New Orleans, Louisiana
Dew Drop Inn Hotel & Lounge
A legendary 1939 R&B music venue in Central City, restored into a 17-room boutique hotel and lounge.
Open · March 2024
The Dew Drop Inn, a New Orleans R&B landmark founded in 1939 and shuttered for decades after Hurricane Katrina, reopened on March 1, 2024 as a 17-room boutique hotel built around its restored music venue, where Little Richard and Ray Charles once performed.
The essentials
- Group
- Independent
- Opening
- March 2024
- Rooms & suites
- 17 rooms
- Segment
- Boutique / Lifestyle
- Designer
- NC
- Entry rate
- From $130
The place
2836 LaSalle Street, in the Central City neighborhood.
The concept
Frank Painia opened the Dew Drop Inn in 1939, first as a barbershop with refreshments, then as a nightclub, bar and hotel that became one of the most influential venues in New Orleans R&B history — Joe Turner, Dinah Washington, Ray Charles, James Brown, Sam Cooke and Little Richard (who wrote a song about the venue) all played its 'Groove Room' dancehall, and Painia discovered local talents including Allen Toussaint and Earl King. In 1952, Painia was arrested alongside actor Zachary Scott for serving an integrated audience, in defiance of segregation laws he went on to challenge. The venue declined in the mid-1960s and was further damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005; restoration began in 2015, the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2022, and it reopened as a combined hotel, lounge and music venue on March 1, 2024. Each of the 17 rooms was reconfigured with a private bath and named for a figure tied to the venue's history, including Ray Charles and Irma Thomas.
Dining & wellness
Two bars, a restaurant serving New Orleans cuisine, an on-site museum, a hotel pool known as The Haven, and the restored 410-person 'Groove Room' music venue that continues to host live shows.
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