Ace Hotel New Orleans honors city's queens

New Orleans is arguably the queen of the South and yes, I’m biased, because it’s my home town. But let’s look at the facts:

1.    The city has more tiaras, scepters and royal trains (the kind that follow a dress) than any city in America. Just check out the daily newspapers right now. The pages are filled with debutantes, queens and kings of every Carnival krewe imaginable.

2.    The Mississippi River hugs the city in a giant crescent, which could double as a crown.  

3.    And the city’s full of queens — with titles both bestowed upon and self-inflicted — regardless of Mardi Gras.

Ace Hotel New Orleans honors the latter with a “Queens of New Orleans” calendar to be available in every guest room. The 2017 calendar designed by YEP Design Works  is “a colorful walkabout through the city’s secret royalty, complete with portraits of local queens, unique Louisiana holidays and phases of the moon,” according to the hotel. For instance, February honors Irma Thomas, the “Soul Queen of New Orleans,” and October “Big Freedia, the Queen Diva.”

Wanna bring one home or order online? They cost $30 and a portion of the proceeds going to New Orleans' Youth Empowerment Project.

Cheré Dastugue Coen is a food and travel writer living in South Louisiana who is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire and the author of “Forest Hill, Louisiana: A Bloom Town History,” “Haunted Lafayette, Louisiana” and “Exploring Cajun Country” and co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.