A Street Tour Named Desire/Confederacy of Cruisers Bike Tours

01/03/2025

For those wondering, we are doing fine.

The initial shock was jarring, but we can mourn death and celebrate life at the same time...that is what our Jazz funeral culture is all about.

I speak only for myself and Danny, other New Orleanians may vary, but we were glad to get right back on our bikes and share with visitors what makes our city special to us.

The customers checked to make sure we were OK to roll, and we wanted to make sure, despite everything, the families who were here got to enjoy our city as much as possible, that is what hosts do. Leave everyone feeling good.

This seems to come from the anger of a single person, He struck our city because he wanted to spread his anger where he thought it would hurt the most...we won't let that be the case.

All we can offer the world is less anger and more joy, that can solve a lot.

10/14/2024

Our shop at 634 Elysian Fields, second building from the corner. We had the sweet front porch back then before it was turned into a barber shop. I will always remember the barbershop from it 's last decade before Katrina, the owner/barber was a bit ornery in his later days, and there was no sign with the business name, just a handwritten one that said "No New Customers" A solid advertising slogan that we chose not to keep.

If you zoom in on the photo, you can see a bicycle behind the bus. That bike is the great great grandmother of one of our bikes, I am pretty sure!

Good morning everyone!

10/10/2024

I'd like to start giving shout outs to the small businesses that make me happy to walk into, the ones that represent all I love abut the city.A lot of good folks are going through slow times here through no lack of awesomeness on their part.

Queen Trini Lisa's does not even have a taggable page. It Trinidadian and if you ever took a tour with us and I didn't talk about our Carribbean roots, that is a strike against me (although I always do, so no strikes). The food and people fit our culture because we share the same, going back hundreds of years.

The food is awesome, and every dish fresh prepared. It is not a place for those in a hurry, It is small with a small menu, vegan and meat options. I don't need to review the place or write about the food, the internet is filled with it, google will take care of that.

I was last there with my 80 year old parents and 6 year old child about 2 1/2 years ago. Funny enough, we sat at the same table, each of us in the same seats and ordered almost the same meals.

Queen Trini Lisa's daughter was there both times, her grandson was the waiter, it's a family thing.

Queen Trini's daughter remembered us after our one visit 30 months ago. Remembered by daughters hair was waist length. Remembered my hair was a different color.

They gave Edie stickers, complimented me on my takeaway box folding skills.

That is a New Orleans experience. And, if you ahven't bothered to check, the food is definitely amazing.

Serving Trinbagonian Island Soul Food to the Northen Most Caribbean City

10/08/2024

If any customers are leaving Florida for safer directions, it is rare we can offer New Orleans as one.

As most everyone who has ridden with me knows, we live in a shotgun and have no privacy, but if you are making it this way and need any help at all, the company phone number is my personal number, and as we have been through this with others helping us, we will do all we can for you.

It takes a lot for me to take a hurricane seriously, Milton is starting to look like a lot.

10/05/2024

We have been loving our rebrand and the Louisiana fall weather (it may be down to 82 today!). The sunsets have been amazing and the Sunday Street parades are in full swing.

As anyone who has ever taken a ride with us knows, we always have one pedal firmly in the past, so we will never give up Confederacy of Cruisers, but we do really enjoy being a Street Tour Named Desire.

We are a few years behind in getting reviews for the modern Trip Advisor which separates reviews by which tour was taken, and to make the new brand sustainable, we are asking for a minute of your time...just share the love we have for you and you have for New Orleans about the tour you took with us. It doesn't matter when or if you have before, anything will help.

In news that really makes me happy, they took off the stupid real estate sign that was covering up the beautiful art. That was a cold 2 years and we do not handle cold well.

Thanks everyone, we do this not just because it is the only thing we know how to do, but also for y'all and we want to continue forever,

Jeff and Danny,

https://www.tripadvisor.com/UserReviewEdit-g60864-d1059866-A_Street_Tour_Named_Desire_Confederacy_of_Cruisers_Bike_Tours-New_Orleans_Louisiana.html

08/28/2024

We started a blog.

I realized that mostly really smart, well spoken, high brow folks were the ones who write about New Orleans literature.

Maybe the view from the low brow was due.

The first sentence of a Streetcar named Desire: "They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields”She looks around, holding a paper scrap that says 632 Elysian Fields, and seeing such squalor, she can't believe the...

08/26/2024

It took years of planning.

OK, it took a few years of enjoying the summer swelter, the cool fall breezes, carnival seasons, and spring bike rides and then a few seconds of just finally deciding.

We don't lie when we say we move slowly down here,

We flew in the worlds finest sign maker and rebrander, and luckily had a bag of my child's poster paper handy, and we got it done.

