Thursday, January 1, 2009

Paradise Vendors

Paradise Vendors
After Ignatius’ failed venture at Levy Pants, he wanders into Paradise Vendors, following his nose into their kitchen. Paradise Vendors is a hot dog vending company that is obviously a parody of the ubiquitous Lucky Dog.
Here is a Lucky Dog cart, on which the Paradise cart was modeled…

Ignatius ends up pushing a hot dog cart through various parts of New Orleans (mostly through the French Quarter), trying to get people to buy hot dogs. On most days, he eats as many as he sells and he rarely returns a profit.
Toole said that Paradise Vendors was located in a commercial building on Poydras St. and it was formerly an auto body repair shop. That would make sense because the building also has garage doors.
On the first day Ignatius took the cart, he promised Mr. Clyde to push it for one hour. He left Paradise Vendors, turned the corner, and parked the cart against a building. There, he prepared himself a hot dog, and ate it. At that moment, George was “wandering up Carondelet” and he tried to buy a hot dog from Ignatius. They got into a little scuffle because Ignatius refused to sell him one. After George left, Ignatius ate another hot dog to ease his frustrations.
Ignatius then continued up Carondelet St., and he turned at the next corner, which is Lafayette Street. He “stopped by the worn granite walls of Gallier Hall to consume two more of the Paradise hot dogs before continuing on the last leg of his journey.” Toole writes that Ignatius “turned the final corner and saw again the PARADISE VENDORS, INC., sign hanging out over the sidewalk of Poydras Street at angle.” That means that he must have turned on St. Charles St. and headed back to Poydras.
What you have there is a one-block circuit going from Poydras, to Carondelet, to Lafayette, to St. Charles, and back to Poydras. The streets are still there, and Gallier Hall is still there, but there are no buildings on Poydras that match Toole’s description. The building that actually sits there today is the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s New Orleans branch.
Here’s a view of the Bank and its parking lot from Poydras Street…

That’s actually sort of a “side shot” because the front of the Federal Reserve Bank is on St. Charles. In that photo, you’re seeing more of the parking lot and the side of the Bank building.
Here’s a photo of the corner of Poydras Street and Carondelet St…


Here’s a photo of Carondelet St., showing the direction Ignatius would have traveled…

Here are a couple photos of Gallier Hall, and one of Lafayette Square, which is just across St. Charles Ave…

Gallier Hall was dedicated in 1853 and was the City Hall for over a century. It is now a reception hall and convention center. It also holds The Ty Tracy Theater.
Now, back to Paradise Vendors…
The exact place where the building should be now houses the Federal Reserve Bank. Groundbreaking for that building took place in 1963 and the building was completed in 1966. On the spot where the Bank building actually sits used to be the Howard annex to City Hall, but I cannot find any reference to the Poydras Street part of the property. Once again, this supports my theory that Confederacy was set in 1962. If Paradise Vendors was actually at that specific location, it would have been demolished to make way for the Federal Reserve Bank and its parking lot.
Here’s a link to the Federal Reserve Bank’s website…
http://www.frbatlanta.org/invoke.cfm?objectid=A3535EDB-1354-11D5-93310020352A7A95&method=display
Incidentally, Lucky Dogs’ headquarters is located at 517 Gravier St., which is only a few blocks away. Their building looks like this…

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