This was published 12 years ago
The Monteleone, New Orleans review: The Big Easy's hit haunt
Literary landmark ... Hotel Monteleone.
The Monteleone in New Orleans has hosted plenty of celebrities, even its share of ghosts and writers, writes Shaney Hudson.
FOR years, Truman Capote would tell anyone who would listen that he was born in the Hotel Monteleone in New Orleans. Not entirely a lie, it wasn't the whole truth either.
Capote's mother went into labour while she was staying in the hotel but he was born at a nearby hospital. After my four-day stay at the hotel, I don't blame Capote for claiming it as his birthright. I wouldn't mind finding a way to make the Hotel Monteleone part of my history, too.
The hotel's lobby.
Some hotels fit like a hand in a glove with a city and the Monteleone is one of those. Known as the Grand Dame of the French Quarter, the hotel was established by a Sicilian shoemaker in 1886. Run by four generations of family, the hotel has grown into a 600-room New Orleans icon and last year celebrated its 125th anniversary.
I arrived in the middle of an extensive renovation. It's a tricky time to judge a hotel but the best marker is how the staff handle the change and I have to give the Monteleone credit - its staff pull it off with absolute class.
When my room isn't ready and they realise I've just come off a long haul from Australia, my bags are whisked away, coffee is fetched, internet is provided and my accommodation is prioritised and made up within half an hour, all on a holiday weekend.
The hotel embodies golden-age glamour and is a favourite of film crews, who have given the establishment a part in numerous films and TV shows. I step outside the elevator one morning to see the lobby filled with equipment and electrical cords. A crew is in the hotel's famous Carousel Bar filming a scene for the HBO drama Treme.
Established in 1949, the 25-seat Carousel Bar rotates gently underneath a French carousel top. The rotation is slightly disorienting. You don't feel like you're moving but you look up and realise your view has changed, making you wonder just how many drinks you've had.
I show up just in time for last drinks before the bar shuts for a month's renovation. I sit next to a man at the bar who is in his early 40s and has had more than a few whiskeys. He tells me he thinks the bar looks like a sad circus.
The romantic in me sees the charm in the old carousel, a link to the French roots of the city. But I humour him as I nurse a cocktail, chatting about the hotel, the changes it's making and the people who have stayed here before us.
In 1999, the hotel was declared a literary landmark. Along with Capote, the bar has been the favourite New Orleans watering hole of many writers, including William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, who immortalised the Monteleone in his 1951 play The Rose Tattoo.
Famous writers aren't the only ones to call the Monteleone home. Some guests have never checked out, with the hotel considered one of the most haunted in the US.
An investigation by the International Society of Paranormal Research identified a dozen "earthbound entities" in the hotel.
Filled with liquid courage one night, I head to the 14th floor, which a concierge had told me was the best place to catch one in action. While the only spirits I find at the hotel turn out to be in my minibar, I have to admit I get no further than poking my head out of the elevator doors.
The Monteleone is so perfectly positioned in the French Quarter that I nip in and out of my room all day long but never actually end up spending all that much time in it.
The hotel is on the corner of the French Quarter and Downtown: close enough to all the sites, far enough from Bourbon Street's chaos and a convenient block from the trams on Canal Street. Being an older hotel, its rooms are of a generous size and include full bath.
The decor feels a little old-fashioned but is comfortable with separate closet, flat-screen TV, minibar and wi-fi.
One of the greatest dangers for a hotel such as the Monteleone is that it could rest on the laurels of its reputation, trading on its past glory. This isn't the case here.
Like many places in New Orleans, quite a few members of staff have been working at the hotel for decades and take great pride in their workplace. The service is flawless.
Along with several ballrooms, there is a rooftop pool, heated to a tropical temperature and with a view over the downtown area, and if you stand on tiptoe you can glimpse the murky brown of the Mississippi River just two blocks away.
There is also a rooftop spa, although in true New Orleans fashion the rooftop bar seems to be the more popular attraction when I stop by to check out the top floor.
My room is on the 12th floor but, despite being so far up, there is still a fair amount of noise from the street. In other cities I would probably find this irritating but in New Orleans, noise is part of the culture.
I hear a brass band playing one morning and rush from my room to join a spontaneous parade.
Late one night, when jet lag leaves me restless and unable to sleep, I sit in my room in the darkness with my knees drawn to my chest listening to the sound of a solo saxophonist on a street corner somewhere nearby, playing a lullaby.
It's a poignant experience that defines not only my time in the Hotel Monteleone but my time in New Orleans.
The writer stayed as the guest of the New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau and Hotel Monteleone.
Trip notes
Where 214 Royal Street, New Orleans, in the French Quarter. +1 504 681 4479, hotelmonteleone.com.
Getting there Delta flies from Sydney to New Orleans from $1581. 1800 144 917, delta.com.
How much Regular rooms range from $139 to $373, with suites from $176 to $3276. The hotel is popular, so book well ahead.
Top marks Location, ambience and flawless service.
Black mark Charging for wi-fi.
Don't miss Nursing a cocktail in the Carousel Bar.
More information neworleansonline.com.
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