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Cafe Du Monde, whose original building is shown here, has been a fixture in the French Quarter since 1862.
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Courtesy of The Boston Globe
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Hey Blake,
I recently attended a show at the Neutral Ground Coffee House. While there I noticed in their schedule a claim that they were the oldest coffee house in New Orleans. Of course, I argued that it was Cafe Du Monde or perhaps the Morning Call. Who's off their bean here?
Ray Werring
Dear Ray,
What we've got here is a bean of a different color. I guess we need to distinguish between coffee house and coffee shop? A coffee house is usually thought of as a restaurant where coffee and other refreshments are served, especially one where people gather for conversation, games, or musical entertainment. Lots of us associate coffee houses with the beatnik days in the 1950s and early '60s when we could listen to the "cool cats" express themselves through music and poetry. Instead of applauding to show our approval, we snapped our fingers.
The Neutral Ground Coffee House at 5110 Danneel St. has been in existence since 1977, and is, therefore, the oldest establishment of its type. However, if you're talking coffee shop, that's a different story. The oldest coffee shop in New Orleans still in existence is the Cafe Du Monde, which began in 1862. I'll bet the amount of coffee they've served since then would fill Lake Pontchartrain!
The location of the French Market was used by the Choctaw Indians to trade with river travelers, and European settlers sold produce and dairy products there. While the French founded the city, the Spanish put up the first French Market building in 1791. One of our nasty hurricanes destroyed the building in 1812, but the next year it was replaced by the building -- known then as The Butcher's Hall -- where the Cafe Du Monde is now.
During the 1930s, the Works Progress Administration made some renovations and added buildings. And for the past 30 years, the French Market Corporation has improved and maintained our historical French Market that extends from the Cafe Du Monde through seven buildings to the Farmers' and Flea Market.
Hey Blake,
In the mid-1950s, Lafitte's Blacksmith Bar, located on Bourbon Street at St. Philip Street, closed. It reopened as Lafittes in Exile a couple of blocks up Bourbon Street. Do you know why the Blacksmith Bar closed? And what was done to it to allow it to reopen a couple of years later?
Jim Hughes
Dear Jim,
If the establishment known today as Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop closed in the 1950s, I would have known. I can vouch for the fact that this place has been operating as a bar since the 1940s.
In the beginning -- of the 1950s, that is -- there was the Cafe Lafitte Bar and Restaurant, also known as Lafitte Cafe. Located at 941 Bourbon St., the bar became popular with the gay community. But following a dispute with the landlord, owners of the Cafe Lafitte Bar and Restaurant moved up the road to 901 Bourbon St. About that time, the original place began calling itself Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop. The new establishment later added the "in Exile" to its name.
Lafitte's in Exile has been called "the granddaddy of them all," claiming to be the oldest continuously operating gay bar in North America. It advertises the fact that Tennessee Williams was a customer. The new Cafe Lafitte was also the original home of the Bourbon Street Awards, a Carnival event that drew such crowds that the fabulous show had to be relocated. If you are adventurous enough to visit the French Quarter on Mardi Gras of 2003, you might be lucky enough to get a glimpse of the 39th Annual Bourbon Street Awards Show at Bourbon and St. Ann streets.
Of course, if you get tired, you can stagger over to Bourbon and St. Philip where the entertainment consists of a piano bar and fantastic stories about the building that was supposed to be a front for the smuggling operations of Jean Lafitte and his pirate pals. While the building dates back to the late 18th century, the occupancy by Jean Lafitte is still disputed. But in 1970, the building was designated a National Historic Landmark.
