A quiet side street in the CBD is not where most people expect to find a hotel that serves jambu flower cocktails and ceviches under a mural of a New Orleans burlesque legend, but the Selina Catahoula has been doing exactly that since 2016, and the locals found it fast.
The building is a restored 1845 Creole townhouse on Common Street, its bones intact in the form of exposed brick walls, original windows, and a quirky, asymmetric layout that the designers leaned into rather than corrected.
Thirty-five rooms are spread across the property, fresh and airy with flat-screen TVs, Aveda toiletries, and artisanal soap from New Orleans Lip and Soap. There is no closet, which sounds like a quirk until you realize the rooms are designed for people who are not planning to spend much time in them.
The courtyard is where the hotel’s personality fully emerges. Odd Birds, the award-winning Latin-inspired restaurant and bar that now anchors the ground level, fills the space with ceviche, dumplings, and a cocktail menu built heavily around pisco, the Peruvian grape spirit. Looking over all of it is a towering mural of New Orleans burlesque legend Trixie Minx, painted by local artist Walker Babington.
The jambu flower cocktails are worth singling out: jambu is an Amazonian plant traditionally used for toothache relief, and the sensation in a drink lands somewhere between light Novocain and pop rocks. Order one and decide for yourself.
The rooftop terrace sits on the third floor, a wooden-decked, tiki-inflected open-air bar with city views and a genuine neighborhood crowd. It has hosted movie screenings and live music sets, and draws off-work locals as reliably as it draws hotel guests. The vibe is casual and unhurried in a way that larger CBD hotels rarely manage.
Selina Catahoula is at 914 Union Street in the Central Business District, a short walk from the St. Charles streetcar line and the French Quarter. Book at catahoulahotel.com or through Selina’s global network at selina.com.
