Pontchartrain Hotel

Pontchartrain Hotel

The St. Charles streetcar clangs past the front steps of the Pontchartrain Hotel on its way through the Garden District, the same line Tennessee Williams rode home to the room where he worked on A Streetcar Named Desire. Built in 1927 as a luxury apartment building before its 1940s conversion to a hotel, the Pontchartrain has hosted Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, The Doors, and two US presidents through its 106 rooms and 13 floors. A 2016 renovation kept the original bones and added a rooftop with French Quarter views, plus four distinct venues: the jazz-driven Bayou Bar, the ten-seat community table at Silver Whistle Café, the Jack Rose dining rooms, and Hot Tin up top. This is a hotel for readers of Tennessee Williams and streetcar-line wanderers, people who want Bourbon Street a short ride away rather than outside their window, and who don't mind paying for the privilege: a $250 deposit, parking at $55.69 a day, no cash accepted. It is less suited to anyone chasing a French Quarter balcony or travelling on a shoestring. Rooms carry minibars, bathrobes, and free Wi-Fi as standard, and pets are welcome for a $75 fee, two per room. What no comparable Garden District address can claim is this exact literary footnote, a working manuscript once drafted between these walls, on the line that still runs past the door. Check in from 4pm, out by 11, and let the streetcar do the rest of the work. On the Garden District's streetcar line, the Pontchartrain is where Tennessee Williams once worked on A Streetcar Named Desire, with four venues from the jazz-filled Bayou Bar to a rooftop overlooking the French Quarter. Expect a $250 deposit and no cash at check-in.