New Orleans

New Orleans

I used to drive United Cab 170 around New Orleans with the expectation that somehow there would be some money involved that I would actually get to keep at the end of the week. I wasn’t particularly good at it, but I loved it - sort of the way deadheads are about dancing.

So the story goes like this:

The Monteleone is at 214 Royals Street in the Quarters. Truman Capote used to claim that he was born in room 214 on Valentine’s Day (2.14 - get it?) His Mother, in fact, stayed there while she was pregnant, but she made it to the hospital in time for the delivery. Occasionally someone’ll tell you the story about how Truman was born with all those two-fourteens…it’s bullshit, but these are bread-and-butter stories for cabbies, mule drivers and tour guides…and the Monteleone is a cool old building.