Banksy mural finds home at New Orleans International House

British street artist Banksy helped himself to several outdoor canvases after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005. One of the 16 buildings he “embellished” with his street art in August 2008 (Katrina’s third anniversary) was a warehouse co-owned by hotelier Sean Cummings and actor-author HillHarper. 

The 10-foot by 10-foot artwork known as “Looters,” features two men stealing electronics and pushing the objects through a window from a  grocery shopping cart.

Cummings and Harper hoped to turn the warehouse near the Mississippi River into lofts and restaurants but the city denied their plans. Instead, the duo sold the property but saved the mural which has now found a home at the boutique hotel, the International House, located at 221 Camp Street in New Orleans' Central Business District. 

“Looters” has been restored after a five-year, $50,000 restoration to remove graffiti and paint and installed in the hotel adjacent to a room that celebrates the artist with Banksy quotes, photographs, storytelling and local lore, according to the hotel’s press release.

Only three of the original 17 Banksy murals still exist in New Orleans today.

New Orleans cocktails follow the calendar at Loa

We’re all about cocktails here at Weird South, so when Loa, the unique bar of the boutique International House of New Orleans, sent us a calendar featuring their inspiring and original drinks, we took notice.

The International House exists within a Beaux-Arts historic building in the city’s Central Business District, once home to the nation’s first World Trade Center. But everything about this hotel screams originality. Dreamy, exotic Loa is no different, offering flavors that match the city in which it dwells — whimsical, creative, pushing the limits, even bizarre. Jean Lafitte, one of the cocktails they created for the New Orleans Tricentennial, for instance, incorporated Spanish moss gathered at night from City Park.

Here are seven local New Orleans rituals with Loa cocktails by proprietor Sean Cummings and Loa’s creative director Alan Walter, as provided to us by the hotel’s press release.

Carnival [March] - Inspired by a glorious 19th-century watercolor series by Carlotta Bonnecaze, the first woman and Creole to design Carnival costumes and floats for Mardi Gras, Loa offers Five O’Clock Tea cocktails served by a costume-clad Victorian Jackass. Composed of Aperol, Mate Tea, Ojen, Local Citrus Oleo Saccharum, Prosecco, and Sorrento Lemons, the ritual cocktail provides guests with a more sophisticated take on New Orleans’ most famous holiday.

St. Joseph’s Day [March] - Sourced from Loa’s own Bywater lemon grove, Sorrento Lemons infuse Walter’s Limoncello in honor of the festive Sicilian holiday.

Summer Dress [May through October] - Like all well-bred deep-southern households, International House unwraps and cools down in style for the summer season. At Loa, Walter embraces this changing of season with a refreshing take on a NOLA classic: made with seasonal fruit sourced from lead bartender Nick Inman’s home orchard, a Granita is the adult version of the nostalgic snowball which has rescued New Orleanians from the oppressing heat since the 1930s.

St. John’s Eve [June] - In Vodou, devotees don’t merely pray to the hundreds of vodou spirits, or “Loa,” they literally serve them. So for the holiest day in the Vodou calendar, Walter partners with Sallie Ann Glassman, New Orleans’ most famous Vodou Priestess, to create his annual John’s Way Elixir, in which seven waters maximize the healing properties of ingredients grown by Walter and his select purveyors.

Winter Dress [November through April] - As shadows lengthen and the days become shorter, International House restores its decor from Summer Dress, while Loa honors the changing of season with a fall-focused cocktail, the Chien et Loup, an ode to that time of the day when a dog becomes indistinguishable from a wolf.

All Saints’ All Souls’ Day [November] - In heavily Catholic New Orleans, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day have been observed for centuries through rituals celebrating life over death. At Loa, Walter crafts an ode to the beautiful tradition, pairing Spiced Pecan Milk and Edible Flowers to mimic the whitewashed tombs, yellow chrysanthemums and red coxcombs adorning graveyards across the city, with Mezcal, an ode to the tradition’s Mexican roots. You can read our Weird South post on this here.

