A couple of miles from the bustling French Quarter, a cultural gem and New Orleans historical landmark has been resurrected, and you can spend the night there if you’ll be in town for the ESSENCE Festival of Culture. The newly opened–or reopened–Dew Drop Inn, a 17-room boutique hotel, restaurant, and entertainment venue, is carrying on the legacy that started there in 1939.
Before integration, The Dew Drop Inn was a center of civil rights and a haven for Black performers on the Chitlin’ Circuit, including Aretha Franklin, James Brown, and Etta James. It started as a barbershop owned and, operated by Frank Painia, morphed into a legendary hotel and music destination where Little Richard first performed “Tutti Frutti,” changing the popular music landscape forever.
It was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book and became a home for LGBTQ+ performers in the South, including Patsy Vidalia, the most famous drag performer in New Orleans in the 1950s, who produced an annual Halloween ball that was one of the biggest events at the Dew Drop. White people would come for the epic shows and get arrested because race-mixing was illegal. In response, Painia, on behalf of several bar owners, sued the city to desegregate all bars in New Orleans.
Desegregation and Painia’s death in the 1970s significantly slowed down business, leaving only the hotel in business. But it couldn’t survive Hurricane Katrina and closed in 2005. But sixty-five years after it first opened its doors, the Dew Drop Inn is back, Black-owned and thriving, thanks to the vision of Curtis Doucette, Jr., who purchased the property from Painia’s grandson in 2021.
Doucette intentionally recognized the ancestors and living legends who brought their magic to the space. Each room in the hotel is named for a significant figure in Dew Drop Inn history, containing a plaque that explains their relevance. “Every room has a narrative, so you’re not left to wonder why this person is special,” he says.
Some are household names like Ray Charles, who lived there for a few months, while other rooms honor local heroes such as Irma Thomas, Allan Toussaint, A.P. Tureaud, and “Dutch” Morial. Tureaud and Morial are memorialized in the “Rights Room” as the attorneys who challenged the city’s segregation laws on behalf of the establishment. Additionally, the rooms and hallways are decorated, in modern fashion, with the work of local artists and photographers.
While the hotel is steeped in musical history, it also celebrates its roots as a place to party with the revitalized event space. Two of the rooms, VIP suites, offer a birds-eye view of the stage so you can chill in your pajamas and watch some of New Orleans’ best local and visiting artists from above. “That is probably one of the features that people really love,” Doucette shares. “When I give tours and open the doors, people are shocked by it.”
It’s a unique and swanky way to experience the Dew Drop Inn’s live shows. Since opening, international superstar acts like Anderson .Paak and Sun Ra Arkestra have graced the stage; and its robust event calendar boasts brass bands, burlesque, weekly DJ residencies, AfroCuban concerts and a Sunday Creole brunch.
Another perk is the swimming pool where guests can cool off from the sultry Louisiana heat. Day passes to the Haven Pool Club are available for non-guests to lounge, take a dip, and sip cocktails with friends. The restaurant’s menu, curated by Doucette’s aunt Marilyn Doucette, contains New Orleans staples like red beans and rice and Yakamein, as well as various bar bites like truffle fries.
The on-site museum is phenomenal, designed to look like Painia’s original barber shop, with black and white photos of performers, old newspaper clippings, and a listening station where you can hear interviews from people who were part of its former heyday.
“I want people to experience a sense of pride,” Doucette said. “I want people to feel that inspiration and that muse.”
The sentiment that “All are Welcome” is immortalized on the wall of the hotel’s entrance, and it is the core of the past, present and future of the Dew Drop Inn.
The ESSENCE Festival of Culture™ presented by Coca-Cola® will take place July 4-7 in New Orleans. For more information and updates on the festival, visit our website and follow us on social media @ESSENCEFest on X, Facebook, and Instagram.
