Oh Louis Louis…
I’m going to be living in the french quarter for a week in march for work – any recs on places i should visit etc?
Yes! A whole week is plenty of time to wedge in VC location visits around the work-related stuff ;D
FYI in my list, I have things in the French Quarter, the Garden District (you can take the streetcar to get there, or walk, if you have the time/interest, it’s 2.5 miles away), and then outside the city are swamp tours (which I really want to do next time I visit) and the plantation houses (Pointe du Lac!).
These aren’t in any geographical order, just the order I’m thinking of them:
+ Gallier House – A must-visit, this is the flat AR based Rue Royale on. They give tours bc it’s a historical site. It’s not expensive, book in advance. They also have a gift shop and I got a nice necklace there.
^My estimation of the room assignments bc reasons. Re: “slave quarters,” that’s unfortunately part of the history of that building 😛 but I think by the time L/L were there, those rooms were used for storage bc there’s little closet space in the living quarters, and the maids they hire don’t live with them.
Note: @gairid considers the flat across the street (1127) to be the true home of L/L bc the balcony is much more verdant, and you know Lestat would have all kinds of flora on their balcony! It’s a private residence, though.
+ Oak Alley Plantation – this was used for Pointe du Lac plantation in the movie. It’s a ways away, like 45 min outside NOLA? Maybe more, but worth the trip! You can pay for the bus tickets and tour package, get there and wander around, there’s food and historical info, highly recommend. Allegedly, Brad Pitt still visits and he stays in one of the guest houses.
Note: They also filmed at neighboring Destrehan Plantation, but I haven’t been there, idk if it’s worth going.
+ Madame John’s Legacy –
632 Dumaine St, this is the scene in which a family’s worth of coffins are carried out; Lestat & Claudia had been so gluttonous. This building is sometimes open to the public, the last time I was there they had a cool ceramics exhibition.
+ Jackson Square – mentioned in canon pretty often, you can’t really go to NOLA and not visit.
+ The Cabildo at Jackson Square – I didn’t go in, I think you can. This is where Lestat watches Claudia kill, that same gate is there, you can go hang out in front of it and pretend to watch your vampire daughter kill a victim.
+
Court of Two Sisters
–
613 Royal St, I really enjoyed the Sunday brunch, there’s a cute little courtyard with fountains, and live music sometimes. They had this oreo pie that like… dangerous.
+ Cafe Du Monde – mentioned in canon, they serve like 2 things, beignets and coffee (nothing super fancy), very affordable, and are almost always crowded, but totally worth it. If you go around the back there’s a window where you can see them making the beignets!
+ Arnaud’s – very good restaurant in the French Quarter
+ Port of Call – 838 Esplanade Ave, stardustschild, I see in your profile that you’re not over 21, but for OTHER ppl reading this post, this is a good place for a go-cup drink ~$10, it’s large and 1 is enough to catch a good buzz.
+ NAPOLEON HOUSE – Muffalettas, po’ boys & other Creole staples in a circa-1914 house with a palm-filled courtyard. @gairid recs the SAZERAC (for the 21+ people reading this post, not you, stardustchild) here.
+ French Market – that’s a pretty standard suggestion so I have to include it but I didn’t think it was all that big of a deal.
+ Trashy Diva clothing boutique –
537 Royal St, they have a few locations. I got a great little black velvet jacket here!
+ 2301 and
2524
St. Charles Ave, Garden District
– AR’s childhood homes
– (Not a location really) 1233 COLISEUM ST. – where the Coliseum theatre was in the scene when Louis goes to the movies, it burned down ;A; But that neighborhood is kind of fun to walk around and just look at the nice houses on your way to Lafayette Cemetery.
+ Commander’s Palace, Garden District
– good restaurant but pricey. I had an elder flower liqueur cocktail that was pretty special there. This restaurant is a favorite of the Mayfair family.
+ 1239 First Street, Garden District – This historic property was for many years Anne Rice’s primary residence.
, Garden District
– 3711 St Charles Ave. Not really as crucial on my own list of locations but still. @cloudsinvenice had posted: “Anne Rice’s former New Orleans home is back on the market again, as per this Curbed.com article, from which I’ve selected some photos. This is the house that inspired the Mayfair witches’ haunted family home…”
+ Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, Garden District
– mentioned in canon, free but only open during daylight hours tho!
+
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 – There are tours and I think Nicolas Cage’s very weird pyramid tomb is there, he’s paid for it, and that’s where he plans to be when he’s shuffled off this mortal coil…
+ Bourbon French Parfums –
805 Royal St. bc Louis was all about the jasmine and stuff, they have great sets of perfumes and their own concoctions.
+ DeVille Coffee House & Creperie – 2045 Magazine St, I just really like their crepe suzettes ❤
+ New Orleans Pharmacy Museum – I didn’t get to go here but it was on my list. I think it’s like $5 to go.
