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This building once housed one of the best coffee houses in the city, Rue de la Course. I spent lots and lots of time here. It's on Magazine between 8th and 9th Street. The story that was told to me is that the owners of this building either would not renew the lease to Rue de la Course or made rent prohibitively expensive, forcing them out. Then the building's owner leased it to a friend who put in another coffee shop. Rue de la Course is was a beautiful, beautiful space. The new shop (as you see in the next two pics) was the tackiest, most visually offensive food/beverage business in the city. I never went inside the place once this opened. They always had huge, ugly, plastic banners and signs hanging outside, just puking all over this lovely building.
The good news is: Rue's owners, Debra Dunn and Jerry Roppolo purchased a space directly across the street. Retail rent on Magazine street went from 12-$16 / sq. ft. from 1997 to 2005. After Katrina, it jumped to $21. So they are hopefully in a much better position now that they own. And it looks like they thrive to this day.
The better news is: the new coffeehouse that went into the building above failed pretty quickly. This building (with massive square footage that can get premium rates) has been empty for many months if not a year. And I'm glad for it.
disgusting:
This building once housed one of the best coffee houses in the city, Rue de la Course. I spent lots and lots of time here. It's on Magazine between 8th and 9th Street. The story that was told to me is that the owners of this building either would not renew the lease to Rue de la Course or made rent prohibitively expensive, forcing them out. Then the building's owner leased it to a friend who put in another coffee shop. Rue de la Course is was a beautiful, beautiful space. The new shop (as you see in the next two pics) was the tackiest, most visually offensive food/beverage business in the city. I never went inside the place once this opened. They always had huge, ugly, plastic banners and signs hanging outside, just puking all over this lovely building.The good news is: Rue's owners, Debra Dunn and Jerry Roppolo purchased a space directly across the street. Retail rent on Magazine street went from 12-$16 / sq. ft. from 1997 to 2005. After Katrina, it jumped to $21. So they are hopefully in a much better position now that they own. And it looks like they thrive to this day.
The better news is: the new coffeehouse that went into the building above failed pretty quickly. This building (with massive square footage that can get premium rates) has been empty for many months if not a year. And I'm glad for it.
disgusting:
This one was taken through a window, so there is a reflection in which you can see the new Rue de la Course. See if you can make out the coffee bean sticker on the back wall:
Though I'm not afraid to play tourist and take loads and loads of pictures of the city (and did the same when I lived there), I don't think I'll ever have the cajones to take pictures inside of a place while people are eating or shopping. So I had to steal pictures from the interweb-thingy to show you what a typical Rue De La Course looks like. Only one of the pictures below is from the Magazine St. Location, but they all look this good.
Rue de la Course Magazine street.
This chalk board and tin work were replaced by yellow walls (more like egg-bread colored) and the coffee bean sticker mural.
This chalk board and tin work were replaced by yellow walls (more like egg-bread colored) and the coffee bean sticker mural.
Rue De La Course on S. Carrollton was a bank (then a Kinko's).
And now it's breath-taking.
Rue De La Course on S. Carrollton
Rue De La Course on S. Carrollton
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LOVE LOVE LOVE. Rue is the BEST. Long live Jerry!
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