The French Quarter, also called the Vieux Carré, is the original part of the city, and where I spent most of my time on this visit to New Orleans in August 2005, for Southern Comfort’s Third Annual Tales of the Cocktail, a 3-day event that celebrated cocktails and their origins in New Orleans through special dinners, seminars, and tasting events. The term ‘cocktail’ originated in New Orleans, M. W. Heron first made Southern Comfort here, and Peychaud Bitters was made at the first pharmacy in the United States in New Orleans, so it is only fitting to celebrate here in New Orleans. Read our article in the Events section.

Edward F. Nesta and I arrived in New Orleans with a storm brewing, dark clouds threatened, lightning struck, and my heart started beating faster with anticipation, I was back in New Orleans! Summer in New Orleans wouldn’t be summer without an afternoon rain shower. After a quick and hard rain, the sun came back out, and it was tropical and steamy, the joys of New Orleans in summer. We stayed at the Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal Street, which was founded by Antonio Monteleone in 1886, and continues to be owned by the Monteleone family. The hotel is the oldest and largest French Quarter hotel. With 119 years of tradition and service, the Hotel Monteleone continues to provide excellent full-services for their guests including a swimming pool, Spa, 3 restaurants, 2 lounges, fitness center, business center and even a house doctor available 24-hours per day. The hotel is a literary landmark that counts esteemed Pulitzer Prize authors Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner, and Richard Ford as guests, as well as Eudora Welty, Ben Lucien Burmah, and Winston Groom among the celebrated. Other ‘guests’ include a few spirits that have made the Hotel Monteleone their home; it seems that the hotel is haunted, but the spirits are friendly. Read about the Hotel Monteleone in our Hotels & Resorts section.

New Orleans is steeped in history, and its French Quarter streets are as different from one another as night and day, and are almost little neighborhoods unto themselves in the French Quarter and are definitely worth exploring. Stroll down Decatur Street for carriage rides and the French Market, which offers everything from produce, New Orleans specialty food products, as well as Mardi Gras masks, boas, and other souvenir items. Chartres Street is the home of the Saint Louis Cathedral. On Royal Street you will find antiques stores and art galleries. The famous or in-famous (however you deem it) Bourbon Street is the bawdy section of the French Quarter. Here you will find bars, jazz and strip clubs. This is also the only street where beads are tossed from balconies. If you prefer a more sedate New Orleans experience you might want to avoid Bourbon Street. Dauphine Street is followed by Burgundy Street to finalize the border of the French Quarter. The cross streets are Iberville Street, Bienville Street, Conti Street, St. Louis Street, Toulouse Street, St. Peter Street, Orleans Avenue, St. Ann Street, Dumaine Street, St. Philip Street, Ursulines Avenue, Governor Nicholis Street, and Barracks Street form the other border.

On Royal Street one of my favorite places to look for antiques is at M.S. Rau Antiques, which has been in the Rau family since 1912. M.S. Rau Antiques offers extraordinary furniture, jewelry, china, crystal, paintings, music boxes, walking sticks, canes, and silver, among their many offerings. Read our articles on M.S Rau Antiques in the Arts & Antiques section.

Although we were in New Orleans for the Southern Comfort’s Third Annual Tales of the Cocktail, we found plenty of time for exploring. We visited St. Louis Cathedral, located in Jackson Square, founded in 1718, established as a parish in 1720 and a minor basilica in 1964. It is an ornate cathedral with hand-painted ceilings and there are 2 angels, which welcome you as you enter.

There are several museums and historic homes that are now open to the public, which we found to be very interesting. Beauregard-Keyes House, 113 Chartres Street, located opposite the Old Ursuline Convent, was built in 1826 for Joseph Le Carpentier, and is a historic treasure. Once the home of General Beauregard and later the author, Frances Parkinson Keyes, (Dinner at Antoine’s, Came a Cavalier, Blue Camellia), it is a Louisiana Raised Cottage. Docent E.J. Eppling provided an interesting history of the house as well as many of the unusual items in the house, such as the Tester bed that has a removable wooden ‘rolling pin’ on the headboard, which was removed to ‘roll out’ and smooth the feather bed. The house is filled with period furnishings, clothing, dolls, china, paintings, Mrs. Keyes books, and other interesting artifacts. Tours are Monday – Saturday from 10:00 am – 3:00 pm and conducted hourly. There is an admission fee.

The Louisiana State Museum, 701 Chartres, is several museums in one. We especially enjoyed the Mardi Gras exhibit, where visitors can ‘experience’ Mardi Gras through their large displays of costumes, floats, and history, as well as try on Mardi Gras costumes. The museum is closed on Mondays. Also part of the museum is the Cabildo, which provides visitors with the history of New Orleans. Admission is charged.

The New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, 514 Chartres Street, is where Louis J. Dufilho, Jr., the United States first licensed pharmacist (1816), opened his apothecary shop in 1823. The museum is a definite must, with its large collection of unusual items including leeches, (which incidentally are still used today). Interesting items include their gold and silver-coated pills, which were considered a status symbol at the time. Unfortunately, coating the pills with gold and silver made them indigestible, so the patient not only did not receive any medicinal value, but gold and silver is thought to be toxic when consumed. Such is the price of vanity. There is a small botanical garden at the house, which supplied the herbs for the pharmacy. They list a few magical and superstitious uses of the herbs, which included sprinkling mustard seeds on thresholds and windowsills to protect houses from evil; they claimed that keeping any sprigs of oleander in the house would bring sickness, disgrace and misfortune; and that placing a pine branch over the bed would keep illness at bay and heal the sick. Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 am – 5:00 pm. Admission is charged.

Museum of the American Cocktail is another interesting museum whether you are a mixologist, love cocktails or are a collector of antiques. Founded by Dale DeGroff and passionate cocktail authorities including Jill DeGroff, Jared Brown and Anistasia Miller, Ted Haigh, Robert Hess, Phil Greene, and Chris McMillian, the museum provides an interesting retrospect into the world of cocktails from Jerry Thomas first bartender’s book, to a look at cocktails in films (where would Nick and Nora of the Thin Man series be without cocktails), and of course there is a large selection of cocktail paraphernalia. When we visited the museum, it was still located over the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum, but it is moving in September 2005. Check their website for their new location in New Orleans, as well their second Museum of the American Cocktail in New York. They also will be featuring seminars around the United States.

I loved the Mardi Gras ball gowns at the Mardi Gras Museum located at Arnaud’s Restaurant, 813 Bienville Street. The elaborate, over-the-top gowns on display also have photographs and a short description of the history of the gowns.