Statistical Fiction

New Orleans Hotels on the Parade Route

Posted on February 15, 2012

Mardi Gras route
The Mardi Gras Survival Guide and New Orleans Hotels on the Parade Route, Courtesy of NewOrleans.com

It’s your first time in New Orleans for Mardi Gras, you say? Oh, dear. It’s likely that you’ll be overwhelmed by the spectacle, even if you’ve seen many celebrations in many other countries before. After all, everywhere you look there are parades, costumes, beads being hurled, and all other manner of unfamiliar customs. You know, like women taking their shirts off at a moment’s notice in exchange for small trinkets. Yes, hide the children (or at least be prepared to shield their eyes at the speed of light!)

Jokes aside, New Orleans is a fantastic destination for adults and children alike, and your experience of celebrating carnival here can vary quite a bit depending on where you camp out. For instance, the Mardi Gras experience in the uptown area of New Orleans, near Napoleon Avenue is considered more of a family-friendly spot to watch the parades, and it’s where locals like to hang out as well. At the start of the parade on Napoleon, parade goers can expect light to moderate throws, as most float riders are still too sober to be generous. If you can find a cute baby, you may be able to convince riders to throw you a stuffed animal or two. A little past Napoleon on St. Charles is where most younger locals catch the parade. These include college preps and high school kids who think they are in college. Drink of choice: Red Bull.

If you want to catch the parade in this area, New Orleans hotels such as the Royal St. Charles and Avenue Plaza Resort offer all the charm one would expect from the sound of the names, but are also conveniently located within walking distance of the routes of the most spectacular parades, such as Bacchus and Orpheus.

Venture further down the parade route, between Louisiana and Jackson, and you’ll come across a more family oriented area. Young local families and young adults will occupy most of the area. College freshman who are too afraid to get drunk in front of their visiting parents will carry around a flask, usually filled with Captain Morgan. In this area, float riders primarily throw to their friends and family, in order to save throws for later in the parade.

Between Jackson and Lee Circle are a variety of locals. Hipsters, food cart vendors, and grumpy bike commuters who didn’t leave work early enough to avoid the congestion. The locals are relaxed and enjoying locally brewed Abita beer. The float riders begin to panic that they didn’t buy enough throws to last until the end of the parade, and they get conservative. New Orleans hotels on this part of the parade route are close to the action. Avenue Plaza Resort and the Prytania Park Hotel can offer an area of refuge for bathroom breaks and to rest your feet.

If you prefer to be situated closer to downtown so you can easily access uptown and downtown on foot, The Hotel Modern (formerly Hotel Le Cirque) and Maison St. Charles are excellent choices for New Orleans hotels. All the parades you want to see will be within walking distance, and it’s an ideal way to situate yourself near all the excitement without jumping feet first into the middle of the French Quarter, just on the edge of crazy town. While this area will mostly be tourists exploring the area, you’ll still see a few courageous locals sporting their costumes and dancing in the streets. You can also explore the city’s central business district and enjoy food and cocktails at some fantastic spots. Float riders have now become so drunk, that they lose their inhibitions and begin tossing throws overboard.

But wait — you say you came here because you couldn’t resist the call of Bourbon Street on Mardi Gras day? Well, Lord help you, but it’ll be interesting at the very least. As long as you don’t value sleep, you can stay right in the middle of the action at well-known New Orleans hotels like Royal Sonesta, Hotel Monteleone and W French Quarter. You won’t have to walk a few blocks to find the action if you stay here, as it’s more likely happening right outside the hotel, or possibly on your neighboring balconies. Be warned that this is the heart of the Mardi Gras debauchery, so be ready for anything.

Whether you’re in need of New Orleans hotels uptown or downtown for your first time celebrating Mardi Gras, or you do it every year, there’s plenty to choose from. Just make sure you come prepared with a stomach of iron if you plan to keep pace with the locals!

