2836 LaSalle Street, New Orleans, LA 70115
Website, social feeds, reservations here
- Restored and reopened in 2024, the Dew Drop Inn is a reasonably priced immersion in New Orleans music history. Sleep where greats like Ray Charles, Little Richard, and others slept. See the stage where they and New Orleans R&B titans like Allen Toussaint and Irma Thomas performed. Revisit the era when New Orleans was changing the music world.
- A mini-museum tells the story of a neighborhood barbershop that grew to a restaurant, bar, and showroom complex that became, for touring and local Black musicians, a premier destination during the dark, diminishing days of the Jim Crow South.
The history
Located on a corridor important to two centuries of Black New Orleans history, the Dew Drop Inn is a global destination for music lovers. Or could/should be. Restored brilliantly and reopened in 2024 after decades of deterioration, the Dew Drop Inn today is a combination of boutique hotel, mini-museum, and nightclub.
The rebirth – piloted by Curtis Doucette Jr., founder of the real estate company Iris Development – recalls the property’s mid-20th-century heyday as a beacon for African American culture. James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, and others performed at the Dew Drop’s nightclub or stayed in its rooms or both. On one night in 1961 – on a Sunday night in 1961 – the club’s patrons witnessed performances by New Orleans R&B royalty Jessie Hill, Ernie K-Doe, Art Neville, Earl King, Irma Thomas, and Allen Toussaint, according to a playbill for the date. Thomas performed at the Inn’s 2024 reopening.
Per the displays in the mini-museum, owner Frank Painia in 1939 turned a barber shop (recognized in signage and a vintage barber chair in the museum) into a bar, 24-hour restaurant, and the “swankiest nightclub in the South.” The complex was family-run into the 1970s and beyond.
The nightclub featured variety entertainment in addition to R&B. Its floor shows often had comedians, female impersonators, and “shake dancers,” all presided over by emcee Patsy Vidalia. Late-night jam sessions would follow.
As detailed on the museum walls, the Dew Drop was also a destination for Civil Rights-era activists (a role celebrated in one of the hotel’s themed guest rooms) and a safe haven for travelers and touring musicians in the segregated South. A display also notes the property’s relationship with the neighboring Magnolia public-housing complex.
A listening station at the far end of the museum space, which adjoins the nightclub, offers a chance to hear Dew Drop stories from Toussaint, Thomas, Clarence “Frogman” Henry, and others.
Kudos to “exhibit partners” Tulane University Special Collections, the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and the New Orleans Tourism and Cultural Fund for their help in telling the Dew Drop Inn story.
The property
The hotel rooms are all themed to performers whose lives intertwined with the Dew Drop, including James Booker, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Huey “Piano” Smith, and others. The nightclub revives the spirit of the space with “Legends of the Dew Drop Inn” brunch performances and scheduled jam sessions. The mini-museum tells the place’s story chronologically and celebrates its golden years as a triumph of African American enterprise, a theme that continues with the story of its restoration.
The front desk is staffed around the clock. There is no elevator to the second level of guest rooms.
Guest experience
The front entrance is to the far left as you face the building. Through it is a small lobby (with a beverage fridge) and the front desk. From there, you find your room. Mine was named for Allen Toussaint, one of the giants of New Orleans music.
The stairs getting there were a little steep, or at least it seemed so until I thought, “Ray Charles did it. You’ll do fine.”
I did, though the heavy door at the bottom of the stairs scared me a few times before I remembered to catch it with my foot and ease it closed.
The room itself was comfortable and clean, if modest, but fully engaged with its namesake artist’s story. There was no desk or chair or, for that matter, anyplace to sit but on the bed. I probably could’ve asked about a chair, but I found the public area at the end of the second-level hallway. It’s actually an outdoor patio area overlooking the pool. The wi-fi worked. There were chairs and a table. I was fine, despite wilting summer heat and humidity that frosted my reading glasses as soon as I hit the door. (I spent a couple of weeknights there on my own dime in July 2025).
Didn’t take a dip (I don’t dip), but the pool looked cool (and heated in winter), and reminded me of the Iris Motel’s pool as a place I could start daydreaming about at around 5 p.m. during a long second-weekend day at Jazz Fest.
The Toussaint room overlooked LaSalle Street, so there was some traffic noise during the night, though not enough to disturb my sleep. Weekends might be a different story. The possibility of big-city traffic noise is acknowledged in website text: “While we can’t promise a pin-drop silent night every night, we can promise an unforgettable experience, the sound of a good time, and a celebration of life.”
Bed: Good.
Bathroom: Immaculate.
Vibe: The coolest.
Early coffee: The McDonald’s at Claiborne and Louisiana, a four-minute drive, is the place.
Nearest martini: It’s a three-minute drive to the bar at the Marsh.
My room was less than $100 a night – a spectacular deal. Having watched the property molder for decades while passively learning about its legacy, experiencing the restoration and the property’s reverence for its past was thrilling.
Food and drinks
You are minutes from the Uptown array of fantastic restaurants, including but not limited to Shaya, Dakar Nola, Atchafalya, and Joey K’s. The local godfather den for craft cocktails, Cure, is a four-minute upriver ride-share drive on Freret. A little nearer is the fine Southern food of the High Hat Cafe, which also features great cocktails and is accordingly a locals’ favorite.
Location
Central City gives some locals not from that neighborhood a fit. The simplest online guidance by locals less prone to tossing fits is to not walk the neighborhood at night. I wouldn’t and didn’t. In the light of day, the St. Charles streetcar line is an eight-block walk.
Website
Beautiful images and video on the home page offer an intoxicating tour of the property, guest rooms to the nightclub to the mini-museum to the pristine pool area. The call to click the red “Book Now” button will be strong. Navigate the header’s drop-down prompts to explore the property’s history, tour the themed rooms, and peruse upcoming shows scheduled for the showroom. Click to ponder cool merch, too, some incorporating the iconic entrance sign.
Parking
It’s street. Don’t leave anything in your car, and be sure to lock up.
Extra thing
On the wall above the toilet in my room was a photo of Toussaint’s childhood home at 3039/3041 College Court. No explanatory text, but IYKYK: Several classic songs were written there, including “Java” and “Mother-in-Law.” A plaque was installed at the home in 2011. There is a credit and a label for the photo in the room display of Toussaint records, photos, and ephemera. Other Allen Toussaint landmarks around town include Allen Toussaint Boulevard (renaming it from a Civil War traitor’s name in 2022), his statue in Bourbon Street’s Musical Legends Park, a large mural at 1441 N. Claiborne, and the various studios around town where he made his magic. Further essential reading and listening here and here.