+ Marie Leveau’s Grave and Voodoo Shop – has cool stuff, like coffin nails!
+ Boutique du Vampyre – 709 ½ St. Anne Street, IIRC I got a cool poison ring here, they have vampiry wares.
… A few additions!
@nixsrebellionoflies added:
may i add that you can go into port of call if youre not 21 and over? they have great burgers and a very interesting aesthetic. you might have to wait a while tho to get in
^Thanks for that! I haven’t tried their burgers myself, now I have to be sure to put that on my list for my next trip 😉
@jeezycreezysuperstar added:
Some of the cemeteries are now only open to the public via tour group, just fyi
^RIGHT I forgot about that, it’s a relatively recent rule, within the last few years I think? Partly bc of the vandalism that was happening, and offerings/graffiti on some of the famous tombs like Marie Laveau’s Tomb. But do take a tour if you have the time/money/interest, bc they are informative and spoopy.
Me: wow I’m way too attached to fictional characters
Me: *sees y’all send death threats to writers because you didn’t agree with their decisions*
Me: never mind I’m attached the healthy amount
the worst thing about writing is that you aren’t just a writer. you have to be a thousand things. a poet, a flirt, a weapons expert, a bleeding heart, a scholar, a legendary cook, a theorist, an engineer, a reckless teenage girl, a dying god. you have to be able to write monologues and speeches and heartfelt confessions, and you have to make them believable. writing is putting yourself into someone else’s shoes.
writing is really hard (◕︿◕✿)
Things I love about Queen of the Damned
Also inspired by @i-want-my-iwtv call for action, I felt the need to defend my personal love for this film, though it is a bad adaptation.
1. Jesse as a co-protagonist of the story. In the book, Jesse is just one piece of a very large puzzle, but the movie gives her almost equal development and time as Lestat. No, I don’t enjoy their forced romance, and would prefer if that had been left out. But I do love that she’s the lens through which we see Lestat’s history, and how she plays more of a forward role in the overall story. She is brave but is allowed to make mistakes, and is a powerful female character because of that.
2. Lena Olin as Maharet. She brings the character alive with the sheer amount of grace and power she puts into her performance. Maharet feels like she is ancient, and also above the world, but not in a pretentious way. Simply that she is separate from humanity, something she slips up on by allowing Jesse to stay at the compound.
3. The design and look of the Great Family Tree. The tiny tablets with ancient writing fits far more into an old world aesthetic than whatever elementary design I had come up with in my head when I’d read the book. I love how they bleed towards the end of the movie. I love how the branches stretch out not so much like branches on a tree, but like veins and arteries, further driving home the importance of blood.
4. The concert venue being outdoors. Whenever I reread QOTD I have a vague feeling of claustrophobia with how small Cow Palace feels. The tight space lends itself to the ensuing chaos, but the outdoor concert gives more tension imo. The threat and danger of the rogue vampires can come from anywhere, and though we see them in the crowd, when they descend from above it heightens the fear that Lestat might really be in danger.
5. The way the blood drinking mind reading is portrayed. Showing mental powers or mind anything in film is hard. It can either read too cheesy or too realistic. I like the way the film makes the mental blood connection look like a tunnel, like we are being transported along blood vessels to see what the characters are seeing, without revealing too much.
6. Aaliyah as Akasha. This is not far down on the list because of any order, simply because it’s been said by so many of us I didn’t want it to be redundant.
7. The soundtrack. Likewise with this. So many people love these songs, and I probably wouldn’t have discovered Deftones, one of my fave bands, without this soundtrack (and the very hot ‘sex’ scene over Change (In the House of Flies)).
Listen, I know this movie isn’t a good representation of the book. I know it probably isn’t even a good movie by objective standards. But I’ve still rewatched it more than IWTV, and I still love way too much of it. Perhaps that is because it came out when I was first reading the books, so to me, it’ll always be the adaptation that I’ll associate with my fledgling VC days.
Now I feel bad for bashing this movie! I had asked for some love for it, and this was so touching and so generous to it, and like, I hope the ppl who were involved with it had fun making it, and I hope they know that some ppl did enjoy it and do think of it affectionately.
“The Offering” by Erica Lyn Schmidt for the Month of Love ‘White’ prompt.
6”x8” Acrylic & Oil on an oval cradled panel.
I approached the ‘white’ theme from three directions on this piece: first was the color choice of white for the hummingbirds and the flower being presented. Second, white symbolizes purity with the innocence and bashfulness of the couple. Finally I played around with the effect of being very heavy handed with white in the color mixing process, which resulted in a ghostly pastel palette that limited the saturation of the colors.
I-want-my-IWTV 