In Podcast 49 we talk about some of the coolest  – the Palace Streetcars.

Part 3 of our 4-part series on early streetcars in New Orleans presents the Palace streetcars from the turn of the 20th century. Manufactured by the St. Louis Car Company, the semi-convertible, double-truck, Palace cars picked up their name because of their smooth ride. The local transit company, New Orleans City Railway Company, had a relationship with the St. Louis Car Company. NOCRR purchased their first electric streetcars from them. By 1901, NOCRR needed larger streetcars. So, they turned again to St. Louis. The company sold them their semi-convertible. The city took delivery on the Palace cars starting in 1902.

PDF here.

New Orleans City RR Company 043, one of the first Palace streetcars delivered in 1902. These cars were originally open-vestibule. You can see the motorman standing at the controls outside of the cabin. The Palace cars had wood frames with a steel underframe. The grates over the lower part of the windows blocked passengers from putting their hands outside.

New Orleans Railway & Light Company (NORwy&Lt) 025 was one of the original Palace cars. This John Tibule Mendes photo shows 025 running on the Dauphine line on Mardi Gras, 1918. The company re-built the Palace cars later that year, closing in the end vestibules and making other modifications.

Blueprint of the “1918 Remodeling” of the Palace cars by NORwy&Lt. At this time, the company also re-numbered the cars. They assigned these cars 600- and 700-series numbers.

St. Louis Car Company designed the Palace cars for use at the Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exposition in 1904. The exposition grounds featured a 10-mile streetcar route around the perimeter. Palace cars brought visitors around the exhibits and pavillions.

Zoom-in of the exhibition map showing the “Intramural Railway.”

The first Palace cars ran on the Canal Line. When more cars arrived in 1903, they went to work on the Esplanade line. The two lines began “belt” service. We outline the route in Podcast Episode 10, “Riding the Belt.”

This 1918 image shows NORwy&Lt 630, running on the Canal Belt. The streetcar heads down City Park Avenue, towards Bayou St. John. It turns left at the bayou, onto Wisner, then a quick right, onto the Esplanade Avenue bridge. From there, the line continued down Esplanade to N. Rampart.

This Franck Studios photo shows a Palace streetcar on Esplanade Avenue. The company ran this streetcar to document the clearances on the neutral ground, in response to a lawsuit. The car’s roll sign is set for “WEST END.” Date: 8-October-1921.

1929 Strike

This photo shows the remains of a Palace car burned on Canal Street 7-July-1929. The company brought out a single streetcar operated by management employees. Motormen, conductors, and supporters turned it over and set it afire.

Stretcars of New Orleans by Hennick and Charlton

The Streetcars of New Orleans: 1964–Present

New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line

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Podcast 48 discusses the early electric streetcars of New Orleans.

Podcast 48 continues our four-part series on early New Orleans street railways. We’re talking about streetcars that pre-date our iconic arch roof streetcars from 1923, and the red streetcars from 2004. As commercial electrification expanded in the 1890s, street railway operators took notice. They installed overhead electric wires and purchased electric-powered streetcars.

PDF here.

Plans for a New Orleans Carrollton & Light RR Company “1894 Brill” streetcar. Courtesy NOPSI.

New Orleans’ first electrics were from St. Louis Car Company. Unfortunately, there are no known photos of these streetcars. New Orleans Traction Company expanded the fleet with “1894 Brill” streetcars. The 1894s originally had 7 windows and used two pairs of 22-E trucks. The Brill modified the design, selling 8-window cars to NOTC. They replaced the 22-E trucks with a single suspension truck.

1894 Brill running on the Clio line in 1902

As Uptown expanded, residents complained about the smoke and noise of the train. NO&CRR switched from steam railroad operations to mule-drawn streetcars in the 1840s. They used Stephenson Co. “bobtail” streetcars pulled by mules.

FB&D plans for the Canal Street terminal at Liberty Place

The city brought in engineers from Ford, Bacon & Davis in 1894, to consult on improvements to street railways. Those engineers designed a streetcar specifically for use in New Orleans.

Stretcars of New Orleans by Hennick and Charlton

The Streetcars of New Orleans: 1964–Present

New Orleans: The Canal Streetcar Line

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Podcast 47 discusses pre-electric streetcars.

Podcast 47 is the first of a four-part series on early New Orleans street railways. We’re talking about streetcars that pre-date our iconic arch roof streetcars from 1923, and the red streetcars from 2004. Beginning with the origins of public transit with omnibuses to steam railroad lines, to mule-drawn streetcars, we present getting around before electrification.

