Explore the real-world places that appear in A Hall of Mirrors by Robert Stone. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include French Quarter, WUSA Radio Station, Magazine Street, Mississippi River Levee, Bourbon Street Bars and 3 more.
Royal Street & Bourbon Street area — Rheinhardt's wanderings
Rheinhardt, the alcoholic drifter and former musician, wanders through the French Quarter's narrow streets seeking work and meaning. He encounters the seedy underbelly of New Orleans nightlife, visiting bars and meeting characters who embody the city's moral decay. The Quarter serves as a backdrop for his spiritual and physical deterioration.
The French Quarter, or Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans, laid out in the 1720s. By the 1960s when Stone wrote the novel, it had become a mix of historic architecture, tourist attractions, and bohemian culture.
The French Quarter remains New Orleans' most famous district, filled with historic buildings, restaurants, bars, and street performers. It continues to attract both tourists and those seeking an alternative lifestyle.
Visit: French Quarter Historic District (historic site)
CBD area — Rheinhardt's workplace
Rheinhardt finds work at WUSA, a right-wing radio station where he becomes a disc jockey and announcer. The station serves as the novel's central symbol of media manipulation and political extremism. Here, Rheinhardt encounters the station's fascist politics and becomes complicit in spreading hatred and propaganda through his broadcasts.
New Orleans has been home to numerous radio stations since the 1920s. During the 1960s, many AM stations carried strong political programming, reflecting the era's social and political tensions.
The Central Business District continues to house media companies and broadcasting facilities. Many historic radio stations have moved or merged, but the area remains a center for communications businesses.
Uptown corridor — Geraldine's world
Geraldine, Rheinhardt's girlfriend, lives along Magazine Street in Uptown New Orleans. This area represents a different social stratum from the French Quarter, where middle-class aspirations clash with the city's underlying corruption. Geraldine struggles with her own demons while trying to maintain respectability in this neighborhood.
Magazine Street has long been a major commercial and residential thoroughfare in New Orleans, running from the French Quarter to Audubon Park. In the 1960s, it was lined with shops, restaurants, and modest homes.
Magazine Street is now one of New Orleans' premier shopping and dining destinations, stretching for six miles through several neighborhoods with antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants.
Visit: Magazine Street (landmark)
Riverfront — Symbolic boundary
The Mississippi River serves as a powerful symbolic presence throughout the novel, representing both escape and entrapment. Characters often find themselves drawn to the levee, contemplating the river's flow while grappling with their own stagnant lives. The river embodies the novel's themes of moral drift and the inability to find solid ground.
The Mississippi River has been central to New Orleans' identity since the city's founding. The levee system was built to protect the below-sea-level city from flooding, creating a physical barrier between the city and the river.
The Mississippi River remains vital to New Orleans' economy and culture. The Moonwalk and other riverfront areas are popular tourist destinations offering views of the river and city skyline.
Visit: Mississippi Riverfront (park)
French Quarter nightlife district
Rheinhardt frequents various bars along Bourbon Street, drowning his sorrows and philosophical confusion in alcohol. These establishments serve as confessionals where he encounters other lost souls and engages in rambling conversations about life's meaninglessness. The bars represent both refuge and trap for the novel's damaged characters.
Bourbon Street became New Orleans' premier entertainment district in the early 20th century, known for jazz clubs, bars, and nightlife. By the 1960s, it had developed its reputation as a place where social norms were relaxed.
Bourbon Street remains famous worldwide for its bars, clubs, and party atmosphere. While touristy, it still maintains some of the edgy character that Stone depicted in his novel.
Visit: Bourbon Street (landmark)
Tulane Avenue — Medical setting
Charity Hospital appears in the novel as a symbol of institutional failure and urban decay. Characters end up here in various states of physical and mental distress, reflecting the novel's themes of social breakdown. The hospital represents the inadequate safety net for society's casualties.
Charity Hospital was founded in 1736 and served as the primary public hospital for New Orleans' indigent population for centuries. It was a teaching hospital associated with Tulane and LSU medical schools.
The original Charity Hospital was severely damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and never reopened. A new University Medical Center New Orleans opened nearby in 2015 to serve the same population.
Jackson Square — Spiritual center
The cathedral serves as a spiritual touchstone in the novel, representing traditional faith and moral order in contrast to the moral chaos surrounding the characters. Rheinhardt and other characters occasionally seek solace or meaning within its walls, though they struggle to connect with its message of redemption.
St. Louis Cathedral has been the seat of the Archdiocese of New Orleans since 1793. The current building, completed in the 1850s, is the third church on this site and dominates Jackson Square.
St. Louis Cathedral remains an active Catholic church and major tourist attraction. It offers tours and continues to serve as a spiritual center for the French Quarter community.
Visit: St. Louis Cathedral (historic site)
French Quarter heart — Public gathering place
Jackson Square serves as a central meeting ground where characters observe the human parade of New Orleans life. Street performers, tourists, and locals mingle here while the protagonists contemplate the social dynamics and moral questions that drive the novel's plot.
Originally called Place d'Armes, Jackson Square has been the heart of New Orleans since the city's founding. It was renamed in 1851 to honor Andrew Jackson and redesigned as a public park.
Jackson Square remains one of New Orleans' most photographed locations, surrounded by historic buildings and filled with street artists, musicians, and fortune tellers drawing crowds of tourists and locals.
Visit: Jackson Square (park)
More by Robert Stone: All Robert Stone books
More novels set in New Orleans: Browse all New Orleans books on Map A Story
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