New Orleans leather bar stayed open through lashing by Hurricane Francine

When Hurricane Francine struck New Orleans, flooding the city, an oasis of camaraderie and leather goods existed amid the storm.

Phoenix BarLocated just northeast of the French Quarter in the Crescent City’s Marigny neighborhood, the restaurant has a longstanding tradition of staying open 24/7, even during the brutal tropical storms that frequently hit New Orleans.

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Owner Tracy Desroches said Phoenix will remain open unless a mandatory evacuation order is issued.

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Francine is the third tropical storm to hit the city this year.

“We stayed open until we were forced to evacuate,” Desroches said of Katrina, the most powerful hurricane on record, in 2005. Thankfully, the rising waters stopped just a block away from the bar, which is on a two-way boulevard called Elysian Fields that runs seven blocks south to the Mississippi River.

New Orleans was expected to see the worst damage from Francine on Wednesday night, with up to six inches of rain, flash flooding and hurricane-force winds expected, according to the National Hurricane Center, which made landfall as a Category 2 storm.

Desroches is The Times-Picayune Phoenix will remain open with or without electricity and will offer its two traditional happy hours as usual, from 6am to 10am and 3pm to 7pm.

The Phoenix had plenty of ice and if the lights went out, the bar would have been lit by candles, Desroches said.

Bar stools will be available for anyone wanting to weather the storm, he added.

“We do it because there are a lot of people who live alone and they don’t want to be alone in the dark,” he said.

The bar was ready to host one of its weekend club socials in the backyard, hosted by regulars such as The Lords of Leather, NOLA Pups and Handlers, Renegade Bears, Knights d’Orleans, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Crescent City Leathermen and Rouxgaroux Rugby.

The owner said there was a good turnout for his weekly billiards tournament on Tuesday, but the business lost power for about an hour as the storm moved north over the Gulf of Mexico.

Desroches said he’s confident that business will be steady this week, despite all the difficulties, and as long as the store remains open, the power shortage doesn’t seem to affect business.

“When the electricity goes off, people usually stay,” he said.

Regarding the last big storm and power outage, Desroches recalled, “It was 97 degrees in the bar and people were still drinking. People have been so supportive of us.”

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