Before the hotel located at 208-210 Dauphine was the Hotel Senator, it was first the Bush Hotel, built and opened c1904. During the 1920s, as the Planters Hotel, it catered primarily to the theater and vaudeville crowds thanks to its proximity to theaters, like the Palace Theater across the street.
The Hotel Senator opened in the French Quarter in 1935 when Charles Reed bought the 125-room hotel and renamed it in honor of Louisiana Senator Huey P. Long. After renovations and remodeling, the hotel attracted a variety of people: sailors, businessmen, musicians, artists, foreign tourists, and even a choir of high school girls. Some stayed just one night, and others took up long-term residence. The coffee shop, bar and restaurant were popular with hotel guests and locals alike.
During WWII, from 1944-47, the United Seamen’s Service leased the Senator – renaming it the USS Senator – to provide housing for merchant seamen who were in between ship assignments. The proximity to the Port of New Orleans made the hotel key in expediting seamen from shore to ship to accommodate vital wartime needs.
Volunteers were essential for the success of the USS Senator. They staffed the canteen, played piano for singalongs, and were willing card-game and dance partners. They transcribed letters home to wives and families, mended clothes, and sometimes just chatted with lonely sailors over coffee.
The most unlikely volunteer was tobacco heiress Doris Duke, dubbed “the richest girl in the world.” Duke, in an act of patriotism, joined the USS staff and was sent to New Orleans for training, manning the front desk and attending social functions with the seamen.
The Senator reopened as a commercial hotel in 1947, but increased competition eventually drove them out of business. In 1966, D H Holmes purchased the Senator with plans to raze it and build a new retail and parking garage in its place, and the hotel closed for good on May 1, 1967.
Before the building could be demolished, it was destroyed by a fire on January 3, 1968. Large crowds gathered to watch over 100 firemen, 18 pumps, and 5 trucks fight the fire. The building was a total loss, but adjoining structures were saved by the efforts of the fire department.
The hotel had one final hurrah the following month on Mardi Gras, when a man costumed as the ruins of the hotel. Six months later, construction started on the structures that are still there today.
