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New Orleans circa 1937. "Dumaine Street at Bourbon." Momma's balcony scene. 8x10 inch safety negative by Frances Benjamin Johnston. View full size.
I was watching the movie "This Property Is Condemned" with Natalie Wood and Robert Redford, and caught sight of this building. I was kind of excited to recognize a landmark that you all had presented in the site.
[You have a sharp eye (and memory). - Dave]
My wife and I rented the room that leads to the balcony that that woman is standing on.
A lot of the stoops throughout the city are still in use today and many more are wooden. Some people replace them with brick or cement for aesthetic preferences. The sidewalks are referred to as banquettes in New Orleans. The character Santa Battaglia mentions in "A Confederacy of Dunces" of how in the summer in her childhood the family would often spend all evening on the banquette until midnight when the house finally cooled down enough for them to sleep. In many areas of the city, family and friends still spend evening chatting, drinking, and resting on their stoops or in kitchen chairs on the banquette. The oval vents are still prolific throughout the city and help release hot air trapped under the houses but are horrible when the winter wind blows through. The roof over-hangs that jut out over the sidewalks are referred to as "abat-vents" (a-bah-vonts) creole french for "windbreakers" They helped direct the breeze into the house and kept rain out.
This is an area I have spent a lot of time in over the years and the Uneeda sign is one of the best examples of old painted advertising in the French Quarter.
Unfortunately as with many things in New Orleans, Katrina wasn't kind to it, but it is still there.
I am posting one picture I took in 2003 and another I took in 2006. You can see there was damage to the building and unfortunately, some really crappy reconstruction of the damage.
Those grilles are usually cast iron.
Interesting that the popular New York-ism "stoop" should be used in New Orleans. The word originally comes from the Dutch "stoep," meaning small front porch or steps.
I am a Shorpster from New Orleans, and the wooden stoops are attached to the buildings. Some have been replaced with cement analogs over the years, but are still called stoops. I have stood where that lady is standing, a friend of mine owns that guest house.
Terra-cotta foundation ventilators. Lots of em in New Orleans.
The steps in front of the doors look as though they were designed to be picked up and carried. In the new photo posted here they look to have been replaced with brick and cement. Any Shorpsters in NO know about the steps?
The house on Dumaine in the 21st century.
Happily, the old Uneeda Biscuit sign remains.
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