Fwd: ATD in NOLA

[David Morris]

Correction!!!

Mark found reference to the amended boundaries of Storyville, which
included Perdido Street.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 9:11 AM
Subject: Re: ATD in NOLA
To: Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com>

There you go!

On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 4:47 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> From a 1974 book called *Storyville An authentic History (*or close) *.*..and
> repeated by others over the years:
>
> FOUND INSIDE – PAGE 193
> APPENDIX D : Ordinance establishing district known as Storyville as
> amended July 6 , 1897 ( Ordinance No. ... 2nd : —And from the upper side of
>  Perdido Street to the lower side of Gravier Street , and from the river
> side of Franklin ...
>
>
>
> On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 12:11 AM David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> We’re reading of Reef’s brief visit to New Orleans as part of the Reddit
>> ATD group current schedule, so I thought I’d pass along what I’ve found
>> that seems to be a very sloppy research error (erratum, Mike?).  I’d be
>> happy to hear what you think.
>>
>>
>> ATD Error Alert:
>>
>> On page 369 ATD calls  “Maman Tant Gras, a concert saloon just off
>> *Perdido
>> Street* in the heart of the brothel district.”
>>
>>
>> Problem:  The “brothel district” of New Orleans was a clearly defined
>> location, legally established in 1895 specifically for regulation of legal
>> prostitution.  It was called “Storyville,” and *Perdido Street is well
>> outside its boundaries.*   Reef was in New Orleans in 1903.  There really
>
>
>> isn’t a way to smooth over that error. This seems to be a very flagrant
>> historical-location mistake, and  I would be shocked if it hasn’t  already
>> been noted somewhere.
>>
>>
>> Previous to the establishment of New Orleans’ “Storyville” (pre 1895),
>> prostitution occurred mainly on the wharves on the riverfront of the
>> French
>> Quarter.  Prostitution, traditionally occurring in  places where sailors
>> first land, New Orleans was  no different.  But the newly
>> American-acquired  bustling city wanted to clean up its look, so
>> prostitution was swept out of the French Quarter’s waterfront, and given a
>> new home outside its boundaries, in “famous” Storyville.
>>
>>
>> Storyville was the new red-light district of New Orleans, Louisiana, from
>> 1895 to 1917, established via  municipal ordinance by New Orleans City
>> Council, to control prostitution within the city. The area was originally
>> referred to as "The District", but its nickname, "Storyville", soon caught
>> on, much to the chagrin of Alderman Story, who wrote the new law.  Bounded
>> by the streets of North Robertson, Iberville, Basin, and St. Louis
>> Streets,
>> and located near the train station, prostitution was only legal within its
>> limits.  It a became a very popular centralized attraction just outside
>> the
>> “official” heart of New Orleans, the French Quarter.
>>
>>
>> It might also  be noted that it was within the smaller, first-floor
>> parlor-bars of the **brothels** (not dance saloons)  that proto-Jazz music
>> (Ragtime) was first born, prior to and during the Storyville era.  But the
>> success of Storyville provided a centralized place for larger, full-time
>> venues for musicians.  It’s  from that (tourist trap) place that the
>> jazz-inventor “stars” (like Afro-Creole pianist Jelly Roll Morton and
>> band-leader Buddy Bolden) began their  careers, and then, via vaudeville
>> and recorded music, brought jazz to the world. So Storyville (now long ago
>> mostly demolished) is a very significant place for “America’s” music.
>>
>>
>> Back to ATD, the literal translation from French of the of Reef’s
>> brothel-district dance hall name, “Maman Tent Gras,” would literally be
>> “Mamma so much fat” or “Big Fat Mamma’s.”
>>
>>
>> Also, the place where Reef ordered Sazeracs for himself and Ruperta was
>> owned by a guy named “Monsier Peychaud.”  Wiki says the following:
>>
>>
>> “ The drink is most traditionally a combination of cognac or rye whiskey
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rye_whiskey>, absinthe
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absinthe>, Peychaud's Bitters
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peychaud%27s_Bitters>, and sugar
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar>.”
>>
>>
>> “ allegedly with bitters <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitters> being
>> made by the local apothecary [not bar owner], Antoine Amedie Peychaud.”
>>
>>
>> “June 23, 2008, the Louisiana Legislature
>> <https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Legislature> proclaimed the
>
>
>> Sazerac as New Orleans' official cocktail.
>>
>>
>> Another “problematic” part of this section is the flop house Tone takes
>> Reef to is in the “deep in the red light district,” but wouldn’t that also
>>  be “the heart of the brothel district” they’re already occupying a la
>> Maman Tant Gras’ place?
>>
>>
>> And Tone’s flop (“Deux Especes” = “of them species” meaning  “desperadoes
>> of one kind or another”) is described as a “Louisiana-style road-ranch,”
>> but WTF is that supposed to be? I’ve never heard of a “road-ranch” before
>> (neither has Google), let alone a “Louisiana-style” one.  “Roadhouse,”
>> yes.
>>  “Ranch house,” yes.  “Road-ranch?”  Nope.
>>
>>
>> David Morris
>> --
>> Pynchon-L: https://waste.org/mailman/listinfo/pynchon-l
>>
>