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The 2020 Up Stairs Lounge Fire Memorial Service
On the 47th anniversary of an arson fire that killed 32 LGBT+ people in the French Quarter, the weather reflected the mood of the mourners.
– photography by Andrew Simoneaux
The Queer Quarter: A Moveable Feast
The Queer Quarter: A Moveable Feast: In the 1900s, LGBT+ people from around the country were drawn to the French Quarter's shifting centers of queer gravity, which offered both a spicy nightlife scene and an evolving culture.
-Frank Perez
The Up Stairs Lounge Fire Memorial Service
The Up Stairs Lounge Fire Memorial Service: On the 47th anniversary of an arson fire that killed 32 LGBT+ people in the French Quarter, the weather reflected the mood of the mourners.
-Andrew Simoneaux
Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter, Part 8
On the summer solstice, historian and writer Frank Perez reflects on the passage of time as his French Quarter neighborhood slowly reopens.
- by Frank Perez
Jackson Square Protest - June 5
Jackson Square Protest - June 5: Friday evening, much of New Orleans waited with bated breath in hopes the protest in the French Quarter would be peaceful. The rest of the city attended. Thousands rallied in front of Jackson Square in a remarkable show of solidarity against racism.
-Ellis Anderson
Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter, Part 7: Reopening
As the nation writhes in turmoil, historian and writer Frank Perez looks through the lens of the past to ponder the French Quarter's future.
- by Frank Perez
- photos by Frank Perez and Ellis Anderson
A Conversation with Jericho Brown
A Conversation with Jericho Brown: The Louisiana writer opens up about his Pulitzer Prize win, the power of transformation and the moment he realized he was a poet.
-Skye Jackson
Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter - Part 6
Leaving the French Quarter for the first time since the COVID shutdown, the writer's destination of choice? The family tomb in Galliano.
- by Frank Perez
Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter - Part 5
Fifth in the series of diary entries by writer/historian Frank Perez, this day finds him in his French Quarter home, dreaming of Paris.
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- by Frank Perez
The $50 Loan With 30 Year Terms
The rise of homelessness during the pandemic reminds a French Quarter writer of a luckless time in youth, when a spontaneous act of generosity turned the tide.
– by Ellis Anderson
On Richard Sobol & Quarter Culture
On Richard Sobol & Quarter Culture: Darlene Fife, co-founder and editor of the 1960s French Quarter underground newspaper NOLA Express, looks back at the late Richard Sobol's defense of civil rights and Quarterites.
-Ellis Anderson
Fancy Footwork at the FQF
Fancy Footwork at the FQF: The traditional opening day for French Quarter Fest finds entertainment director Greg Schatz dancing with a very fickle future.
-Nan Parati
Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter - Part 4
Fourth in the series of daily diary entries by French Quarter writer/historian Frank Perez, this piece covers unfortunate hair-cuts, making groceries, and graffiti scrubbing.
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- by Frank Perez
"Lafitte the Pirate" Turns 90
​In 1930, French Quarter resident Lyle Saxon cooked up a savory gumbo of fact and fiction that's become a New Orleans classic.
- by John Sledge
Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter - Part 3
Third in the series of daily diary entries by French Quarter writer/historian Frank Perez, this piece considers the comforts of the ordinary.
- by Frank Perez
A Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter - Part 2
Second in the series of daily diary entries by French Quarter writer/historian Frank Perez. "To be one flash of color in the kaleidoscope that is the Quarter lends perspective."
- by Frank Perez
Interview: John Warner Smith, Poet Laureate of Louisiana
The state's former Secretary of Labor is now its Poet Laureate. In lieu of hearing Smith speak at the Tennessee Williams Fest this year, we offer this profound and insightful interview.
- by Skye Jackson
Tennessee Williams and the French Quarter
Tennessee Williams and the French Quarter: A look at the famous playwright's complex and lifelong relationship with the neighborhood where he brought "A Streetcar Named Desire" into being.
​- by Richard Goodman
A Day in the Life of the COVID Quarter - Part 1
The diary of a French Quarter writer details the neighborhood's new norm.
​- by Frank Perez
Famine to Feast
If you can't feast at a celebration this St. Joseph's Day, at least you can feast your eyes with a virtual visit to three different St. Joseph's altars in the Quarter.
-By Reda Wigle