Streetcar Art

Several Girls First “emerging artists” aided internationally renowned British artist Mackenzie Thorpe in creating this lovely streetcar entitled, “Lest We Forget – Girls First Hearts.”  The sponsor for this streetcar is Thorpe’s local representation, Angela King Gallery.  This streetcar is located on the Chartres Street side of Jackson Square in front of the St. Louis Cathedral uptown side of Jackson Square in front of the Pontalba Building.

St. Dominic Church in Lakeview is the home of another streetcar of Luis Colmenares, “Lakeview Special.”  It is located at 775 Harrison Avenue, and is sponsored by Al Petrie Investor & Media Relations, L.L.C.

Frankie De Melo‘s “My New Orleans” is wonderfully inspired by Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.”  Northwest Mutual is the sponsor to this Metairie-located streetcar.  You can find it at 111 Veterans Boulevard.

Jordan Ivanov‘s streetcar, “Carnival Time,” is located at 639 Loyola Avenue (the Entergy Building) and is proudly sponsored by Accenture.

Jason Chaffin’s New Orleans School Bus. Sponsored by Entergy and SAIC, it’s located in the Entergy building lobby at 639 Loyola. It’s really nifty. Video shot from a St. Charles streetcar is played on the sides of the car, giving you a taste of what a real ride is like. The front video shows different drivers, two are shown below. Streetcar and traffic sounds also play, adding more realism.

This whimsical feathered car, “Midnight Blues,” is at 1615 Poydras St. in front of the Freeport McMoRan building. Sponsored by Office Tours at 1615 Poydras, it’s by Yvette Creel, whose other work can be found at her appropriately named website, www.yvettecreel.com.

After seeing Lizano’s streetcar sketches and seeing her work in progress again and again, Paulette Lizano‘s streetcar, “Perley’s Barnyard Party,” is complete and has been placed in its location, Canal Place One at 365 Canal Street.  AT&T is the proud sponsor of this streetcar. The streetcar has 5,274 separate pieces of glass!  Lizano has named each animal with an AT&T theme: for example, Bundles the bunny, Ringo the rooster, Trace the mouse, and Voz the blue bird.  This streetcar twinkles in the sunlight and is truly dynamic.

Ann Strub’s “Hot Pepper Express” (the plaque also credits Charles Bendzans and Bobby Zabler as having executed the design) is located at the Hotel Intercontinental/Pan American Life building at the corner of Poydras and St. Charles (601 Poydras Street). It’s spicily-sponsored by the Gustaf Westfeldt Mcllhenny Family Foundation.

The Mcllhenny family have made Tabasco sauce at Avery Island near New Iberia since 1868. If you’ve never been to Avery Island, it’s a treat. The island (really a salt dome poking out of the marsh) is a garden paradise, full of wildlife and beautiful plants. I remember going as a kid and can still smell the pungent pepper mash that hits you as you walk into the factory.

While wilting in the August sun visiting the Freret Street Market today (it was nice; but I’m waiting until October to go back) we spotted this nifty streetcar in one of the booths. We snapped a picture just in time; a very nice lady (with good taste) had just purchased it and it was being taken down for wrapping.

The artist is RK Rowell. You can see the rest of his southern fried blues art at Vigoboom.com. Caroline Lamb is the streetcar’s proud new owner.

Laxman K.‘s “We the People of New Orleans” is the second streetcar to don the entrance of the First Bank & Trust Tower at 909 Poydras Street.  Dr. Kewalramani’s lovely streetcar is sponsored by Hertz Investment Group, which owns and manages the prestigious First Bank & Trust Tower.