July 2024

The site of the deadliest fire in New Orleans history was designated historic landmark status this week, while the theft of the plaque commemorating the 32 lives lost has spurred a drive to replace it.

– by Frank Perez

The New Orleans Central Business District Historic District Landmarks Commission voted recently (July 10, 2024) to unanimously designate 135 – 139 Chartres Street a historic landmark. This building was the site of the Up Stairs Lounge, a gay bar on the edge of the French Quarter, where a 1973 arson fire claimed thirty-two lives.  

The fire at the Up Stairs Lounge remains the deadliest fire in New Orleans history and until the 2016 Pulse Nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida in 2016, it was the deadliest crime against LGBT+ people in the nation’s history.

At the hearing, I testified regarding the arson, speaking in my role as the Executive Director of the LGBT+ Archives Project of Louisiana. I noted the fire was a seminal moment in the city’s queer history. 

I also spoke of the fire’s legacy, acknowledging survivor Stewart Butler’s lifetime of LGBT+ activism. Mary Nell Nolan-Wheatley, Advocacy Coordinator and Public Policy Research Director of the Preservation Resource Center, also spoke in favor of the proposed designation. No one spoke against the proposal.

I submitted the application to have the building declared a historic landmark by the city in 2016. The application languished for eight years – which is not uncommon for many applications – but was expedited recently after a memorial plaque commemorating the victims of the fire was stolen.

In 2003 – the 30th anniversary of the fire – the plaque was set into  the sidewalk in front of the bar’s entrance because at that time, the owner of the building did not want a plaque on the building. The plaque became the focal point of annual commemoration ceremonies on June 24, the anniversary of the fire.

On April 30, 2024, someone stole the bronze sidewalk plaque commemorating the Up Stairs Lounge arson. The crime was caught on video and the New Orleans Police Department has identified the thief and issued an arrest warrant. The perpetrator’s name has not been released and he has not been apprehended.

The video does not show how the perpetrator pried up the nearly 50-pound plaque, which measured 32 by 32 inches, but it does show him lifting it off the sidewalk, depositing it in a large trash bin, and then walking off camera pushing the bin. Police, and others, assume the plaque was taken so it could be sold for scrap metal.

In response to the theft, a group of community leaders formed the Up Stairs Lounge Memorial Plaque Replacement Committee, with the blessing of the original 2003 Up Stairs memorial plaque group, who shared insights about how they got the initial memorial plaque placed following an eight-year struggle, from 1995 to 2003.

Members of the new committee include Lonnie Cheramie, Pastor of the Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans; Jimmy Gale, board member of the Crescent City Leathermen; myself, representing the LGBT+ Archives Project; Robert W. Fieseler, author of Tinderbox; Ryan Leitner, a queer monument-ology scholar; trans activist Courtney Sharp, who represents the 2003 committee, and trans advocate Blu DiMarco. 

A new plaque, which will cost between $5,500.00 and $6,000.00 has been designed but not yet made. The Replacement Committee is hoping to raise $20,000.00 for not only the cost of the plaque, but also for insurance, future maintenance, and future commemoration ceremonies. 

The Metropolitan Community Church of New Orleans, which lost its pastor, associate pastor, and one-third of its congregation in the fire, is serving as the fiscal agent for this effort. 

Donations may be made here. 

Whatever funds are left over after initial costs will be held in escrow by the Crescent City Leathermen, a local group that organizes the annual commemorative ceremonies. $7,438.00 has been raised so far.

The Replacement Committee is planning on officially dedicating the plaque in June, 2025, during Pride Month on or near the fire’s anniversary (June 24). This date is subject to change depending on fundraising efforts. Also affecting the placement date is the owner of the building’s permission to place it on the wall, which has not yet been secured.

For more information on the Up Stairs Lounge, click here.