Monday Memories...

I haven't posted any old photos in a while, so it's time to continue...

Morning Call Coffee Stand in the French Market, circa 1925:

For decades, MC was the "other" coffee stand in the French Market. The competition was Cafe du Monde, which has been at the Jackson Square edge of the French Market since the Civil War. In 1974, Morning Call left the Quarter and moved to 17th Street in Metairie, across from Lakeside Mall, where they've been ever since. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, there was a huge push to build a "riverfront expressway" that would have ripped out all wharves along the river and ran I-10 in that area, similar to how I-55 runs along the Mississippi at St. Louis. Then-mayor of New Orleans Moon Landrieu vehemently opposed the concept of running I-10 along the river, and he is credited by many with saving the character and feel of the Quarter. Of course, "saving" the Quarter came at the expense of destroying N. Claiborne Avenue as a main boulevard, but that's another story.

This photo shows a typical evening at Morning Call. Like many evenings, the place would be jam-packed and you'd have to wait outside for a table. Once inside, you'd order your cafe au lait and beignets, get some to go.

When Morning Call moved to Metairie, they took the big neon coffee-cup sign as well as all the fixtures from the interior and moved them to the new location. It's hard to visualize an old Quarter establishment when you're across from a shopping mall, but if you sit at the counter and isolate the rest of your surroundings, it's not all that different a look than the 1920s or 1930s.

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