Pedestrians walk past the closed Palace Cafe by Dickie Brennan & Co. in the 600 block of Canal Street in New Orleans, Wednesday, July 9, 2025. Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune
Palace Café shuttering may be a sign of Canal Street’s upswing rather than decline
NEW ORLEANS — The possible permanent closure of the Palace Café on lower Canal Street has stirred familiar lamentations about the decline of the mile-long New Orleans commercial strip that was once lauded as “the Champs-Élysées of the South.”
But boosters of the historic New Orleans boulevard noted that the closing was, ironically, over soaring rent and property valuation, an indication more of the improving commercial prospects of the boulevard than its deterioration.
The creole bistro’s closing — which might yet be reversed — also comes amid several public and private initiatives that are aimed at elevating Canal Street, which already has seen some patchy signs of recovering its former glory.