A new website for La Maison Marigny

Our "old" website was launched a few months after Hurricane Katrina.   As the adage goes, time flies, and it's time for a fresher site using the latest technology.   So our friends and marketing partners at Wyatt/Lane in New Orleans worked wonders for us and we've relaunched lamaisonmarigny.com.

With the new site, we'll do a better job of updating our blog, too!

The return of retail in New Orleans

By all accounts, the recovery of New Orleans has been very strong and well documented.   Job growth has been encouraging and the tourism sector is booming.    The lagging area has been retail, which is finally catching up.   In the last three months the large MidCity Market development opened on Carrollton Avenue, followed by the region's first Costco last month.   And next year, the repurposed Riverwalk will reopen as the nation's first upscale outlet mall located in a downtown area.

http://www.riverwalkmarketplace.com/

World's 8 most really, truly romantic cities | CNN Travel

Favorite place to visit?   Check.

Now, romantic.  Check.

World's 8 most really, truly romantic cities | CNN Travel:

America's Favorite Cities 2012 - New Orleans | Travel + Leisure

See why New Orleans is once again America's sweetheart!   No surprise that we rank so highly in music and people watching, but personally we love that NOLA is #1 for Happy Hour!

America's Favorite Cities 2012 - New Orleans | Travel + Leisure:

A new app for NOLA

There's an app for that!   iPhone/iPad users can now download a great new tool from the city's convention and visitors bureau.   Features attractions, restaurants, lodging (you already know where to stay, though!) and more.

You can search for it under "GO NOLA" but here's the rather clunky URL:  http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/go-nola-official-tourism-app/id523868920?mt=8

New Orleans tops for shopping!

Okay, we don't have a Costco (yet) nor does Crate & Barrel grace our fair town, but readers of Travel & Leisure magazine don't care.   They just named New Orleans as the best shopping city in America thanks in large part to our great boutiques, flea markets, and antique stores.    We enjoy browsing Magazine Street on Saturdays and always love a stroll down Royal when the weather is nice, so I guess it's not so much of a surprise after all!

America's top city for sports?

We're in the midst of a whirlwind of sports activity in the Crescent City.   Over the course of two weeks:
--sold out Hornets home opener
--sold out Sugar Bowl, featuring power programs Michigan and Virginia Tech
--NFC South champion Saints hosting Detroit in the playoffs
--BCS National Championship game with LSU facing Alabama (again!)

Later this year, both the Southeastern Conference and the NCAA Final Four tournaments will be in New Orleans, followed by the Super Bowl in 2013!   Whew!

A New Orleans icon shines brighter!

The newly-named Mercedes-Benz Superdome shines at night with a new LED light show.   This iconic building provides more proof that not only is New Orleans coming back....we're there!

The new kitchen is here!

After two months of demolition and dust, the new kitchen is operational and we LOVE it.   We think our guests will, too.

The Katrina Effect: Renaissance On The Mississippi - Joel Kotkin - New Geographer - Forbes

The Katrina Effect: Renaissance On The Mississippi - Joel Kotkin - New Geographer - Forbes

NOLA reaches another tourism milestone!

New Orleans’ tourism industry has achieved a major milestone, welcoming 8.3 million visitors in 2010, a 10.7 percent increase over 2009, and the first time to reach 8 million visitors since Katrina. Those 8.3 million visitors spent $5.3 billion, a $1.1 billion increase over 2009 and the highest spending in the city’s history.

Visit our Facebook page and "like" us! :-)

La Maison Marigny B&B on Bourbon

River's high and rising, but NOLA is A-OK!

This is one of those weird "La Nina" weather things, I've read.   The greater New Orleans area is in a drought and we're more than 6 inches behind in our annual rainfall-to-date.   Yet the Mississippi is as high as I've seen it in the 20 years I've been here, thanks to midwest snow and storms.   Luckily, we have two "big-ass" (not the technical term!) spillways which divert water into Lake Pontchartrain and the Atchafalaya River basin.    The spillways will do damage to some homes and communities in south Louisiana but will spare the Baton Rouge and New Orleans metro areas from significant damage.   So, don't let the media scare you...NOLA is high and dry!

Spring--great time to be in New Orleans

Okay, I've been a bit neglectful of my blogging duties.   Between Carnival and St. Patrick's and gorgeous spring weather, it's just too much!    The highs are hovering in the 70s (remind us of this in August) and lows in the 60s.   It's shorts weather, 24/7!  :-)

LOTS of events in town, too.   NCAA basketball regionals just finished up (Butler won the N.O. regional) and the Final Four will be here next year.   Several big conventions over the past few weeks and more are coming.   Saints are done for the year but Hornets are still playing and should make the playoffs.   And tourists are back in droves.  In fact, nearly every B&B in town (including ours) is reporting record or near-record business.   Thanks!

Happy Holidays!

The air is cool, cookies are baking and guests are enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas in New Orleans.   Celebration in the Oaks is experiencing record crowds and there's even a 20-25 minute wait to get in!   The "Miracle on Fulton Street" (faux snow created by the casino!) is apparently more fun than it sounds although we've not seen it in person!  :-)    And even the fantastic lobby of the Roosevelt Hotel is decked out in all the Christmas decor that made its predecessor, the Fairmont, a hot spot to visit during the holidays.

Our B&B is sold out (for the most part) for the next two weeks.   Not surprisingly, today's nola.com and Times Picayune lead stories are about the resurgence of New Orleans as a holiday destination.    Weather's good (or better than up north!), food is great and drinks are flowing...so why not?!?

Happy holidays to all of our friends, colleagues, and former (and future) guests!

A chill is in the air...finally!

