Historic New Orleans to offer two program on Storyville

Two events coming up from the Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) looks at the notorious red-light district of New Orleans known as Storyville, which thrived on the edge of the French Quarter from 1898 to 1917.

Pamela Arceneaux, senior librarian and rare books curator at THNOC and co-curator of THNOC’s current exhibition, “Storyville: Madams and Music,” discusses her book on Storyville at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 28, at the Rosa F. Keller Library and Community Center in New Orleans. “Guidebooks to Sin: The Blue Books of Storyville, New Orleans,” published by the Historic New Orleans Collection, offers a study of the blue books, which functioned as consumer guides that promoted commercialized prostitution as bourgeois leisure, promising lavish goods and services, without mentioning sex.

Then on Wednesday, Oct. 11, THNOC and Dickie Brennan’s Tableau Restaurant will serve up “A Historic Storyville Dinner,” a six-course feast crafted by Tableau’s Executive Chef John Martin, coupled with period-inspired cocktails and historical commentary. Speakers will include Arceneaux and Elizabeth Pearce, founder and owner of Drink & Learn and the author of “Drink Dat New Orleans” (Countryman Press, 2017). Early-bird admission tickets are available for $85 through Sept. 20; regular admission is $100.

Note: The Oct. 11 event has sold out but another dinner has been scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 18, at Tableau. Tickets are on sale now. Early bird admission is $85 through Oct. 1; regular admission is $100. 

Birthday celebration for Josie Arlington (seated at left); February 8, 1908; gelatin silver print by John N. Teunisson, photographer; The Historic New Orleans Collection, gift of anonymous donor, 1993.55

Louisiana Book News is written by journalist Chere Dastugue Coen, who writes Louisiana romances and paranormal mysteries under the pen name of Cherie Claire. The first books in her award-winning series are FREE as ebooks! For more information and to sign up for her newsletter visit www.cherieclaire.net.