Dew Drop Inn aims to present the past, present and future of New Orleans music

The Dew Drop Inn Hotel & Lounge, after a 54-year pause, is hosting live music once again. The legendary Central City nightclub reopened Friday (March 1) with performances that paid homage to its storied history. The Dew Drop on the LaSalle Street was the city’s leading Black music venue during rock ‘n’ roll’s formative years. It brought top national entertainers  — Ray Charles, James Brown, Little Richard, Ike and Tina Turner, to name a few — into town, and it had a house band that could outshine the stars. Those local musical pioneers created a distinctly New Orleans sound during all-night jam sessions at the Dew Drop.

Find Carnival costumes galore on Magazine Street

Mardi Gras costumes of all sorts can be found in shops along Magazine Street. Options range from recycled vintage outfits to shiny new ones, or a mix of the two, plus some  custom-made options. As Denise Lyons of Buffalo Exchange put it, “Carnival season is huge for Magazine Street.” Uptown residents can easily take advantage of many costume offerings within a 12-block stretch of Magazine. Costume specialists
Miss Claudia’s Vintage Clothing & Costumes, at 4204 Magazine St., has a long history of combining vintage and newer pieces. Its mission includes both promoting costume creativity and preserving clothing to reduce waste and pollution in the fashion industry.

Find bargains and help your community during Small Business Saturday

From a favorite restaurant for a celebratory dinner, the bookstore that always delivers on binge-worthy reads to the boutique with perfect gifts — independent, local shops and restaurants help make New Orleans unique. On Saturday (Nov. 25), StayLocal and its member businesses — independent, local shops, restaurants and seasonal markets — will celebrate Small Business Saturday in commercial corridors in neighborhoods throughout Greater New Orleans. The majority of these businesses are in Uptown neighborhoods. Falling between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday is a national shopping event dedicated to celebrating and supporting local businesses.

Calliope Beer Works on Oak preparing to pour its own brews

By Jeanne D’Arcy, Uptown Messenger

There’s a new restaurant — and soon a new craft brewery — on Oak Street. Calliope Beer Works took over the space vacated by Cowbell, where Oak Street meets the river levee, in August. Calliope’s premiere brews are fermenting, and the first four craft beers are expected to be on tap the first weekend in November. Calliope Beer Works is the brainchild of brew master Richard “Rich” Szydlo, who re-located to New Orleans from Chicago. “I have been brewing beer, and before I moved here, I sold my own products but I never had my own brewery,” Szydlo said. 

That next step for Szydlo is Calliope Beer Works, at 8801 Oak Street.

Coworking is back at Propeller! (sponsored)

Coworking is BACK at Propeller! As we start the new school year, we’d like to welcome you to start a new work quarter at our newly renovated coworking facility at 4035 Washington Avenue! Our extensive renovations to our kitchen, meeting rooms, meeting room tech, event space, private offices, bathrooms, and other amenities have made this an optimal work environment for you and the pursuit of your entrepreneurial goals. At Propeller, community is key. Our diverse members consist of like-minded entrepreneurs, non-profit executives, philanthropists, and social justice activists coming together and making a major contribution to our region through one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial communities in the city.

Propeller Announces ’23 Impact Accelerator Ventures (sponsored)

Propeller announces the 20 ventures selected for our nationally recognized Impact Accelerator. This program catalyzes transformative social impact by supporting startup and growth entrepreneurs working towards community oriented solutions to our region’s most pressing challenges in community economic development, education, food, health, and water. There has always been a demand for programs like this, and the COVID pandemic and other challenges from the last several years have increased the need. Consider these statistics:
40 % of businesses do not reopen after disasters, 25% fail in the year following a disaster, and 90% of small businesses fail within 2 years of disaster. At the onset of the pandemic, Black business ownership rates dropped 41% between February and April 2020.

On Magazine Street, Restaurant Week specials plus a Block Party

The Magazine Street Merchants Association offers some ideas for beating the summer doldrums. This week is Restaurant Week along the corridor. Then on Aug. 3,  a Block Party will take place. In honor of Restaurant Week — Monday (July 17) to Sunday (July 23) — restaurants, bars, coffee shops and sweet shops along Magazine have created special menus with tempting prices, ranging from $15 to $50. The Merchants Association is sweetening the deals by offering a Restaurant Week Passport.

Viewpoint: Who would want to do business in crime-ridden New Orleans?

When I want to know what New Orleanians are thinking about the news of the day, I need not look any further than the app Nextdoor to get an unvarnished, uncensored view.   

Gina Melita posted about a carjacking at Sycamore near Carrollton. Laurel Street’s Avi Scott wrote about two teenage males who were pulling on door handles on her block. A clearly aggravated James Henderson in Algiers Riverview shared a video of his “lazy G-Man,” who picked up the trash bag on the curb but ignored the trash can. De Borah Wells in Milan posted a photo of Sir Paul, a Doberman she was mourning after his passing. Jenn C in Huntlee Village was warning neighbors about a hustler prying for information about her home security system.  

Then there’s Paulette Perrien from Maple Area who, along with several dozen others, remarked about the May 20 early-morning theft of $300,000 worth of iron beams and additional sheet metal from the former Times-Picayune site at 3800 Howard Ave., where the upscale Five O Fore driving range is under construction.