The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-03-18

for The Times goes where he pleaseS,
when he pleaseS, in search Of edd stor-
les about this and that
NEW ORLEANS, March i6.-I'm
' always chasing rainbows, and
my new rainbow is this: I want to
live for a year in the Pontalba
Apartments. Maybe I will, too, for
the man who runs them has prom
ised me one, even though he has
waiting list mile long.
And when you come to see me
In my Pontalba Apartment. here's
what you'll find: You'll stand at
the corner of Jackson Square, in
the heart of the old French quar-
ter, the Vieux Care. And you'll
look down the street alongside the
park, and you'll see balcony over
the sidewalk for the whole block.
and you'll see heavy green doors,
twice as high as your head, all
closed and all looking dark and
mysterious.
You'll walk along till you come
to a door with my number on it,
and you'll press button, and the
door will open, and you'll walk
into long stone corridor. like
catacomb, and shut the door behind
you
You'll walk clear to the back, and
up two flights of a spiral stairway
to my apartment at the top.
I'LL show you around my big
i rooms. There1l be three of
them in the front part of the
place, with a hall and little sharp
turns and hooks here and there.
Then We'll go out back, and down
three or four steps, and on to
screened porch overhanging a
patio, and then into another whole
apartment, which is really just part
of my apartment. Back here will
be my den" with a fireplace and
an extra bedroom or two.
And after dinner we'll go out OH
to the balcony which runs clear
across the front of my apartment,
and we'll sit there under the stars,
with grilled railing IN front of
us, and I'll tell you about things.
I'LL tell you how right out there
l. in front, in Jackson Square, is
the very spot where Bienyille laid
out New Orleans in 1920. How he
staked it out as the Place d'Arn1s,
or public square, and built the Vieux
Care around it.
And I'll tell you about the blood
and thunder that old square has
seen. About the hangings, and the
gatherings of pirates, and how men
were drawn and quartered there,
and put alive in boxes, and the
boxes sawed in two.
I'll tell you how they built the
Cathedral of st. Louis, just there
to your left on the west side Of the
square.
A ND I'll tell you about JackSon's
L y statue there in the center OF
the park. How it was the first statue
ever built of a man on rearing
horse, where the front of the horse
wasn't supported. They did it by
making the rear of the horse of solid
bronze, and the front part hollow.
And I'll tell you how some boys,
playing in the park, knocked ball
and it lodged on Jackson's head.
And how they threw sticks at it, and
knocked Jacksons head off. And
how they were so scared they hid
the head in a board pile, and it
wasn't found for days. Now they
have two heads, SO that if one is
knocked of they'll have another one.
And I'll tell you how the rich
| Baroness de Pontalba built these
two rows of apartments, one on each
side of the square, in 1848, just as a.
gesture of doing something fine for
her beloved New Orleans.
A ND how they came to be known
IN as the first gold coast" when
merchants rented each three-story
section for $500 gold, and had their
stores on the first floor, and their
living quarters on the second and
/ third And how the government
owns them now, and you can rent
one for $50 month.
Well sit on our balcony and I'll
tell you all this. And over to our
left, couple of blocks away, we can
see the Mississippi, shining DULY in
the moonlight, and we can see ship
tunnels and masts down there, and
hear strange sounds of docks.
And all around us will be New Or
leans, the old New Orleans, the
Vieux Care of the narrow streets
and wooden doors and iron grillwork
running like clematis over the win
dows, the Vieux Care of the old
Creoles, and the Napoleon plotters,
and the pirates, and the rich men
and the fighters and the history
makers. =.
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