For more information on New Orleans hotels on the Parade Route, please see information below:

Avenue Plaza Resort
2111 Saint Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Hotel Monteleone
214 Royal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Maison St. Charles
1319 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Royal Sonesta
300 Bourbon St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Royal St. Charles
135 Saint Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

The Hotel Modern
936 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

W French Quarter
316 Chartres St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Inn on Bourbon
541 Bourbon St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Prince Conti
830 Conti St.
New Orleans, LA 70112
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

W
333 Poydras St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Westin New Orleans Canal Place
100 Rue Iberville
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Best Western
3636 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70115
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Doubletree
300 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Sheraton
500 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Harrah’s Hotel & Casino
8 Canal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

LaFayette Hotel
600 St. Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Hilton Riverside
2 Poydras St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Bourbon Orleans Hotel
717 Orleans St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Hotel Royal
1006 Royal St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Prytania Park Hotel
1525 Prytania St.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Parc St. Charles Hotel
500 Saint Charles Ave.
New Orleans, LA 70130
NewOrleans.com Reservation Hotline: 1-855-639-6756

Tagged new orleans hotels, new orleans hotels on the parade route | 1 Comment

Understanding the Hipster Music Movement

Posted on December 19, 2011

I’ve always loved to discover new music, and I can remember many days spent in the listening station aisles of Tower Records in my city, waiting for a certain station to open up so I could check out an album with a particularly beguiling cover. This was pre-internet days, so really all you had to go on to discover new music was recommendations from friends and interesting CD art.

Of course, times have changed quite a bit. If you listen to the radio, you’ll have lots of Rihanna and Justin Bieber blaring out at you, and you may wonder just what the hell happened to humanity. Maybe you even have Pandora on your computer or iPhone, and you use it to discover new bands from time to time.

But what’s with these skinny, slightly dirty looking people wearing plaid shirts who, when you say, “Hey, I like this band that’s on, who is this?” turn to look at you with an aura of loathing, almost as if you’d announced you have herpes in public, and says, “This is Bon Iver, of course, don’t you KNOW them?”

Staring at your shoes, you feel a bit awkward, as if perhaps there was a quest to find the band the least people knew and you’d failed. Or maybe you thought you’d do some research, rolled onto a well-known website like Stereogum or Pitchfork, and suddenly realized it was a bit like wading out into the ocean and misjudging how deep it actually is 20 feet out. There’s all these fancy words describing albums that you have no idea how to interpret, and you don’t know any of the bands, and oh God, how will you EVER understand music again?

I’m here to let you know that there’s no need to panic. In fact, as much as the current world of indie music seems like a terrifying threshold to cross in which you will either comprehend it or never be cool again, it really isn’t. What makes it that way is the legion of people surrounding it who are determined to appear as if they are cooler than you and everyone else on earth. It’s an annoying movement earmarked by people who have earned the nickname “hipsters” because, in fact, there is no way on earth you could ever know as much as they do, and anything you do know they knew about three months ago anyway.

It’s kind of like “the one upper” — that guy friend every guy has bumped into once who, every time you say something about yourself, they try to say something better. Maybe hipsters aren’t as obvious about it, but don’t ever expect a hipster to hear you out and express enthusiasm over something you discovered. When applied to the music movement, it results in a whole lot of people whose primary job in life is to make you look bad.

To debunk it all, you only need one simple method of attack: realize that it doesn’t matter who knew about a great band first. Instead jam out to whatever you like, whenever you like, and when someone looks at you all sniffy and acts like what you’re loving is yesterday’s news, don’t care. So what if they have every Radiohead album ever made on vinyl (yes, even the limited edition box set!)?

There you go. You just instantly became cooler than a hipster can dream of being.

Tagged hipsters, music, records, vinyl | Leave a comment

60% of hipsters will tell you

Posted on December 19, 2011

Tagged hipsters, music, vinyl | Leave a comment

Mission Statement

Posted on November 15, 2011

Our modern times call for modern measures. In the fast-paced world of constant information exchange, every day we have more to consume and less time to do so. We enjoy quick injections of information, and if looks pretty in the process, all the better. As we continue to evolve, we continue to invent new mediums to communicate in, whether it’s to share statistics or humor (or sometimes, both).

In other words, it’s the age of the infographic.

At Statistical Fiction, we like the idea of absorbing information quickly, and the idea of a great presentation makes our knees quiver. But what if instead of using infographics to communicate numbers in our business lives, we also made use of them to deliver a good laugh? With a tongue-in-cheek view of modern society and a creative vision in tow, we aim to offer an experience for the reader that lets you enjoy a good giggle and effortlessly share that feeling with all your friends, all within the space of a few seconds. No time wasted.

So whether you are the 99%, the 1%, or somewhere in-between, chances are you’re part of a statistic. Why not laugh at yourself? There’s a 98% chance you will, by the way.

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New Orleans Hotels on the Parade Route

Understanding the Hipster Music Movement

60% of hipsters will tell you

Mission Statement

Vennsday Diagram – Mac Owners

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