The Dark-Hunters (874 page)

600 Decatur Street

(504) 566-7245

Open daily from 10
A.M.
to 6
P.M.

www.jacksonbrewery.com

Jackson Brewery, or The Shops at Jax Brewery, is an historical landmark situated in the heart of the French Quarter, along the Mississippi River. It really was a brewhouse, built in 1891 by Dietrich Einsiedek. The Jax Brewery was once the largest independent brewery in the southern United States. It is now home to a variety of upscale stores, restaurants, and attractions—including the Jax Collection, a historical retrospective of the Jax beer legacy.

The Jax Brewery is where Grace and Julian went shopping to buy Julian clothes after she and Selena found a way to get him out of that cursed book. Also, while you’re in the brewery, keep an eye out for anyone selling those pralines Selena’s so immensely fond of. I hear that the futures of the folks who bring pralines to Madame Selene are always lucky and bright.

LILAC & LACE BOUTIQUE

Iberville Street

Owned by Bride McTierney (now Kattalakis), this one-of-a-kind vintage clothing store caters to women of all shapes and sizes in search of something unique to their tastes. Looking for the perfect gift? Be sure to check out Lilac & Lace’s fantastic array of custom and costume jewelry, shoes, and accessories.

LOYOLA UNIVERSITY

6363 St. Charles Avenue

(504) 865-2011

www.loyno.edu

Campus tours Monday through Friday at 11:30
A.M.
and 3:30
P.M.

Loyola University is located fifteen minutes from downtown New Orleans and the French Quarter. This university, and its sister universities of the same name around the United States, were named after Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Roman Catholic Church. Loyola University New Orleans was founded by the Jesuits in 1804, and remains the largest Catholic university in the southern United States.

Dr. Julian Alexander teaches an Ancient Civilizations class here, and also at Tulane University. He’s a fantastic speaker and easy on the eyes, but boy, is he tough. Don’t think you’re getting off easy by taking his class.

MAGNOLIA CAFÉ

200 Chartres Street

(504) 524-4478

Indulge in more casual New Orleans cuisine at the Magnolia Café. They’ve got the basics, from seafood to red beans and rice, but their specialties are their omelettes.

MIKE ANDERSON’S SEAFOOD

215 Bourbon Street

Another favorite of Tabitha Devereaux’s, a woman in search of the perfect oyster. Originally established in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Mike Anderson’s expanded into the French Quarter in 1985. A location was also opened up in Riverwalk Mall, but both restaurants have been closed since Hurricane Katrina.

OLD ABSINTHE HOUSE

240 Bourbon Street

(504) 523-3181

www.ruebourbon.com

Built in 1807, the Old Absinthe House was originally an importing firm, then a corner grocery, and then a coffeehouse. It was in this coffeehouse in 1874 that Cayetano Ferrer mixed the Old Absinthe House Frappé, from which the current famous Bourbon Street bar gets its name. The Old Absinthe House still has the decorative marble fountains that were used to drip cool water over sugar cubes into glasses of absinthe. The House is also known for its calling-card-adorned walls; no visit is complete without leaving your own among the many. Their motto is “Everyone you have known or ever will know, eventually ends up at the Old Absinthe House.”

OLD URSULINE CONVENT

1100 Chartres Street

(504) 529-3040

NATIONAL SHRINE OF OUR LADY OF PROMPT SUCCOR

2701 State Street

Built in 1752, the Ursuline Convent is the oldest building in the Mississippi River Valley. When the Americans fought the British at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, the Mother Superior at the Ursuline Convent vowed that if General Andrew Jackson’s army was victorious, there would be a Mass of thanksgiving sung every year to commemorate the occasion. True to her word, every year on January 8, a Mass of thanksgiving has been offered in the National Shrine of Our Lady of Prompt Succor.

PANDORA’S BOX

Bourbon Street

Spice up your life with a visit to Tabitha Devereaux’s famous adult shop in the French Quarter. Come with an open mind—just like Tabitha, some things in her shop are not for the faint of heart.

PIRATE ALLEY

This alley is one block long, extending from Chartres Street at Jackson Square to Royal Street. Originally Orleans Alley, the city changed its name in the 1960s to Pirate Alley. (That’s what the locals always called it, and the tourists kept getting confused.) Legend has it that it was frequented by pirates in days past. That may or may not be true, considering its proximity to the old Spanish Dungeon. The Faulkner House is on Pirate Alley, and is where William Faulkner reportedly wrote his first novel.

PRESBYTERE BUILDING

751 Chartres Street

(504) 568-6968 or (800) 568-6968

http://lsm.crt.state.la.us

The famous Presbytere building was designed in 1791 to match the Cabildo (Town Hall) on the other side of the St. Louis Cathedral, but the building was not finished until 1813. It was originally used as commercial property and later a courthouse; it has been part of the Louisiana State Museum for almost a century. It was closed after Hurricane Katrina, finally reopening its doors less than a year later on April 28, 2006.

RUNNINGWOLF’S

Canal Street

This happening club is run by the Runningwolf family, and frequented by the locals. Daimons are very much not welcome here.

ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL

615 Pere Antoine Alley

(504) 525-9585

www.stlouiscathedral.org

This picturesque Catholic Church, named after Saint Louis, king of France, and situated between the Cabildo and Presbytere buildings, overlooks Jackson Square. It is one of the most photographed landmarks in New Orleans. The first church opened on this site in 1727, but was later destroyed by the Great Fire of 1788. Over the centuries, the church has been restored and rebuilt, weathering hurricanes, fires, and even a bomb that was once set off in the cathedral in 1909.

SANCTUARY

688 Ursulines Avenue

The famed biker bar where the Peltier clan hangs out. There’s more information on this in chapter 3, “Were-Hunters.”

TEMPTATIONS

327 Bourbon Street

(504) 525-4470

A gentlemen’s club in an upscale, restored antebellum mansion, Temptations was frequented—and much appreciated—by the infamous former Squire Nick Gautier. Imported wines, fine cigars, beautiful women … yes, I’m sure he was only there for the ambiance.

TIPITINA’S

233 N. Peters Street

(504) 566-7095

www.tipitinas.com

Tip’s was established in 1977 by a group of young music fans who called themselves the “Fabulous Fo’teen.” It was named for a song by Henry Roeland Byrd (aka Professor Longhair), one of the most revered rhythm and blues musicians in the legacy of New Orleans. That neighborhood juke joint later grew into the enormous music venue it is today, hosting a variety of well-known artists. Tipitina’s continues to support its musical roots with a Walk of Fame honoring New Orleans music legends past and present, a recording studio, and its own recording label.

TULANE UNIVERSITY

6823 St. Charles Avenue

(504) 865-5000

www.tulane.edu

The “Harvard of the South,” Tulane University was founded in 1834 as the Medical College of Louisiana (its name was changed in 1884 to Tulane, after wealthy benefactor Paul Tulane). Its campus sprawls more than 110 acres, and it has more than 10,000 students enrolled. Their motto is
Non Sibi Sed Suis,
translated as “Not for one’s self, but for one’s own.”

Tulane is living up to its reputation as one of the foremost independent national research universities in the United States by concentrating its research efforts on Hurricane Katrina, and the impact of its aftermath.

Dr. Julian Alexander teaches an Ancient Civilizations class here, as well as at Loyola University.

Fun Facts

Remember that time you attacked the Anne Rice/Lestat reenactment group in the cemetery?

—Amanda Hunter

CEMETERIES

It’s all about the water table. Like when you’re at the beach, digging a moat for your sand castle: You dig about a foot down, and your moat’s already magically got water. That’s what all of New Orleans is like. The French Quarter itself is only about ten feet above sea level … and that’s high ground.

Burying the dead in New Orleans was a serious business. Weighing down the caskets with stones and sandbags didn’t work, nor did drilling holes in them. Eventually, people gave up trying to bury anything at all. Graves were created aboveground, in the form of tombs, crypts, and vaults. Cemeteries are literally called the “Cities of the Dead” because of their massive acreage. There are rules as to how many family members can be put inside a vault, and how long a time period must pass before a new family member can be put on top of, or in place of another.

The cemeteries of New Orleans are beautiful and haunting … and dangerous. It is wise not to travel through them alone, and I’m not saying that just because of the Daimons—Nick Gautier’s infamous father once ran with a gang who used to rob tourists who were stupid enough to enter cemeteries alone.

There are more than forty cemeteries in New Orleans, and most of them offer guided tours.

In every cemetery you visit, always remember to respect the monuments to the departed. There are groups who help try and protect New Orleans’s historic cemeteries from the ravages of time, neglect, vandalism, theft, and that pesky little hurricane named Katrina. Yes, there are people who are actually trained in the art of tomb restoration. Nifty, huh?

Find out more about the preservation of New Orleans cemeteries at www.saveourcemeteries.org.

MULES

Romantic couples visiting New Orleans will certainly want to take a carriage ride around the French Quarter. Those who do will notice that a large percentage of the carriages are drawn not by horses, but by mules. It’s survival of the fittest—mules are apparently much heartier animals than their equine cousins. Although for a time, horses were used, mules have since replaced them. They can withstand the humidity and much higher temperatures of the New Orleans climate. Like you’ve seen so many times in movies, horses will continue to work for their owners until they drop dead. Mules, on the other hand, will simply stop as soon as they become tired.

There are, of course, rules that all carriage operators must follow. Mules can only work if the outside temperature is at or less than ninety degrees. They are not allowed to pull more than nine people, including the driver of the carriage. They are required to have a fifteen-minute rest between each ride. In the summer, that break increases to thirty minutes, and mules are not permitted to work more than six hours a day.

For more information, contact the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (www.la-spca.org).

ROMEO SPIKES

No, they’re not named after Romeo Pontis (but it is funny to watch his face when you mention it … right before he kicks your butt). These are the wrought-iron or steel spikes you will see decorating balconies and their supporting pillars all over the French Quarter. The Romeo moniker came into use when the story got around about how their existence was due to well-to-do fathers who wanted to keep their daughters safe from unworthy male callers.

They look lethal because they are—the spikes have claimed the lives of various suitors over the years. Many a not-so-surefooted Romeo has met his maker after a tryst with his beloved. The clever trick to conquering the spikes was to throw a horse blanket over them and use them as support to aid the climb. The more difficult task was getting down again, especially if the blanket had fallen away or been stolen. The standard joke is that a young man would ascend a Romeo, but come back down a Juliet.