PDF here.

The New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad (NO&CRR) launched the first street rail line, from Baronne Street to Carrollton in 1835. This was a steam-powered line. This 1830s illustration of the Carrollton Hotel shows the steam locomotive for the Carrollton line on the left.

As Uptown expanded, residents complained about the smoke and noise of the train. NO&CRR switched from steam railroad operations to mule-drawn streetcars in the 1840s. They used Stephenson Co. “bobtail” streetcars pulled by mules.

Downtown Bobtails

p

The New Orleans City Railrod Company (NOCRR) inaugurated the Canal and Esplanade lines in 1861. While trying other streetcar models, they quickly settled on the Stephenson bobtails as well.

Facilities

After switching from steam power to mule power, NO&CRR built a barn at St. Charles and Napoleon Avenues. This is the layout of that corner, via the Robinson Atlas of 1883.

Canal Station, 1883

Esplanade streetcar approaching the Esplanade barn, 1864

Esplanade Station, 1883

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Podcast 46 features a Boyd Cruise painting of a Creole cottage at 707 Dumaine Street.

Alvik Boyd Cruise painted the cottage at 707 Dumaine Street in 1941. Notarial documents list Rue Dumaine, the “Main Street,” as the “Street of Shops.” This painting features a one-story Creole cottage. It’s not a shotgun.

PDF here.

1880s sketch of the 701 block of Dumaine Street, courtesy THNOC.

A casual passer-by might mistake a Creole cottage for a shotgun double. While both have two front doors, the cottage is a single dwelling. A shotgun double contains rooms that connect front-to-back. A cottage such as 707 Dumaine Street contains four rooms, two in the front, facing the street, then two in the rear. The gates on either side connect the cottage with its neighbors. The flat roof design of these cottages remains on 707. This was the original Spanish Colonial design, but many of these cottages were re-fitted with angled roofs. The total rainfall in New Orleans created problems for flat roofs. Water puddled on the roof, rotting the wood.

Cruise painted three people in his scene of the cottage. On the left, a Black woman looks out from the gate to the street. She’s obviously a #writingprompt. Given Cruise’s preference for antebellum scenes, she is likely enslaved. It’s possible that she lives there at the behest of her master, who keeps her in a nonconsensual relationship. With wife and family back on the plantation, many white men kept enslaved women in town, for their dalliances.

It’s possible the Black woman is household staff for a family living in the house. Or, perhaps she is a Free Person of Color and owns the cottage outright.

The two woman on the right sport French-styled dresses common in the 1850s. They wear jackets over their dresses. Cruise envisions them in the cooler temps of Fall or Winter.

This cottage was designed by Architect, Engineer, Surveyor, and Scoundrel (he was a contemporary of the Lafittes), Barthélemy Lafon.

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Podcast 45 features a Boyd Cruise painting of The Arsenal building on St. Peter Street.

Alvik Boyd Cruise painted the Old State Armory, better known as The Arsenal, in 1941. Located directly behind the Cabildo, the city built the Arsenal in 1839. Cruise visualizes it here in the 1850s.

PDF here.

The city’s armory was naturally a focal point for troops stationed in the city. Like most of his paintings, Cruise created an active street scene on St. Peter Street. We see two Cavalrymen on the left. The rider of the brown horse is a trooper, possibly an aide or batman to the officer on the white horse. In the doorway stand two soldiers, possibly artillerymen, since the Arsenal stored cannon along with small arms.

The soldier in red is likely a member of a local militia company. Since they were raised by the city and/or state, they didn’t have to follow army uniform regulations. These units often chose colors reflecting their French/Spanish roots. On the right, another soldier is in conversation with a woman. He wears a uniform similar to the men in the doorway. He’s doffed his shako to talk to the lady.

What are they talking about? I just love these #writingprompts Cruise offers. I wonder if he had something in mind, or if he just left these as blank pages for us to fill in later. What do you think? Comment here or on Facebook or Bluesky and tell us the story. We need to start some literary zine or something to draw ideas out of y’all.

As in many of his paintings, Cruise includes a child in the scene. This provides scale, and it also shows what kids were u to, antebellum. This black boy is likely enslaved, as he would be in school if he was free. Therefore, an enslaved boy has a lot of unstructured time. While his mom likely works for a household nearby. He’s out on the street to get out of her way, and maybe promote a hustle or two.

