In 1970, Little Richard released his tribute song, “The Dew Drop Inn,” insisting that’s where “you meet all your fine friends.” Begun as a barbershop run by African-American entrepreneur Frank Painia, The Dew Drop Inn then blossomed into a restaurant and hotel featuring the “swankiest” night club in New Orleans from 1939 until 1972.
It was a center of Black life in the city and one of the spots on the Southern performance circuit for touring acts and audiences alike. Rock-n-roll and R&B icons and innovators like Ray Charles, James Booker, Earl King, Irma Thomas, and Allen Toussaint did stints at “the Drop,” solidifying its reputation as a space for musicians to hone their sound until the early morning hours. Painia and his club nurtured New Orleans’ musicians and performers’ careers, offering housing and a space to thrive and organize. According to Mac Rebennack, better known as Dr. John: “It was like the musicians’ union hall, but it wasn’t.”
Drag queen singers Patsy Vidalia and Bobby Marchan emceed legendary variety shows, and the space became known for its unforgettable gender and genre-bending entertainment. The unsanitized version of Little Richard’s early hit, “Tutti Frutti,” was born here. Gender and sexual norms were regularly played for laughs and titillation with tales of their epic gay Halloween balls and Vaudeville-style sensations still making the rounds today.
Painia defied rigid Jim Crow racial boundaries by occasionally allowing white spectators in the club. Subsequent police raids on the bar drove Painia to fight the constitutionality of the segregation laws of the city in the mid-1960s, and he won, successfully securing an injunction against the police. After the club closed, it operated as an inn but then eventually stood empty after Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, it was designated a historic landmark but remains shuttered, with its signature marquee testifying to its undeniably lit past.
To Learn More
- Glenn C. Altschuler, All Shook Up: How Rock ‘n’ Roll Changed America (Oxford University Press, 2003).
- Thomasine Marion Bartlett, Vintage Drag: Female Impersonators Performing Resistance in Cold War New Orleans (Tulane University Press, 2004).
- John Broven, Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans (Pelican, 1995).
- Jeff Hannusch, I Hear You Knockin’: The Sound of New Orleans Rhythm and Blues (Swallow Publications, 1985).
Nearby Sites of Interest
A.L. Davis Park
2600 Lasalle St. New Orleans, LA 70113
Named for the first Black city councilman, the park is a center of Black vernacular culture. In particular, this is a key parading center for the Mardi Gras Indians every spring.
St. Joseph Cemetery
2220 Washington Ave. New Orleans, LA 70113
St. Joseph Cemetery was established in 1854 and is where many German families who settled in the Irish Channel chose to bury their loved ones.
Lafayette Cemetery No. 2
2110 Washington Ave. New Orleans, LA 70113
In 1865, a portion of the cemetery along Sixth Street was designated “for the occupancy of the colored population.” Contained within are a pair of tombs for the Young Men’s Olympian Jr. Benevolent Association, founded in 1884, which provided health and burial insurance for ex-slaves.