St. Charles Tavern (NOLA) Closes for Good

Friend,

This news make me choleric. As you well may remember, SCT made #8 in TulaneLSU's Top 10 signs of St. Charles Ave, lakeside.

8. St. Charles Tavern




1433 St. Charles Avenue. The current building was built around the turn of the last century and for many years served as an apartment building with rooms for rent. A well known tailor also had a shop there in the 1920s.

The current owners claim this restaurant has been operated since 1917. I can find evidence that it existed in 1936, owned and operated by Alvin Peter Miranne. It would appear to some that Miranne was the frontman and the real owner was actually New Orleans mobster boss Sylvester “Silver Dollar Sam” Carollo, who lived in a cheap home on Marais before advancing to a modest house on D’Abadie near the Fairgrounds.

What is perhaps most remarkable about Carollo’s tenure as king of the New Orleans Mafia was how, apart from an arrest report or two, he evaded the New Orleans press. Methinks he had more than one good friend on the Times Picayune editorial board. Just months before he died of a heart attack in 1970, he returned to New Orleans from Sicily, allegedly to help Marcello calm some tensions in the family. Uncle went to the funeral at Lamana-Panno-Fallo, and I will leave it at that. I will say one thing more, though. Each time my phone rings with an unknown number, I assume the worst and that they have found me. One day, they probably will, and you will not hear from me again.

Carollo and Marcello gave definition to being thick as thieves. Their friendship and bond were forged in the blood of others, bootlegging, and gambling. There may well have been some illegal slots at the back of the St. Charles Tavern in the 40s. Central City and Garden District degenerates did not always want to make the trek to Old Jefferson where the gambling halls were legion.

Carollo was deported in 1947 for narcotic trafficking in 1938. Before leaving, Carollo transferred ownership of the Tavern to someone I cannot name. This owner opened a second location on Prytania, before putting the original on the block in 1959 for $150,000. Whoever bought it was unable or unwilling to change the Tavern’s seedy ways. It was a well known hangout for bookies and drug pushers in the 60s. It was sold again in 1986. The current owners have owned it since 2009.

In talking about the Mafia, one always wonders how much greater America would be if the Mafia did not introduce to and normalize so many illicit drugs with mainstream America. That descendants of Puritans now gleefully partake in these dangerous mind altering substances is appalling and gut wrenching. The Mafia’s lasting impact in American culture is this pollution by drugs, and any attempt to romanticize or glorify the Mafia should be met with stark resistance.

The history of this place and its entanglement with alcohol are reasons I have never entered its doors. But that does not prevent me from appreciating its signage. Its horse, driver, and carriage give a warm and bucolic English feel to the Avenue, which is otherwise missing.


Yours,
TulaneLSU

...it IS a great sign

Place was gross though

You are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you for your service TL.

quote:

---

Each time my phone rings with an unknown number, I assume the worst and that they have found me. One day, they probably will, and you will not hear from me again

---

When this happens to me I just assume it’s time to refinance my vehicle.

That's a damn shame. Many a very early-post party breakfast was had there.

Downvoted