Category: On The Street

Bad Ass Uncle Sam

(Photo: Uncle Louie wants you to speak your fuckin’ mind. | Lorie Shaull | CC)
The Quarter Rat wants to offer a wider range of voices to our opinion page. We do not want a one sided editorial page. There is too much of that in media. Let’s hear both sides. I see myself as a libertarian. (Which of course to Progressives, that’s the same as being a Nazi.) The Quarter Rat would welcome diversity in opinions on this page. If you are interested in writing an op-ed for TheQuarterRat.com please contact the publisher: dave at thequarterrat.com.

The French Quarter has a staple of conservatism in Michael DiBari. For years he and his cart could be found in front of the Federal Court House on Royal Street, and now he and his YouTube channel are located down by the French Market. Check out his videos and interviews on his YouTube channel, or swing by in person.

Bad Ass Uncle Sam down at the French Market.

French Quarter’s 10 best places to have sex in public

Public sex in the French Quarter is an activity that more or less tends to happen frequently, at all hours, anywhere, in sporadic patterns, at random, clandestinely for the most part, probably unprotected, likely under the influence of alcohol or drugs and between consenting adults—and possibly illegal.

Updated: Aug. 1, 2020, 3:26 p.m. CST: New Orleans Municipal Code 54-260 states “it shall be unlawful for any person to engage in, participate in, manage, produce, sponsor, present or exhibit obscene live conduct” including masturbation; “excretory functions;” “lewd” exhibition, actual simulated, or animated, of the genitals; and sadomasochistic abuse, among others.

If you’re gonna do it, use your best judgment and consider these top 10 spots:

Jax Brewery on the Mississippi River side. Photo: bootbearwdc | Flickr CC.

1. The Mississippi River side of Jax Brewery at night
Some of the concrete planters could provide good cover. Beware of the random straggler.

Photography prohibition is strictly enforced inside The Dungeon. Photo: Pamela Carls | Flickr CC.

2. The cages at The Dungeon
The cages are on the second floor of The Dungeon. You might get away with having sex in the cages, you might not. Photography is strictly prohibited inside the bar without permission.

The Royal Sonesta Hotel. Photo: nathanmac87 | Flickr CC.

3. The Bourbon Street balconies of the Royal Sonesta Hotel
Perhaps this is synonymous with any hotel balcony on Bourbon Street.

Aftermath of the Hard Rock Hotel collapse on Oct. 21, 2019. Photo: Infrogmation | Flickr CC.

4. The Hard Rock Hotel ruins
Not recommended, but included for obvious reasons.

The intersection of Ursuline and Decatur streets. Photo: Ken Lund | CC Flickr.

5. Anywhere on Decatur Street at night
Such a wide variety of places: Jackson Square, Washington Artillery Park, the nearby French Market, New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, etc.

The Andrew Jackson statue in the French Quarter. Photo: Tim Wilson | Flickr CC.

6. On the Andrew Jackson statue
Why-in-hell-not?

Photo: Infrogrmation | Wikimedia Commons.

7. Governor Nicholls Street Wharf at night
It’s a fairly secluded spot where nobody will mess with you. If the tide is low, you might actually get to have sex on the beach.

Woldenberg Park. Photo: Infrogmation | Flickr CC.

8. Woldenberg Park
It’s probably best to do it here at night, but you never know. Nevertheless, there’s a nice riverfront view.

The Battle of Liberty Place monument was removed on April 24, 2017. Photo: Infrogmation | CC Flickr.

9. In the spot where the monument commemorating the Battle of Liberty Place once existed on Badine Street
Erected in 1891, the monument commemorated the Battle of Liberty Place, an attempted insurrection of the white supremacist Crescent City White League against Louisiana Reconstructionist government forces on Sept. 14, 1874. More than 30 people were killed, including seven police officers.

The monument was removed from its Badine Street location on April 24, 2017 amid controversy.

St. Anthony’s Garden at St. Louis Cathedral. Photo: Kimberly Vardeman | Flickr CC.

10. St. Anthony’s Garden
More power to you if you can make it over the fence, just don’t get caught.

Honorable mention: Aunt Tiki’s, The Abbey Bar, Bienville monument.

Comments? Feedback? Disagree with the list? Want to include an entry? Have an idea for a list? Send an email to dave@thequarterrat.com.





WWL shows naked guy in front of Lafitte’s bar on live TV

(Photo: @salobonavia | Twitter)
A naked man was filmed by WWL on live TV during a Saturday report on the Phase Two reopening of the French Quarter.

The man was completely naked, except for shoes and the surgical face mask, and briefly appeared during reporter Meghan Kee’s live Saturday late afternoon broadcast in front of Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop Bar at the corner of Bourbon and St. Philip streets (pictured above).

The man was a participant in the World Naked Bike Ride held in New Orleans on the same day the city entered Phase Two reopening from COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

CDC warns public against “aggressive” rats looking for food

(Photo: Matt Baume | CC)
An advisory issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this month is warning the public about hungry and “aggressive” rats on the hunt for new sources of food.

COVID-19 lockdown restrictions closed restaurants and businesses in dense commercial districts, including the French Quarter, cutting off rats’ main source of food and leading to the “unusual” behavior of trying to survive, according to a May 21 CDC advisory.

Some jurisdictions reported increased rodent activity following the coronavirus restrictions, according to the CDC.

Days after the coronavirus restrictions took effect in New Orleans, a TV crew filming an empty Bourbon Street captured a congregation of rats, which share a symbiotic relationship with the French Quarter.

Additionally, the CDC warned against a decline, then a resurgence in rat populations due to events such as hurricanes and recommended control measures such as bait stations.

Efforts to eradicate rats in the French Quarter, however, have been unsuccessful in the neighborhood’s 300-year existence.

Read the CDC’s advisory here.

Bourbon Street’s cowboy Joelee dances in Franklin; police chief takes matter into his own hands

(Photo: Joelee, left. | Twitter)
A Bourbon Street cowboy known for his gregariousness and dance moves was accosted by a Louisiana police chief earlier this week after receiving several complaints of dancing in public.

In a video posted to social media on May 7, cowboy Joe Lee (“Joelee”) is confronted Thursday by Franklin Police Chief Morris Beverly. Referring to Lee as “Mr. Seguro,” Beverly said several people phoned in to complain that his dancing on the side of the road was distracting drivers.

Beverly asked Lee to stop or else he would work on getting an ordinance written and passed, giving police officers the power to arrest the cowboy for dancing on the side of the road.

“What I don’t want you to do is do all of that jumping and dancing around and stuff like that if you’re going to be dressed like that because some people take offense to that,” Beverly said in the video.

“What am I doing?” Lee said. “What am I doing? I’m exercising.”

“You’re not exercising sir,” Beverly said. “If we have a collision or anything, [we’re going] to put you down and you’re going to be civilly liable.”

Beverly did not respond to a request for comment.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee was a regular presence on Bourbon Street. He was often seen wearing a crop top and Daisy Duke shorts, mingling with crowds of tourists and appearing in selfies. After coronavirus restrictions closed the French Quarter, Lee relocated to Franklin.

Lee did not respond to a request for comment.

“It’s distracting when Mardi Gras is in the air and people are painting their boobs instead of covering them,” Lee said in a Facebook post May 9. “So just because we all don’t like it does it give Beverly the right to take his [First Amendment] away?”

Watch the full video of the encounter here.