So we are still here, but under a new name...because, as I told late Tennessee Williams late one night in some forgotten French Quarter bar, you can always depend on the kindness of strangers.

11/29/2020

Survival is on a lot of minds in New Orleans. We went from ground zero of the epidemic in it's earliest days, with our company losing some good friends, to the city that shut it down fasted and fullest, even avoiding the most recent national spike until the last few days because, luckily as a city, we care about each other.

Survival of our friends and our own businesses are on our mind also, survival of our mental well being and survival of the people who still have no jobs in a city who's economy depends on visitors like most of all.

Many people who have done a culinary your with us know our love for Loretta, she has always been in an inspiration and we love to tell her story while sharing her unique and tasty family recipes...she is a survivor...she came through a Victor in her recent cancer battle and here is a great newspaper story of survival as a purveyor of local sweets...getting limped in with Commanders place in a story is quite a food feat...Enjoy...

The café tables were empty and the display cases were barren at the Loretta’s Authentic Pralines on North Rampart Street. But in back, Loretta Harrison and her crew had the

11/13/2020

Good morning Friends of Confederacy of Cruisers...

Comment on potential names below, please...

While you know who we are and what we stand for, you know who our friends and mentors are, and you root for our survival through these Covid times, you do because you are our friends.

There are strangers that don't want to know that Confederacy of Cruisers is named after the greatest book about New Orleans ever written, Confederacy of Dunces, and want to assume we are a racist pro South group. Considering we are the only bike tour to visit people in the Lower Ninth Ward to share stories, that is silly, but that is the world we live in and we understand and will adjust. Thriving in post Covid times for our employees and families is our priority,

Plus new beginnings are fun.

We have a few new names we like and are tossing them out for your consideration...

Fully Dressed Tours , like our po' boys that are overstuffed and full of flavor, so our our rides

Street Tour Named Desire

Bike Tour Named Named Desire

Spoke' N Word Tours (or Spoke' N ###xx)

Or anything better you may have.

I am glad you have memories with the name that started us based on the book that shaped my life in this city, and we appreciate any help...

What would grab you if you did not know us and were curious about a company based on the best name?

Thanks,

Jeff

11/02/2020

There was a Day of the Dead celebration at the Back Street Cultural museum for those we lost this year, including one of of my New Orleans mentors,Ronald Lewis, who some of you met through his own backyard museum,
the House of Damce and Feathers.

That's the Treme Brass band in the background, the Nortsode Skull and Bones Gang played drums and my toddler dances on my shoulders not understanding that it was all for people she will never get to meet but will know because they helped shape me.

Confederacy of Cruisers is open again...our few customers have enjoyed us immensely because we are lent up with stories that we need to let free.

Everything is done safely during these Covid times and we even have an abbreviated culinary tour available.

Hoping we can share with you just like I am trying to share with my daughter how we all are what we are because the older generation of Nee Orleans helped make us this way.

Thanks as always for your support,

Jeff

06/15/2020

3 months has gone by faster than I can imagine.

I am blessed that I have a job that I have completely missed,

New Orleans is slowly opening again and so are we, but there is a huge difference between being open and having customers to serve. Besides the week 12 years ago when I put up our first website, our calendar has never been empty like this. We aren’t expecting a quick return and don’t even know what “normal” will be, but we are excited to see you all again sometime, we will be ready. Each time a customer has had to cancel a tour from a changed flight, sickness, weather or hangover, we say that ‘we will always be here in the future when you come back’, because we know that we always will and everyone does come back.

Returning customers like y'all are a huge part of what keeps us going.

I’ve been making the most of our empty city and exploring areas I haven’t in a while, the natural beauty, the architecture of a deserted French Quarter, biking with little traffic, getting my mind wrapped around the future. Confederacy of Cruisers staff won a biking contest for most miles biked in April with Lara, Danny and Andrew putting major distances, and me biking slow and not very far as I prefer.

It’s been almost as nice as real life.

Please tell your friends we are back. We will be masked and with a fresh perspective of the city as we have seen history happen here the last 3 months that tour guides will be talking about in 100 years on flying bikes, but we have fresh memories of how incredibly and cooperatively the city handled it and what all that cooperation means for our future.

If you never put that review of your awesome tour on TripAdvisor, it would be wonderful if you can take the time and do it now, anything that keeps us going over the hump till more people come and visit, is a great favor.

As lagniappe (for me as much as you) I’ll throw in fresh photos of my daughter enjoying what we had here. Everyone who has done a tour with me the last 2 years has had photos of her forced upon you mid tour. I’ve missed that too.