Where was Casa Calvo St. in New Orleans?
And the Doors last concert in New Orleans...
Hey Blake,
The Doors apparently scheduled another show on Sunday, Dec. 13, 1970, because we drove in from Baton Rouge and bought tickets at the door. I remember this well because I was 8 1/2 months pregnant. We drove home, and my son was born at 1 p.m. on Dec. 14. We have told the story repeatedly since!
Jennifer Wood
Dear Jennifer,
I don't know how to break the news to you, but you are remembering an event that didn't happen. I believe that you drove in from Baton Rouge and bought tickets to a concert, but it was not the Doors you heard.
On Dec. 12, 2005, it will be 35 years since the Doors played their last concert with Jim Morrison at A Warehouse in New Orleans. After that disastrous performance, the band flew back to Los Angeles the next day. You can read about it for yourself in John Densmore's book, Riders on the Storm: My Life With Jim Morrison and the Doors. Perhaps you remember that Densmore was the drummer with the Doors. He was also an actor and writer who chronicled his experiences with the band in his 1990 memoir. In this book he remembers the last performance in New Orleans and writes, "New Orleans was the lowest note yet ... I could smell death." Further on he says, "Secretly I believed that Jim's performance had been terrible. I was embarrassed for the couple thousand folks in New Orleans, but they didn't know what it meant to me. We (the band) agreed to cancel the few gigs we had coming up. The next day we had a pretty quiet flight returning to L.A."
Hey Blake,
I'm on the Pacific Coast, but my family got its start in New Orleans in 1837. Recently I've hit a snag. I got my ancestor's obit, and it says he died suddenly October 1862 at 669 Casa Calvo St. in New Orleans near Lonsia Street. The Lonsia Street part is hard to read, and it may not be correct. Do you have any idea where this is, what the name could possibly be, or any information on this part of town?
Elizabeth Marmion
Dear Elizabeth,
Casa Calvo was a street in Faubourg Marigny that was named for a man who was sent to New Orleans for a temporary job. In 1799, he was needed to act as interim governor of Louisiana until the permanent one arrived. His entire name -- a very fancy one indeed -- was Sebastian de la Puerta Y O'Farril, Marquis de Casa Calvo. He was replaced by Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo, who arrived in June 1801 and had a brief and undistinguished career as Louisiana's last Spanish governor.
Casa Calvo was one of the streets named by Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, a Creole lad, born in 1785, who inherited a great deal of money and property from his very rich papa. However, Bernard was a wild youth who lived extravagantly, gambled away much of his inheritance, and was reduced in 1808 to subdividing his land and selling the lots. He created his separate faubourg with unique street names that included Bagatelle, Love, History, Peace, Good Children, Victory, Great Men and Craps. On Nov. 20, 1852, Rue Casa Calvo was renamed Royal as an extension of the street in the French Quarter. Likewise, the other streets in Faubourg Marigny were also renamed.
The street you are not sure of sounds a lot like Louisa Street, which intersects with Royal Street downriver in the historic district now known as Bywater. The history of the area goes back to just after the founding of the city in 1718, when gifts of land were made to private owners. By the 19th century, there were at least six Creole plantations in the area, which was known collectively as Faubourg Washington. One of the plantation owners was deClouet, and the street was named for Louisa deClouet.
Although the name Casa Calvo was changed in 1852, folks may have still been calling it by its old name when your ancestor died.
