The Pontalba Apartments

Of the mid-1920s New Orleans salons, perhaps none was so elegant (if short-lived) than that of Sherwood Anderson. Somerset Maugham, Edna St. Vincent Millay, Carl Sandburg, William Faulkner (whom Anderson mentored) and others congregated in the Pontalba parlor overlooking Jackson Square. It is likely that some of the works which appeared in the Double Dealer originated here. This literary journal, founded to improve the reputation of the oft-maligned Southern culture, published many eminent writers (like Hemingway, who later satirized Anderson mercilessly). It succeeded in bringing acclaim to the emergent American modernist literary movement and gave rise to the Southern Review. For more on the history (and excellent scandals) of the Pontalba Apartments, visit the 1850 House (523 St. Ann St., along the other side of Jackson Square).