Magdalena [December] - To honor the female mysticism and explore the life and legacy of Mary Magdalene, Walter offers a soulful complement to a beautiful art exhibition, serving The Magdalene, a Green Chartreuse-based libation paired with Palestinian and Israeli Almonds, Turmeric, and Dark Chocolate.


Weird, Wild and Wacky South is written by food and travel writer Chere Dastugue Coen, a native of New Orleans who loves an unusual cocktail.

Celebrate St. John's Eve with vodou ceremony

Forget Hollywood. Vodou — or what most people call voodoo — is an authentic religion with origins in Haiti and it’s practiced in New Orleans by Vodou priestess Sallie Ann Glassman. Close to the Summer Solstice, St. John’s Eve on June 23 is celebrated in New Orleans as homage to Catholic St. John the Baptist mixed with Haitian Vodou and other traditions. In New Orleans, St. John’s Eve remains the highest holy day of the Vodou calendar.

In honor of this day, the International House will celebrate St. John’s Eve from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 22 (one day early), at the boutique New Orleans hotel. The occult summer ritual will include a head-washing ceremony by Glassman along with drumming, dancing, chanting, Haitian rum and a bottled elixir.

Most people know that New Orleans has ties to Haitian Vodou. French colonists developed Haiti, once called Saint Domingue. Many French citizens, their slaves and free people of couple fled to New Orleans in the early 19th century when slaves revolted on the island. The faith came with them, and was made famous by a 19th century hairdresser named Marie Laveau, now known as the “Voodoo Queen.” She always honored the biblical St. John in her occult ceremonies, with thousands in attendance held on the banks of Bayou St. John, where she performed head-washings, a ritual akin to baptism that leaves the participant feeling refreshed.

A Maine native but current New Orleans resident, Glassman has been ordained in the Haitian Kreyol tradition and ministers to many from her Island of Salvation Botanica and Bywater temple on St. Claude, across from the St. Roch Market (both worth a visit!). Her altar in International House’s lobby is dedicated to Marie Laveau. The June 22 ceremony will also feature a 10-foot papier mache statue of Marie with billowing white sheers bearing her insignia that dance in the summer breeze. The sheers signify the porous veil between the spiritual and the physical worlds.

            To enhance the occasion, “spirit handler” and barkeep Alan Walter, local artist Britney Penouilh and Glassman have also co-created John’s Way, a limited-edition bottled elixir in a handmade wooden box with custom vodou accessories and charms.  

“I created it as a handmaiden to personal reinvigoration — the new ways and fresh starts in life that we all need,” Walter said in a hotel press release. The bottle contains purifying Florida water; genepi and Boomsma Clooster bitters, both rife with herbs; and liqueurs featuring thyme, honeysuckle, caraway and Spanish moss, among other ingredients.

            “It’s a composite creation,” Walter said. “It should be poured into tiny glasses in ritual fashion. A bottle ought to serve at least 12.”

Bottles of the elixirs will be sold at $100 each.

International House hosts seven local rituals throughout the year as a way of sharing with locals and visitors alike an authentic taste of New Orleans. Hotel officials encourage visitors to bring offerings for Marie of blue and white candles, flowers, hair ribbons, brushes, barrettes and Creole foods, and take a white scarf as a symbol of spiritual rejuvenation and a reminder that we are all spiritual beings on a human journey.

            The St. John’s Eve schedule is as follows:

            6 p.m.: Introduction by Priestess Sallie Ann Glassman

            6:30 p.m.: Toast to St. John by Alan Walter
            7–8 p.m.: Ceremony honoring Marie Laveau by Sallie Ann Glassman

John's Way elixir

Glassman's homage to Marie Laveau at her Island of Salvation Botanica 

Cheré Dastugue Coen is the author of several Louisiana romances under the pen name of Cherie Claire. She is also the co-author of “Magic’s in the Bag: Creating Spellbinding Gris Gris Bags and Sachets.” Write her at cherecoen@gmail.com.