The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is requesting information on the whereabouts of 31-year-old Meghan McFadden, who was reported missing on Sunday.
According to the NOPD, McFadden was last seen at about 4 p.m. on August 10 in the 500 block of Bourbon Street.
The NOPD described McFadden as five foot two inches tall, approximately 140 pounds with strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. She was last seen wearing a red dress with flowers on it.
NOPD Eighth District detectives request anyone with information on McFadden’s whereabouts to call 504-658-6080.
The Red Dress Run is an event organized by the New Orleans Hash House Harriers (NOH3) on the second Saturday of August each year and thousands of men and women wearing red dresses will be running through the French Quarter on August 10 with drinks in hand.
Now in its 25th year, the purpose of the run is to raise money for local charities and nonprofits. The event is similar to Hash House Harrier events in other parts of the world, except this one is in New Orleans.
The Hash House Harriers is a worldwide social organization of people who get together for non-competitive runs and drink alcoholic beverages. Their slogan is “a drinking club with a running problem.” The term hasher refers to members of the social club.
Red Dress Run co-rganizer Bill Healy told WVUE’s Nancy Parker that the run originally began with 60 to 100 of the NOH3’s members in the first few years. Eventually, the club allowed non-members to join and let them register. All of the money for registration goes to charity, Healy said.
Now the event attracts thousands. Co-organizer Chris Vial told Parker that as many as 4,000 people could participate this year. In addition to the people who pay to register for the actual run, Vial estimated that as many as 15,000 people will just show up to the French Quarter wearing red or red dresses—meaning you don’t actually need to register to enjoy the festivities.
“It’s about that big every year,” Vial said. “We’ve grown exponentially each year in small increments. It’s New Orleans, it’s a big party.”
The event begins at 9:30 a.m. at Crescent Park and the run begins somewhere along North Peters Street at 10:30 a.m. The run itself is only a short distance, but the event lasts all day. Only those who register can participate in the run.
Registration is $65, which includes free beer, lunch, live bands, and a bib with a registration number. Parking costs $20 at 450 Mandeville St. for all day. For more information, visit neworleanshash.com.
The New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) is searching for suspects who allegedly burglarized several hotels and a vehicle stemming from two separate cases that occurred in the French Quarter in late July and early August.
In the first case, according to the NOPD, a man allegedly burglarized three hotels from July 20 to August 2, two of which are located in the French Quarter or along its edge.
UPDATE: Police arrested Tramaine Williams, 33, on August 3 in connection with the alleged hotel burglaries. Williams was located by NOPD officers at a local hotel in possession with several of the stolen items, including several reportedly stolen tablet computers and smartphones, police said. Williams was booked into Orleans Parish Justice Center on suspicion of four counts of unauthorized entry of a business, four counts of illegal possession of stolen things and on drug possession charges.
Tramaine Williams. Courtesy of NOPD.
The first occurred on July 20 in the 900 block of Canal Street at approximately 4:59 a.m. and the second occurred in the 1300 block of Canal Street at approximately 10:03 p.m. on August 1. Then on August 2, a business located in the 100 block of Iberville Street was allegedly burglarized at approximately 2:24 a.m.
In all three incidents, according to the NOPD, the man entered through the hotel lobbies and forced his way into the office areas, where he took iPads, cell phones, and other items.
The NOPD released alleged surveillance camera footage of the incidents on August 2, which are pictured above.
Then on August 1, according to the NOPD, two suspects were captured on surveillance camera footage allegedly burglarizing a vehicle in the 900 block St. Louis Street at approximately 5:33 a.m.
According to the NOPD, the vehicle’s passenger side window was smashed.
NOPD described the two suspects as black males, one being approximately six foot, one inches tall, bald with a thin build, and was seen wearing a white shirt with horizontal stripes and dark colored pants.
The NOPD described the second suspect as five foot 10 inches tall wearing a tan bucket hat, white t-shirt, tan shorts, and a red drawstring backpack.
Surveillance camera footage, which is pictured above, was released by the NOPD on August 5.
The NOPD requests that anyone with information regarding the incidents or identities of the suspects to call Eight District detectives at 504-658-6080. Anonymous callers can contact Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 877-903-7867.
Cafe Beignet at the Old Coffee Pot. Picture by Marvin Smith.
The Old Coffee Pot restaurant that abruptly closed in February has reopened, but this time under a slightly different name.
The restaurant, now renamed Cafe Beignet at the Old Coffee Pot, reopened at 714 St. Peter St. It was the location the previous restaurant before it was acquired and renamed.
The Old Coffee Pot was open for more than a century before it closed. The restaurant was a popular breakfast spot for bartenders, barbacks, and other service industry workers coming off the third shift—or for those who finished the second shift and stumbled into the place after several hours of drinking at Johnny White’s Bar across the street, or elsewhere.
Before it closed, the restaurant appeared on an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s reality TV show, “24 Hours to Hell and Back,” in which he scolded the staff for finding a dead mouse in a toaster.
The new restaurant’s menu includes crawfish omelettes, beignets, gumbo and calas.
Calas are a fritter similar to a beignet but made with rice. They’re sometimes described as a dumpling, a rice pastry, or cake. They’re believed to have their origins from the rice-growing regions of Western Africa and were brought to Louisiana by slaves.
Recipes vary, but typically calas are made by mixing rice with sugar, some flour and eggs, deep-frying them, and topping them with confectioners sugar. They were a specialty at the Old Coffee Pot for decades, but have been a part of New Orleans for centuries.
According to Poppy Tooker on NPR, calas vendors were a common sight on the streets of New Orleans, particularly the French Quarter. African-American slaves who sold calas used the money to buy their freedom.
Calas vendors weren’t restricted to only slaves, though. Selling them were part of the income for many families.
“Lottery sellers, praline and calas vendors, seamstresses, pieceworkers, and laundresses who worked at home are examples of teh various forms of work that were available to poor colored women who were married.”
Other menu items include pecan waffles, Cajun hashbrowns, and sandwiches such as muffalettas and roast beef po-boys.
Cafe Beignet at the Old Coffee Pot, located at 714 St. Peter St. is open daily from 8 a.m to 10 p.m.
(Photo: Courtesy of NOPD) Two unidentified suspects are wanted in an auto burglary that occurred on St. Louis Street Thursday, according to New Orleans Police.
Detectives reviewed surveillance video footage and determined the burglary occurred shortly after 5:30 a.m. when two suspects (pictured above) smashed a window of a vehicle parked in the 900 block of St. Louis Street, according to New Orleans Police.
One suspect is described as a black male, approximately 6 feet 1 inches tall, bald with a thin build. He was last seen wearing a white shirt with horizontal stripes and dark-colored pants.
The second suspect is described as a black male, approximately 5 feet 10 inches tall and was last seen wearing a tan bucket hat, white t-shirt, tan shorts and a red drawstring backpack.
Anyone with additional information regarding this incident is asked to contact Eighth District detectives at 504-658-6080. Callers can also contact Crimestoppers at 504-822-1111 or toll-free at 877-903-7867.
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