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This delightful building was once really quite something, completed in 1969 and at the time the tallest building in New Orleans and Louisiana. Although there were a few residential floors at the top when it was constructed they had been turned back into offices by the early 1980s. It might have looked to be an almost luxurious working environment, but the building was riddled with asbestos, damp and mould by the end of the century, which wasn’t seen as ideal. In 2002, the final workers left the tower and there were plans to turn it into a residential building to be proud of.

There were plenty of plans and this was going to be a high-end residential structure once reconstructed, especially after the project to remove the asbestos and other things such as toxic mould which residents probably wouldn’t want in the corner of their apartment. This was all going well until the development company went bust in 2007 when the global economy deteriorated badly. It went on the market for over $15 million in 2010 and sold at auction the following year for $650,000. Bearing in mind they had expected to sell each flat for not much less than that, someone took a huge loss on this. But, what on earth can a developer do here as it’s likely cheaper to find a nearly empty lot and start afresh there rather than try and restore this mess of a building.

And there the building’s history comes to something of an end. Or at least, until May 2021 when a large bit fell off it. But they added some protective nets to the top and re-opened the area once again. Then the building caught fire, more bits fell off and that’s why there’s protective fencing now around it again. Indeed, just this week another big bit fell off the building so it seems a greater area of land is now fenced off since I was there in October 2022. I know that it requires quite a lot of imagination given how it looks now, but I see the graceful plans that the initial designers had in mind. There’s another question from this, which I’ve seen raised a few times, about how skyscrapers around the world can be repurposed once their life span is up. Unfortunately the current answer is too often to raze the building and construct a new one, but that’s not entirely environmentally sound.

I’m not brave enough (and indeed I don’t aspire to change this) to be an urban explorer of abandoned buildings, but these brave folks in the above video had a look inside. They noted during the video that it might be the tallest abandoned building in the United States, which doesn’t seem an unreasonable suggestion. It’s clear that many homeless people have used the structure over recent years, a tempting thought when the city’s homeless number is so high, but nonetheless it remains a dangerous building to be in for numerous reasons. I’m not sure what the future is for the structure, but it’ll take years of work and a lot of money to make it liveable and decent once again.

For anyone carefully paying attention to the blog about this US trip, I’d firstly congratulate you on bearing with it since it’s taking me literally months to finish writing this expedition up. Secondly, for anyone with excellent powers of recall, they might note that I mentioned I had to get $100 cash out to pay a deposit in the Travelodge in Las Vegas. This meant that I still had a chunk of it left and so I decided to take myself out to a decent (I’d add my definition of decent isn’t Michelin, it’s just one step up from Popeye’s) restaurant in New Orleans and just pay cash to get rid of it. I had a lie down on my hotel bed pondering why they hadn’t put more lights in the room and deciding that I’d book a table rather than risk not being able to get in somewhere. I opted for Curio and it was relatively busy, but they didn’t struggle to find me a table as is evident from the photo.

Actually, just to add some background to this, a large musical parade went by that window in front of my table just after I took this photo. There was banging, shouting and dancing, something I was pleased to discover was organised as until it went by I was starting to wonder whether there was a riot taking place. It’s New Orleans though, it’s part of the atmosphere. The dancing and parades I mean, not the rioting.

As a starter, I opted for the fried alligator and although I seem to recall trying it at some random point in my trips to the United States I’ve managed to forget all about it. That meant that this was a fresh new experience and this dish surprised and delighted me. The portion size was generous and indeed more than the photo suggests, with the batter being light and melting in the mouth whilst also retaining an initial bite. The alligator was tender and I’m going to have to roll out the trite explanation of the taste insomuch as it was like fishy chicken. There was a spicy pepper jelly and a lime mayo to dip the alligator in and these were both smooth and tasty in their own right, although I did try the spicy bottled sauce which they brought over. When the staff weren’t looking I used my finger to finish up both of them. I never claimed to be classy. I had anticipated the alligator being rather more chewy, so this was all a pleasant dining experience.

This is the restaurant’s ‘Taste of New Orleans’ selection and you can order any three of the dishes, or indeed all four which I did. I’m never very good at choosing in situations such as this, as it would mean missing out. There’s some bread provided, although ideally there might have been a little more, with generous portions of each of the four dishes. On the left is the Creole Jambalaya and this felt authentic with the Cajun smoked andouille sausage, chicken in a rich sauce and this was also perhaps my favourite of the four. Next is the Crawfish Étouffée which was like a broth with rice served on top and then there’s the duck andouille & black-eyed pea gumbo, which had tender meat and a hearty feel to the sauce. The final dish on the right is the red beans and rice, a much thicker arrangement than I had expected, but there were some spicy flavours to it. There were no disappointments here.

Not the cheapest of meals, but the quality was high and it was as much food as I would have wanted, with the advantage that I had been able to try numerous local cuisines within two courses. I’ve sampled this cuisine before during previous New Orleans trips, but the highlight of this evening was the starter of the fried alligator. Indeed, I would make this at home, but I’m not convinced that the local Aldi sells alligator. The beer was the Blackened Voodoo from the local Faubourg Brewing Co, which was a creditable dark lager, or effectively a German dunkel. It was pleasant and smooth rather than offering any voodoo hidden secrets and I’ve discovered that dunkels go well with alligator. I’m not sure when I’ll be able to try that food and beer pairing again, but never say never.

The service was timely, the server was personable and engaging, with the dining environment being clean and comfortable. There was frequent yelling and other random noises taking place outside, but inside felt a little bastion of calm. I don’t deny that there are more authentic restaurants in New Orleans, but this met the requirements that I had been looking for and it also handily meant that I had used the bulk of my cash up.

