In the middle of the go-go 1980s, a local entrepreneur and known Anglophile built an expensive, English-style luxury hotel in what some of his own investors thought was an unlikely location: the corner of Gravier and Tchoupitoulas streets -- hard by this city's famed French Quarter.
This visionary -- or fool, no one knew which at the time -- was James Coleman Jr., a local man who was the honorary British consul in New Orleans. His creation was the Windsor Court Hotel.
If your familiarity with five-star hotels is fleeting, mull on this for a moment: Before the hotel even opened, Mr. Coleman dispatched a noted art expert to travel throughout England, Europe and North America to assemble the paintings and antiques that adorn the hotel. The bill for what came to be known as the Windsor Court Collection came to around $6 million. If you stay in the Windsor Court you can see them all during the 4 p.m. Saturday art tour and lecture.
Let's get something out of the way here. Money can be an unseemingly subject, but one mustn't sweep things under the rug:
The Windsor Court is not inexpensive. It's a place to stay, frankly, if one is well off. Or if one hits the jackpot at the new Harrah's casino that's going in across the street. Or if one is celebrating an important event. Visiting New Orleans on your 20th wedding anniversary would qualify. Or New Orleans on your 40th birthday. New Orleans on a weekday. New Orleans on a lark. But I get carried away.
Suites go from about $225 per night during non-peak weekdays to about $375 or $400 on a sold-out weekend. Each one is elegant, has about 800 square feet of space, and a private balcony or panoramic view. A few single rooms are available at somewhat lower prices.
If that's too steep, do yourself a favor anyway: Next time you visit the French Quarter, trek the two blocks across Canal Street to the Windsor Court's high tea.
Tea was Mr. Coleman's idea, too. (He's no longer associated with the hotel. His partners and investors lost patience a little too soon; they bought him out in 1990 and sold the hotel themselves just before it began turning a profit.) But back in 1984, as he and his father and brother and sister were sitting in the huge lobby, Mr. Coleman asked: What do we do with this room?
"Jimmy said, 'Let's do tea, just like they do in England,' " relates John Cardona, director of marketing. "They all said, 'You're crazy! Who would want to have tea in New Orleans?' Well, it's the only thing we've never changed. We've been serving Earl Grey for 10 years."
Mr. Cardona is being modest. High tea at the Windsor Court is known for its crust-free cucumber sandwiches, smoked salmon canapes, caviar, chocolate-covered strawberries, pecan tarts and a vast variety of teas, including my favorite, their own blend of cinnamon.
Freshly baked scones are adorned with raspberry preserves, currant jam and cream. During winter weekends, reservations must be made weeks in advance.
Jimmy Coleman would never admit this, Anglophile that he is, but in one obvious respect, the Windsor Court has an advantage over the hotels of England: It's in New Orleans. Consequently, it must serve superb food.
For six years, this challenge was met by chef Kevin Graham, once ranked by Food and Wine magazine as one of the nation's 10 best chefs. This year, he's moved a couple of blocks away, to a new restaurant that bears his name. If you go, try the succulent "cross-cultural" appetizers that are a testament to human creativity.
In just 11 years of operation, the Windsor Court has accumulated a lifetime of stories, some apocryphal, some true. At the opening in 1984, New Orleans was host of the World's Fair, and a goodly number of celebrities were on hand.
George Burns is thought to have smoked the first cigar at the hotel. Ginger Rogers is said to have been the first to try out the new dance floor.
Princess Anne of England had to be whisked away from the microphone as she began the opening gala remarks because the zipper on her dress burst.
That was nothing compared to the time in November 1992 that a candle caused a fire in the hotel that burned a painting. The painting was one of Windsor Castle, the inspiration for the hotel. Even more eerie, the real Windsor Castle burned that night.
Over the years, the Windsor Court has made all the top lists and rankings coveted by five-star hotels. But despite the art and the beauty of the Windsor Court, the hotel staff is probably its top asset.
It's a staff that enters the food and drink preferences of repeat customers in a computer, but tries never to forget the human touch, either. Rock star Rod Stewart loves Kit Kat bars, and one night as he checked in, one of the desk clerks realized they were out. A bellman was dispatched quickly to an all-night drugstore for a case of the candy bars.
When I wondered aloud what other kinds of sweets Rod Stewart liked in his room, the staff responded with English reticence, not New Orleans gossip. But I was in town in 1988 when Bob and Liddy Dole shared a Windsor Court penthouse suite the night before each of them thought George Bush was going to tap him (or her) to be his running mate.
I don't care if it's an English-style hotel; that must have been a room filled with some wonderful American-style sexual tension.