It's early November and the weather folks are saying we'll be down to 45 degrees tonight.   Today, the high was just 64.   For those of us who have six-month summers, we'll take it!   The next few months will bring the traditional New Orleans winter weather mix of comfortable days and cool nights with the occasional cold front dropping things to the near-freezing mark.    As owners of old houses, we hate that but it's a part of life.  :-)

Halloween 2010 was one of the most spectacular we can remember...if you've never been to New Orleans during a "special event" such as Halloween or Carnival season, you're missing out.  It's crowded but so much fun.   As usual, our guests had a blast and are already talking about their next visits to the Big Easy.   We're just a few weeks away from both New Years and the Mardi Gras season, too!

Reshaping Our City

It's been nearly five years since Katrina's floodwaters (and an inferior levee system!) swamped our city.    You'll no doubt see "where are they now?" broadcasts ad nauseum over the next 14 days.   I think every network has their own version of Anderson Cooper ready to trot down to "New Orleenz" for a couple of days' worth of coverage.

Locally, however, I'm starting to get really optimistic that we've finally turned THE corner.   The city is being rebuilt, literally.   Our new mayor, Mitch Landrieu, just announced about $700 million worth of already-funded projects.   Some are in the design phase, some are "shovel-ready" and others are underway.    Lots of repaving, new school buildings, new libraries, new fire and police stations, massive new hospitals and even renovations to the fabulous New Orleans Museum of Art are included in this comprehensive citywide plan.

Our local schoolchildren have a dizzying array of choices when it comes to education, including more charter schools than in any other U.S. city.   We're adding to the freedom of school choice with some great new facilities.   Last week, my jaw dropped when I saw the photos of the new L.B. Landry High School in Algiers.    What was once a pretty ragged school is now gorgeous.   Ditto for campuses throughout the city.

Our Super Bowl champions have a new "Champions Square" under construction where the wrecked New Orleans Centre mall once stood.   Next door to the Superdome, it will give Saints fans a place to tailgate.  It's something the footballers of this city have wanted for decades.

Even the downtrodden Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is getting in on the act.   A new expansion/renovation project worth hundreds of millions of dollars is underway.   Quite honestly, the airport isn't great now.   It has the potential to be great when this is all done!   (A nonstop flight to Europe would be cool, too!)

Optimism ebbs and flows around here, it seems, but I'm really looking forward to the new face of New Orleans in a few years!

No more "slow" summers in New Orleans!

Summertime, and the living is easy.   Love the expression, but summer has always been considered the "dead zone" of the New Orleans calendar.   No longer!

June was very busy at the B&B, with every weekend full and quite a bit of weekday business.   Guests all commented that they liked the fact that it was busy but still easy to get tables at the top restaurants, etc.

July 4 marked perhaps the largest Essence Music Festival to date.  Combined with a convention in town, rooms were nearly impossible to get...that never happens in the summer!

Today, ten thousand American Idol hopefuls are jammed outside New Orleans Arena hoping for a shot at stardom.   Would be very fun if the next Idol is from NOLA!    Over the weekend, thousands of people participated in Tales of the Cocktail events.  Restaurants and bars were packed!

Next week is the Satchmo Summerfest, a musical salute to Louis Armstrong.  It's really grown in the past 3-4 years. In fact, we now have repeat guests for this event!  The art galleries are in on the summer vibe, too, with the White Linen (Arts District) and Dirty Linen (Royal Street) gallery openings/street parties slated for mid August.    Also mid month is the wacky Red Dress Run through the French Quarter.   Pretty wild to see all those hairy guys in red dresses.   Some looked good...some don't.

Closing out the summer is Southern Decadence, the gay Mardi Gras.   Hotels are reporting strong advance bookings for that event, too!

So, it seems maybe we need to readjust our "summer is just too hot" thought patterns to "summer is HOT!"

Sp(oil)ed: a weird summer so far

Yesterday's news that BP has temporarily capped the Gulf of Mexico oil well is great news, to say the least.   We can't wait for the final chapter in this book to be written!

Luckily, New Orleans has escaped the worst of it thus far.  No smells in the air, no real impact on the availability or price of seafood and no health concerns reported to the local authorities.  Basically, it's much as it always is during a New Orleans summer (other than the local news always leads off with an oil story)...visitors are still here, having fun and supporting our local economy in a big way!

Let's hope BP does follow through and "make it right" for our fishermen friends along the coast.  They are the ones really feeling the impact of this tragedy.

If BP hadn't made enough of a mess of things, our largest area employer, Avondale Industries, is shutting down in a few years.   It's now up to our congressional folks and state/local leaders to find some alternate uses for that huge complex.   Pronto!   Anyone interested in buying a massive shipyard?

Frenchmen Street

Years ago, our address on Bourbon Street was one of the main "selling points" for guests.   While it still is, of course, we're finding that just as many people choose La Maison Marigny because of its proximity to Frenchmen Street.   As the city's premier live music street, Frenchmen draws lots of visitors and locals alike.   And it's only two blocks away!

There are a dozen or so music clubs on this little two-block stretch of street.   We really like Snug Harbor, The Spotted Cat, d.b.a. and Blue Nile.  The great thing about Frenchmen is that drinks are cheap(er) and there's usually no cover for music.   Just be sure to meet Philip, ie "fill up" the musicians' tip jar.  :-)  The street also attracts a very eclectic clientèle.

Marigny Brasserie is our favorite restaurant on the strip.  I was a bit bummed a few months ago when they repositioned the place from "fine dining" to casual, but it's now a great option for an everyday meal and the prices are much lower, of course.    If you're looking for something else, Adolfo's is a great little "mom and pop" Italian place and our guests always like Praline Connection.

Be sure to check it out on your next trip to New Orleans!