New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been a vigilant enforcer of the strict rules she has set to fight the pandemic. The city has a positivity rate below 2% and has been the lowest in the state.
But why are bars forced to stop serving alcohol at 11:00 pm? New Orleans is historically a late-night city for both locals and tourists. The highly popular 80s night every Thursday night at One-Eyed Jack’s on Toulouse in the French Quarter did not open until 10:00 pm. The crowd did begin to build until 11:30 pm - midnight, and the party went on past 4:00 am. In the 70s when disco music reigned supreme, today’s Boomers, myself included, often emerged from a night of dancing and drinking in a dark nightclub to be hit with the bright morning sun.
It seems that if some businesses can be opened and serve alcohol past 11:00 pm, then bars should be afforded the same opportunity. Last call at 10:45 pm is devastating to local bars; they should be allowed to serve alcohol past 11:00 pm.
Live music in bars is a key to their success and the nighttime image of the city, and many bars are struggling to provide live music because of the expense of a band without being open late enough to make the night profitable. And many bars have not even attempted to open because of the early limit on alcohol sales.
Through information from a personal contact who specializes in providing taxi service in the late-night and early-morning hours, I know of at least one nightclub that does not even open until midnight, and the party goes all through the early-morning hours. Perhaps there is some unique loophole that allows this to happen, or it could be an example of the Mayor’s selective enforcement.
Mayor Cantrell has a civic and a moral responsibility to enforce her pandemic mandates with equality being paramount in her decision-making. With the numbers of cases, hospitalizations, and the positivity rate all trending down, it seems time for the Mayor to relax some of her strictest rules, including allowing bars to serve alcohol past 11:00 pm.
