Jennifer Coolidge on Her Love Affair With New Orleans

“I fell in appreciate with New Year’s Eve a ten years back, when a couple of girlfriends and I spontaneously went to a location identified as the Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. I’ve never been a huge New Year’s person—I generally find that it’s sort of strike-or-overlook. This celebration was seeking the similar, especially due to the fact all the places to eat around have been complete. But then I obtained a random telephone simply call that somebody had canceled their reservation and to arrive by appropriate absent. 

We had pleasurable consuming wine and taking pleasure in Creole-encouraged hors d’oeuvres, but what I’ll hardly ever neglect is what took place ideal right after we left. Some guy was handing out these enormous bunches of silver balloons, huge plenty of that it just about felt like they could lift us. We tied them to the handlebars of our bicycles and discovered ourselves, at two in the early morning, driving down a road in the Yard District—past grand historic mansions with ornate iron railings and remarkable gardens—with these big bunches of balloons bobbing in the wind. It was a completely unplanned practical experience that felt like a scene in a motion picture: a instant of bliss that I would like absolutely everyone could have. 

And that’s what New Orleans is all about, which is why I finished up shopping for a dwelling there—you can not have a prepare and finish up doing a little something truly attention-grabbing and fun. I’ve had nights where by a wedding party took about the bar I was at for the duration of a rainstorm and we all finished up dancing, soaking wet and amongst strangers, into the night time jointly. Or where by a random male started off playing the piano at a lounge and a further lady started off singing and it wound up remaining some of the best music I have ever listened to. I imply, look—I do not know a whole lot of cities exactly where I would fairly be out on my bicycle on New Year’s Eve than at a magnificent get together.” —As informed to Scott Bay

Jennifer Coolidge stars in season 2 of The White Lotus, airing October 30 on HBO. 

This report appeared in the November 2022 situation of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine in this article.