With the meal done, I had a little walk around New Orleans and along the river, but there are limited photos as I hardly dared take my phone out of my pocket. But here’s one of the city’s famous streetcars.

Other than for the airport hotel of the previous evening, I was only staying in New Orleans for the one evening so I didn’t want to traipse too far from the city centre, although the prices for hotels were getting a little expensive so what I wanted and what I was going to get didn’t necessarily collide. Fortunately, there was the compromise of a boutique hotel which seemed entirely acceptable with the limitation that the room didn’t have any windows. I can work with that though, it was well reviewed and seemed reasonable.

The high ceilings ensured that the room didn’t feel claustrophobic with the lack of windows and I was able to get the temperature down to a suitably chilled level. It felt more snug and cosy than in one of the Easy Hotel operations where they’ve put guests in a cupboard, although this was as bright as I could get the room as it wasn’t bestowed with an exotic array of lights. I’m not suggesting that they need to put spotlights pointing towards the bed, but preparing a coffee was mostly a procedure completed in the dark.

Plenty of hotels offer coffee pods to use in their machines, although I can’t recall having a tea pod before. I think I must have lived a sheltered life or something like that.

There were some decadent soaps and a sign noting that if any guest were to pinch them, or take them home to enjoy as hotels say, there was quite a price tag to them. I’m not an interior designer, but the hotel felt to me as if some considerable care, thought and indeed competence had been put into the design. I think they’re quite proud of what they’ve done and I’d say that was entirely reasonable.

I’m not sure that I really understood the artwork, but it didn’t fill me with joy and delight. Perhaps I was being too excitable when praising the internal decor, this felt like flames engulfing a child. I accept that New Orleans does things very differently, but that’s excessive even for the voodoo capital of Louisiana. The hotel doesn’t offer breakfast, but there is a neighbouring outlet of the popular Ruby Slipper Cafe and there’s some tie-in available to ensure that guests can get a table. It all looked a bit expensive to me, but it’s a convenient option for guests.

The reviews for the hotel are generally positive, but I noted this one from a few weeks ago:

“The Desk Clerk does not secure the guest’s car keys at the front desk. I checked-in and handed my car keys to her for valet and went to my room. The desk clerk left my car keys unsupervised and on her desk. She left her desk and when she returned, the keys and the car were gone. Desk clerk did not call the police but did notify hotel security once I dialed 911 to report the car stolen. I had to ask for the valet charge to be removed and I still had to pay for my one night stay. Never Again.”

The element I felt most notable was the “I had to ask for the valet charge to be removed” which seems entirely reasonable since they managed to lose the entire car. I’m suspecting a problem with the valet arrangement given this review:

“Not only was the stay not well which I reviewed previously but I have now received a speeding ticket of $160 from one the cameras in town and a toll charge of $25 mailed to my house. The date and time of the ticket was when vallet from Pelham Hotel had possession of my car. I’ve attempted to reach out a few times but due to the recent hurricane still no responses back by phone or email. Words of advice is if you decide to stay there, park your own vehicle because their employees are not responsible!”

Anyway, I digress as I frequently do when reading on-line reviews. I found the hotel staff to be friendly and helpful, with no noise issues internally or externally although there seemed to be constant shrills of delight from ladies drinking cocktails when I walked through reception. This hotel forgot to cancel my deposit left by card and so I had to wait for it to fall off my card statement a month later, but to be fair I didn’t bother contacting them and just patiently waited. That was the only negative that I could really say about the hotel, I left in the morning being entirely satisfied with my choice of accommodation and it meant that I could walk to the Amtrak station for the next part of the journey.

In an attempt to actually finish the blog of this US trip at some point this year, I’ve limited myself to how many posts I can make about the National WWII Museum and have forced myself to leave it with the riveting text I’ve already written. The museum was a tour de force of US military involvement in the Second World War and an important tourist attraction for the city.

I’ve visited New Orleans a few times before and it has been one of my favourite cities, but things felt very different in October 2022. The city is verging on lawless and although that’s something of a sensationalist line, I’m not sure how else to define a location which has become the US murder capital in such a short space of time. I saw a robbery in progress when I was there and fortunately sort of managed to get out of the way in my own style, but the city had a harsh edge that I hadn’t noticed on my previous visits. Reading the local newspaper today, they’re reporting that the city is suffering from “wanton violent crime” following yesterday’s carjacking and shooting of a cyclist.

These crimes aren’t rare, New Orleans police reported that in 2022 there were 218 carjackings, 343 shootings and 397 armed robberies. Inevitably much of this falls outside of the tourist area which the police will be desperate to keep safe to protect the hospitality industry, but crime is now embedded there too.

The city is desperately trying to recruit more police officers as they’re operating at little over half capacity and they’re making more funding available to tackle this crime-wave, but it will likely take some time to turn this chaos around. The Wall Street Journal reported a few months ago that there is a crisis as some business owners and residents are leaving the city and the average 911 police emergency response time is 2.5 hours.

If anyone were to ask me if they should visit New Orleans, I’d personally suggest that they remove it from their itinerary until the police can get back control at least of the central tourist area. Local tourist authorities are claiming that the city remains safe, that there is safety in numbers in the central core and that rumours of a crime-wave are exaggerated. I’d suggest that the crime map at https://nola.gov/nopd/data/ tells a different story as that shows crimes for just the last four weeks and there are murders, rapes, armed robberies and the like all in the tourist centre. It’s really not ideal and the Mayor of New Orleans has this week declared the crime situation as “a public health crisis”.