616 Ursuline Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70116
29.960796,-90.061305
One of my favorite songs of all times is The House of the Rising Sun. Originally written as early as the sixteenth century, this folk ballad is said to represent a Soho brothel. There have been many versions of this great classic sang in various genres. The song is most known by the 1964 version recorded by Eric Burton and The Animals, tweaked to incorporate what many feel is a New Orleans brothel. Along with other songs such as St. James Infirmary, every time I hear this song, I instantly have the urge to take a drive to New Orleans. Anytime I am in the city and happen to visit one of the many piano bars in the area, I make it a habit to drop a few bucks on the table and request this quintessential New Orleans song.
For years, there has been a huge debate as to whether or not there was an actual establishment in New Orleans known as the House of the Rising Sun. Many feel the location was imaginary while others feel it was a brothel sometime during the 1800’s. A short lived Conti St. hotel in the 1820’s, a building known as the "Rising Sun Hall" in the Carrollton neighborhood and a saloon on the 100 block of Decatur Street have all been rumored places of this mysterious house of ill repute. Bizarre New Orleans, a guide book on New Orleans, asserts that the real house was at 1614 Esplanade Avenue between 1862 and 1874 and was purportedly named for its madam, Marianne LeSoleil Levant whose name translates from French as the rising sun.