So, here’s a zoom-in on the street activity

Louisiana State Museum

Storyville Museum

Beyond Bourbon Street Podcast

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Podcast 44 features a Boyd Cruise painting of “The Levee” on the Mississippi River.

Alvik Boyd Cruise painted this exciting and busy waterfront scene in 1959. While THNOC dates the setting as 1859 (probably a typo from the actual date the artist created it), the inclusion of the Steamboat Fashion puts it at 1865-1866. While so many of Cruise’s paintings focus on particular homes and buildings, this one casts a wider net. Instead of capturing the feel of a particular building in time for a Historic American Building Survey, the artist re-creates the activity in the port, mid-19th century.

PDF here.

This painting shows activity in the second-largest port in the US in the 1800s. What’s particularly interesting is that Cruise details the port after the Civil War. When we think of 1865, images of the destruction and horrors of war often come to mind. Many forget that the direct participation of New Orleans in the war ended in 1862. By 1865, the Mississippi was open to riverboat activity from Vicksburg to New Orleans. With the war over, investors contracted shipbuilders to get more boats in the water that would transport cotton from plantations to the port for export.

Bales of cotton stand on the dock. They await loading onto ocean-going ships for export. These steamboats brought “raw” cotton from plantations to New Orleans. Those big bales were too bulky for export. So, cotton factors purchased the bales from ship captains. They transported the cotton to industrial pressing plants. Think of a trash compactor in a home kitchen, but on a much larger scale. They returned the compressed bales seen in the painting to the dock. Ocean-going vessels transported those bales up the Atlantic coast and to Europe.

Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper detailed the horrific fire onboard the Fashion, just above Baton Rouge, December 27, 1866.

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Podcast 43 features a Boyd Cruise painting of  Le Pretre Mansion on Dauphine Street.

The pod returns! We’re organizing a bit more this year. The pod now features four-episode series. The paintings of artist Boyd Cruise kick this off. Episode 43 discusses Cruise’s painting of La Pretre Mansion.

The magnificent house at the corner of Dauphine Street and Orleans Avenue in the Vieux Carré is commonly known as the Le Prete Mansion. It’s also known as the Gardette-La Prete House, reflecting the historic marker on the building:

Erected 1836 for

While the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) – LA-53, contains detailed photographs and drawings of the house, it was artist Boyd Cruise who captured the feel of the corner, ante-bellum. Cruise painted the house in 1941. The work is typical of many from Cruise. He took the detailed HABS photos and visualized what the buildings looked like in the mid-ninteenth century. Here’s the caption for the work from THNOC:

Facade view of Le Pretre Mansion on Dauphine Street in the Vieux Carre. It was built in 1836 for J. C. Gardette by Frederick Roy. Pedestrians and a horse drawn carriage are visible in this mid-nineteenth-century depiction.

Look at the activity in the painting! It’s not just a writing prompt, but multiple ideas. Who’s the woman looking out from the third-floor gallery? What are the couple on the second floor discussing? Is the woman further down that gallery listening in on them, or watching something in the street? Is that the lady of the house in the doorway, greeting a visitor in the carriage? The coachman assists the rider out of the carriage while one of the household women (likely enslaved) watches from the sidewalk. Pedestrians pass by on the left-hand side of the scene. Another couple walks past the house on the right. A small boy takes in the activity while standing in the street. He likely waited to cross as the work wagon on the left passed him by.

Cruise’s attention to detail and fashion is exquisite. Such a talent, to turning photos and architectural drawings into human actions and movements.

The La Pretre Mansion ranks high on the “ghost tour” circuit, where it’s known as the “Sultan’s Palace.” We’re not big on these stories, but if you are, you’ll enjoy photographer/writer Michael Democker’s piece for Very Local on the house.

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We’re talking about the Krewe of Proteus, a Lundi Gras tradition.

Mobilius in Mobili photo

Happy Lundi Gras! The Krewe of Proteus first rolled the streets of New Orleans in 1882. While they’re not the oldest Carnival organization, they’re the oldest that still parades. Here’s the video of the history of Proteus:

Heere’s the PDF of the presentation.

Of the three krewes that withdrew from parading in 1992 (Comus, Momus, and Proteus), the Krewe of Proteus returned to the streets in 2000. As we discuss in the pod, Proteus had stronger reasons to return to public view. While the other two krewes hold seniority, Proteus held visibility. Momus paraded on the Thursday before Mardi Gras. That spot now belongs to the Knights of Babylon. Babylon traditionally paraded on Wednesday, and moved up in the pecking order. Or did they? After all, Thursday night now belongs to the Krewe of Muses, one of the super-krewes.

