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Once the "home of Jax beer," the Jax Brewery
building became home to several high-end shops
when it reopened as a French Quarter mall in 1984.
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Photo by David Richmond
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Hey Blake,
A friend of mine was trying
to name local beers of both past and present that are unique to New Orleans
and/or surrounding cities in Louisiana. Please help.
C-diddy
Dear C-diddy,
Only because you said please will I provide you with this list. But what you
are getting is a list of breweries and brewers because a list of the brands
would fill up the whole column. Fifty years ago, New Orleans was proclaimed
the "brewing capital of the South." And before Prohibition, there were about
a dozen breweries all competing for the beer drinker's dollar; the choices were
intoxicating.
Today we have Dixie -- in business since 1907
-- Crescent City Brewhouse, Zea's, Abita, and Day. Elsewhere in Louisiana you
will find the Bon Temps, Louisiana, Ild, and Rickenjaks. And others that closed
in recent times include Acadian, Louisiana, Lafourche, and Old River Brewhouse,
Further back, we also had Jackson, Fabacher,
American -- they produced Regal Beer -- New Orleans, Standard, National, Falstaff,
Union, Old Union, Columbia, Consumers, Algiers, Security, Southern, Louisiana,
Weckerling Pelican, Lafayette, and Crescent City, Soule, Peter Blaise, Hope
Steam, Hope, George Auer & Co, George Auer Eagle, Armbruster, Orleans, Lafayette,
Fasnacht's, Erath, Marais Street Steam, George Merz, Old Canal, Home, Jacob
Zoelly, Star Steam, F.W. Boebinger, N. Kieffer, City, George Guth, J. Christen,
Carl Krost, and Nicholas Schmidt.
Since you and your friend are interested in
beer history, you might also like to know what happened to the once-successful
establishments.
Although many of the breweries never saw the
20th century, two events that brought the flourishing brewing industry to its
knees were the 1920 enactment of the 18th Amendment banning alcohol sales, and
World War I, which produced much anger against German brewmasters. After the
1933 repeal of the 18th Amendment, only a handful of the breweries reopened.
Another major change came in the 1960s with
out-of-state brewers setting up shop in Florida and Texas. The competition was
steep, and local markets suffered. Eventually even the large operations folded.
Jax closed 30 years ago, and Falstaff bit the dust in 1978. The American Brewery,
which closed in 1962, is now the Royal Sonesta Hotel.
Hey Blake,
I have been doing some research
on the nine muses for a new product line and was wondering if you could tell
me a little about the streets that bear their names. When were those streets
named, who named them, and most importantly -- why? Are they technically located
in the Garden District or just before?
Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Barthelemy Lafon was a surveyor in New Orleans who subdivided four plantations
in the Second Municipality between the years 1806 and 1810. He unified the Faubourgs
Delord, Saulet, LaCourse, and Annunciation and lined up the streets with the
older Faubourg St. Marie, New Orleans' first subdivision
Today, this area is called the Lower Garden
District, not to be confused with the area further Uptown between Jackson and
Louisiana avenues, Magazine Street, and St. Charles Avenue.
When Lafon set about organizing the new suburb,
he was inspired -- perhaps by the Greek muses themselves -- to follow a classic
design. He honored the gods with streets named Apollo, Bacchus and Hercules.
He named other streets after nymphs: Naiades and Dryades. And, of course, he
honored the nine Muses: Calliope, Euterpe, Thalmia, Melpomene, Terpsichore,
Polyhymnia, Urania, Clio and Erato.
He also planned for a school -- the prytanee
-- and a Coliseum for dancing like the one in Paris. Neither was built. Naiades
is now St. Charles Avenue; Apollo, Bacchus and Hercules are now Carondelet,
Baronne and Rampart streets, continuing the streets in the Faubourg St. Marie.
But Dryades and the muses live on.
Hey Blake,
Can you tell me if there
is a park called Billy or Nanny Goat Park in New Orleans? If so, where is it
located?
John Schmidt
Dear John,
With Ordinance #744, C.S., the triangular piece of land bounded by Tulane Avenue
and Banks, South Galvez and South Johnson streets became a public park in 1884.
By 1896, folks were calling it Tulane Park. In the records of Victor Schiro,
mayor of New Orleans from 1961-1969, there is a letter dated 1965 that referred
to the park as Billy Goat Park.
