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A Stay in the Pontchartrain Hotel

New Orleans’ historic hotel has re-opened its glittering doors to a new century

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Photo by Christian Horan Photography

The heavily brocaded and gilded Pontchartrain Hotel was bustling on Friday evening with valets, bellboys, concierges, and elevator operators. In fact, the number of men and women dedicated to smoothing off the edges of twenty-first-century life seemed to equal the guests streaming in and out of the front doors.  

“This is your old fashioned metal key. Swiping this key will not work,” the front desk concierge joked. “If you lose this key, your room will be charged $250.” This shocking, but no less appreciated, warning was offered to guests checking in to the newly renovated hotel, which re-opened its doors in June. 

The key, the two creaking elevators, and the medicine cabinets stocked with imitation old-fashioned pill bottles are just some examples of the hotel’s curated step back in time. First opened in 1927, the Pontchartrain has a storied history, with guests including such luminaries as Tennessee Williams, Rita Hayworth, and The Doors as well as on-site restaurants and bars beloved by native New Orleanians. The Bayou Bar has always been a popular fixture, and you may catch its pianist crooning away at the keys during peak hours. The Caribbean Room, the hotel’s fondly-remembered fine-dining experience, has brought back the required dinner jacket, a welcome nod to natives who, if Nola.com comments are any evidence, lament the trend toward casual dining. The Caribbean Room experience is so guarded by nostalgia, in fact, that when the now John Besh-directed restaurant reimagined the famous Mile High Pie as a tower of round slabs of ice cream, the ensuing uproar required a reversal to the traditional wedge shape. No word on whether it tastes just as good. 

The hotel has also opened a new and very trendy rooftop bar, named the Hot Tin-Rooftop Bar, a clever reference to the fact that Tennessee Williams wrote portions of A Streetcar Named Desire while staying at the hotel. With a picturesque, 270-degree nightscape encompassing the illuminated Crescent City Connection and Superdome, patrons can enjoy cocktails and small plates from environs meant to evoke a 1940s artist studio. With rooftop access provided only by the two aforementioned elevators—unless literally well-heeled ladies and gentlemen are willing to climb fourteen flights of stairs—lines can stretch out the door to this hot-ticket venue. That’s when the $250 key revels its true value: hotel guests need only flash that piece of exclusive hardware to the concierge guarding the elevator, and they are promptly shuffled to the front of the line. 

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With the melding of art-deco and arts & crafts styles so prevalent in the ‘20s and ‘30s, the décor is as retro as the key. Both spare and baroque, if that is possible to imagine, colors are vivid, wallpapers are intricate, and textiles are sumptuous; but the rich textures are balanced by pieces of eclectic furniture and tiny, asymmetrically-placed paintings set against expanses of pale-colored walls. The bathrooms, admirably tiled by craftsmen who must have cursed a blue streak at the not-quite-square angles of the ancient building, are outfitted with modern showers and stocked with Le Labo toiletries and fluffy towels and bathrobes. The shampoo, by the way, smells unequivocally like whiskey—why wait for midnight for your sweat to declare the evening’s activities?   

With prices seasonally ranging from $90 to $270, reflecting the array of living spaces (kitchenettes, double rooms, suites, etc.), the hotel is a very affordable 4-to-5-star experience and provides walkable access to some of the Garden District, Central City, and Central Business District’s best restaurants, bars, and attractions. The St. Charles streetcar runs right in front of the hotel, extending the nostalgia. Though with tourists packed in like sardines, an Uber will get you to your destination faster and in much more comfort.

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