Comus paraded on Mardi Gras night. When they began in 1857, the Mystick Krewe were the only parade in town. Over a century, however, other krewes out-shone the oldest organization. By the 1980s, the Comus parade was essentially glorified transportation to their ball. Worn out from a day of marching clubs, Zulu, Rex, and the truck floats, the majority of Uptown carnival-goers gave up before dusk.

The Comus ball, held for decades on one side of the Municipal Auditorium on Mardi Gras, is still the Big Deal in “society” circles. Even Rex defers to Comus by leaving his own ball and closing out the season with Comus. So, the members of the Mystick Krewe didn’t lose much sleep over not returning to parading. That’s ironic, of course, since they eventually did prevail in court over the city.

Proteus, on the other hand, had the most prominent position of the three. Even before “Lundi Gras” was an event in itself, they embraced the anticipation and excitement of the evening, leading into the big day.

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New Orleans King Cakes date back centuries, with exciting times ahead.

King Cake from Adrian’s Bakery in Gentilly

From Twelfth Night to the start of parades, the public face of Carnival is the King Cake. Let’s run down some of the background on this wonderful tradition. Note that this is background, history. Your preferred modern king cake is up to you!

Here’s the YouTube version of the pod. As we’ve mentioned previously, I record the pod using Zoom. It’s wonderful, because Zoom generates audio and video. I like to think the audio version of the pod is more fun, but what the heck.

Here’s the PDF of the images, so you can follow along with the audio.

The Clay Monument. On 31-December-1869, the Twelfth Night Revelers invited New Orleans to see them pass by the Clay Monument on January 6, 1870. As mentioned in the pod, we’re going to have to do a full episode on the monument’s history. The reason TNR used this landmark as a gathering point was its size. The original monument dominated the three-way corner of Canal, Royal, and St. Charles Streets. Can you imagine this beast of a monument in the middle of modern Canal Street? Perfect place to tell the city, “come see us.” This is a Theodore Lilienthal photo.

Restaurant Antoine: New Orleans’ oldest restaurant, on St. Louis Street, between Royal and Bourbon. Several of the dining rooms at the restaurant are named after Carnival organizations. This is the Twelfth Night Revelers room.

Tastee-McKenzie

Adrian’s Bakery in Gentilly

Blue Dot Donuts

Bywater Bakery

King Cake Hub, located at Zony Mash Brewery, 1464 S. Broad, is a great option for one-stop king cake shopping. You’re looking to have a king cake tasting at the house, or at work? No better way to get a sampling of different styles than here.

CORRECTION: I said North Broad for the location of King Cake Hub at Zony Mash when it should be SOUTH Broad!

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A Carnival Primer for everyone.

Comus Parade, 1858

When I’m asked to speak to a group that’s come to town for a convention, meeting, etc., they often ask for a talk on a Carnival-related subject. I’ve expanded this into a Carnival Primer that traces the celebration back to its medieval European roots, up to modern times. Now it’s a podcast and “cornerstone” content.

As y’all know, I record the podcasts using Zoom. I’m also going back through talks I’ve given re-recording them via Zoom. That way, y’all can clearly see the images used for that presentation. In the case of this Carnival Primer, the talk is a good bit longer than something I’d do for a live group. They can’t pause and run to get another glass of wine.

Zoom saves both video and audio files upon completion. So, I upload the video to YouTube. Here you go. The audio-only is classic podcast in our traditional format.

We present a history of Mardi Gras:

Some images from the pod. The full presentation is available as a PDF here.

Medieval Mardi Gras as a float in Proteus

Fat Tuesday, the last day before Lent was a day of celebration and feasting in Medieval Europe. The lord of the castle would elevate eligible Squires to Knighthood. The time of fasting and preparation for Easter began the next day, on Ash Wednesday.

Modern Flambeaux!

Using fire to light the way of the parade!

#RexComus – The Meeting of the Courts

Carnival formally comes to a close when the courts of Rex and Comus meet at the Comus bal masque on Mardi Gras Night.

King Cake from Adrian’s Bakery in Gentilly

The King’s Cake dates back centuries. Here’s a modern incarnation of the confection, from Adrian’s Bakery, located on Paris and Mirabeau Avenues in Gentilly.

Masking Indian

Black Mardi Gras includes “Masking Indian,” a tradition dating back over a century. There are a number of origin stories for the tradition.

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