Special-Interest Sightseeing

Anne Rice's New Orleans

Long before Sookie Stackhouse, before anyone cared whether you were Team Edward or Team Jacob, there was Lestat -- and the originator of the modern vampire era, author Anne Rice. Love her or loathe her, Anne Rice has been one of New Orleans's biggest boosters. Though her popularity may have peaked, visitors still come here because they have read her books, or simply because they're obsessed Twihards mining the eerie ore. Rice writes seductive descriptions of her hometown that are actually quite accurate -- minus the vampires, witches, and ghosts, of course -- and cites many real locales.

Anne Rice (née O'Brien) was born on October 4, 1941, in New Orleans to Irish parents. When she was 16, her family moved to Texas, where she met her husband, the late poet Stan Rice. They married in 1961 and moved to the San Francisco area, resettling in New Orleans in the 1980s after Interview with the Vampire exploded (she has since moved to California). Rice remains something of a legendary doyenne of fang fiction. You can find signed copies of her books at the Garden District Book Shop, 2727 Prytania St..

Anne Rice in the French Quarter

The romance of the French Quarter seems to attract vampires, who found easy pickin's in its dark corners in the days before electricity.

St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, 400 Basin St.: A tomb (empty, of course) with Louis the vampire's name is located here in the Vampire Chronicle books, and Louis occasionally goes to sit on it and brood. Rumor has it that Rice has purchased a tomb here for her eventual use.

Gallier House, 1132 Royal St.: This famously preserved museum is said by Rice scholars to be the model for the house on Rue Royal that was home to vampires Lestat and Louis in Interview with the Vampire. Also

The stretch of 700 to 900 Royal St.: Quite a few of the exteriors for the Interview with the Vampire movie were filmed along this stretch -- though the set decorators had to labor long to erase all traces of the 20th century, covering the streets in mud. Imagine how folks who live around here felt about it.

Madame John's Legacy, 632 Dumaine St.: In the Interview with the Vampire movie, this is the house from which the caskets are being carried as Brad Pitt's voice-over describes Lestat and the little vampire Claudia going out on the town: "An infant prodigy with a lust for killing that matched his own. Together, they finished off whole families." Also

Café du Monde, 800 Decatur St.: Lestat visits this restaurant in The Tale of the Body Thief, and Michael and Rowan snack here in The Witching Hour. Also

Court of Two Sisters, 613 Royal St.: Characters in The Witching Hour dine here. Also

Galatoire's, 209 Bourbon St.: Characters from several books, including The Witching Hour, dine here as well. Also

Hotel Monteleone, 214 Royal St.: This was Aaron Lightner's house in The Witching Hour. Also

Marsoudet-Caruso House, 1519 Esplanade Ave.: A few blocks north of the French Quarter at the intersection of Esplanade and Claiborne avenues, this is the house where Louis smells the scent of old death in the Interview with the Vampire movie and finds the moldering Lestat shrinking from helicopters in a musty chair.

Anne Rice in the Garden District

Rice's books have also featured the Garden District and the area around it, where she and her family used to live in and own properties.

Coliseum Theater, 1233 Coliseum St.: In the film version of Interview with the Vampire, this is the theater where Louis sees Tequila Sunrise.

Pontchartrain Hotel, 2031 St. Charles St.: This upscale hotel and its restaurant, the Caribbean Room (now closed), appear in The Witching Hour.

The old Mercedes dealership (now a different property), 2001 St. Charles Ave.: This building was at the center of an amusing local dispute. The vampire Lestat disappeared from this world through an image of himself in the window of this building. Lestat (wink, wink -- could it be Copeland himself?) then mysteriously returned to this realm and bought an ad of his own, congratulating Copeland for his "stroke of genius."

St. Alphonsus Church, 2030 Constance St.: This small (now deconsecrated) church with a stunning interior was where Anne's parents married and she was baptized and received communion. She also took Alphonsus as her confirmation name. It is a setting in The Witching Hour.

1239 First St.: This historic property was for many years Anne Rice's primary residence. The Mayfair house in The Witching Hour matches her home in almost every detail, including address.

2301 and 2524 St. Charles Ave.: Rice's childhood homes.

Commander's Palace, 1403 Washington Ave.: Rice readers will recognize this restaurant as a favorite of the Mayfair family.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1: This centerpiece of the Garden District is also a frequent setting in Rice's work, especially as a roaming ground for Lestat and Claudia in Interview with the Vampire and as the graveyard for the Mayfairs in The Witching Hour.

Treme, True & False

In 2010, HBO launched the drama Treme to stellar reviews, intense local curiosity, and a predictable dollop of cynicism. But mostly (given the producers' widely publicized intent to "get it right"), New Orleans collectively tuned in to see itself portrayed to the nation and debate whether the show in fact nailed the authenticity.

Not surprisingly, opinions differed. But all agreed on two things: 1) It did a better job than The Big Easy; and 2) the show's location manager had been awfully busy.

Treme revolves around a collection of musicians and others finding their footing in the gritty months following Katrina. Many of them are from the historic Faubourg Treme neighborhood. This complex community just north of the French Quarter, considered the oldest African-American neighborhood in America, was the 19th-century home to the city's free people of color and has for generations been a massively productive musical enclave. It remains a leading incubator of talent and a remarkable keeper of cultural flames. The show was filmed in many locations both in and outside the real Treme. These are a few worth visiting:

Treme the Neighborhood

St. Augustine Church -- Considered the first Catholic church to integrate African-Americans and whites, it was and remains the beating heart of the Treme neighborhood.

Backstreet Cultural Museum -- A modest but essential collection of the cultural traditions unique to its neighborhood: brass bands, Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, social aid and pleasure clubs, and so on.

New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture and History -- Protecting and promoting African-American history, it's set in a lovely 1820s Creole villa (1418 Governor Nicholls St.; tel. 504/566-1136; www.neworleansmuseums.com; Wed-Sat 11am-4pm [subject to change; call ahead]; $7 adults, $5 students and seniors, $3 children 2-12).

Lil' Dizzy's -- This local diner is a gathering place for movers, shakers, neighbors, and nobodies, as much for the neighborhood lowdown as for the divine trout Baquet.

Congo Square -- Slaves and free people of color gathered here to drum, dance, and practice voodoo rituals and eventually, many believe, give birth to jazz.

Treme, the Show

Bayona -- The show's Jeanette Desautel is roughly modeled on Bayona's famed chef/owner Susan Spicer. Restaurant Patois is the actual stand-in for the fictional "Desautel's."

Vaughan's -- Already a character, Kermit Ruffins plays himself on the series. He plays his trumpet at Vaughan's most Thursdays.

Angelo Brocato's Ice Cream Parlor -- Creighton Bernette, played by John Goodman, expresses his longing for the post-storm return of the lemon ice at this beloved 100-year-old institution.

Bacchanal -- Jeannette's pop-up restaurant at Bacchanal gets rained out, but the scruffy wine bar with the killer food and lushly unkempt garden lives on, thankfully (600 Poland Ave., Bywater; tel. 504/948-9111; www.bacchanalwine.com).

Tee-Eva's -- The pie and praline queen whose shop has been a fixture on Magazine Street for years had a cameo on Treme as a bus passenger (5201 Magazine St.; tel. 504/899-8350; www.tee-evapralines.com).

The New Orleans African American Museum now offers a 2-hour walking tour of key points within the Faubourg Treme, at 10:30am each Saturday (weather permitting). The year 2012 is the Treme's bicentennial, an ideal time to tour this historic neighborhood. The tour includes museum admission and costs $23 adults, $19 students and seniors, $12 kids 2 to 12.