerable for the Catholic Church, it's probably tolerable for you. I apologize, if I'm wrong.

Ugh - recovery. Carnival is heating up. I will try to post video from Saturday's parade. But being a Rated-R parade, I a...
02/06/2023

Ugh - recovery. Carnival is heating up. I will try to post video from Saturday's parade. But being a Rated-R parade, I am not sure what I can get away with. In the meantime - coffee and Ibuprofen. How many cities do you know, put their coffee shops next to a cemetery? Here we do!

Where can you get your tarot cards read today, or back in the 30s, in New Orleans? Bottom of the Cup Tea Room of course....
02/02/2023

Where can you get your tarot cards read today, or back in the 30s, in New Orleans? Bottom of the Cup Tea Room of course. It's now on Chartres Street, but doing my 300 block of Royal/Monteleone research I stumbled on the original location, which was on Royal (look at the sign above the car). Their website says they started in the 1929, so this was a brand new business when this picture was taken. The sign looks just like the one they still have on Chartres St.
They offer tarot, palm, and of course, tea leaf reading.

I'm going to return to showing the balconies and history on this 300 block, I was distracted by the Hotel research (which requires further research).

I had someone on my tour ask me about the Italian/Sicilian influence in New Orleans, and I told him to follow me here, o...
02/01/2023

I had someone on my tour ask me about the Italian/Sicilian influence in New Orleans, and I told him to follow me here, on social media, since I was researching the Monteleone hotel. That hotel was part of that Italian migration.

But, my understanding of how the French Quarter became so Italian was blurry. My past research gave me some understanding, but I couldn't find any grand cause like a potato famine, or slavery, to force a migration. Now, after searching some information from the Library of Congress, my initial assumptions were verified - it's complicated.

My early understanding of Sicilian immigration, had partially to do with Sicilian lemons. These, were apparently the best back then. This pushed Sicilians wherever they could be sold. However, that still doesn't seem to explain a mass migration.

My second understanding was, after the Civil War, with slavery nullified, there was a need for a new group of people to exploit, particularly in the Mississippi Delta. Those people end up being Italians and Chinese - not enslaved, but conditions close to it.

To further nudge them along, the Library of Congress indicates that crossing was becoming cheaper. So it seems, all these reasons, initiated the migration to the US.

LOC:"the 1880s, they numbered 300,000 (to US); in the 1890s, 600,000; in the decade after that, more than two million. By 1920, when immigration began to taper off, more than 4 million Italians had come to the United States, and represented more than 10 percent of the nation's foreign-born population. "

The French Quarter was falling into decay, so the old Creole culture was dwindling away, and new people show up to fill in the new gaps. The Italians arrive. And, we end up with two China 'towns' in New Orleans.

The photo from within the Quarter shows, future Tujagues on the right, but this area is now referred to as 'Little Palermo'

Antonio Monteleone shows up in the 1880s.

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