NEW ORLEANS — A piece of music history is coming back to life. Friday night, the newly-renovated Dew Drop Inn will kick off a three-day series of shows after being closed for more than 50 years.
Friday morning it held a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by a Deacon John performance. He, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, and Irma Thomas are some of the many legendary artists who got their start or honed their most popular songs at the Dew Drop Inn.
The combination venue, hotel, lounge, and barbershop opened in 1939. In the segregated 50s and 60s, it became a safe haven and necessary tour stop for Black musicians around the country. “It served as a blanket of protection for those individuals,” said Stanley Stewart, cousin of Little Richard. Richard loved the venue so much that he wrote the song “Dew Drop Inn” in its honor.
In 1970 the venue closed. The hotel stayed open until Hurricane Katrina when the building flooded. After that, the Dew Drop Inn sat crumbling on LaSalle Street for years.
In 2022, developer Curtis Doucette Jr. took on the $11 million project. “This has been a long time coming, a long time in the making,” Doucette told WWL Louisiana Friday. He said his goal was to preserve the character of the Dew Drop Inn while making sure it appealed to a modern crowd.
The historic barbershop attached to the building is now a museum and the hotel’s 17 rooms have been redone and named after famous musicians who came through the Inn. “I’m just looking forward to continuing the legacy, the experiences, history– but also creating some history,” he said.
The first full-length show starts at 8 p.m. Friday and will be headlined by Irma Thomas. Festivities will continue through the weekend.
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