Explore the real-world places that appear in Dinner at Antoine's by Frances Parkinson Keyes. 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 Antoine's Restaurant, French Quarter Streets, Lalande Family Residence, New Orleans Police Station, St. Charles Avenue and 7 more.
713 Rue St. Louis — The famous dinner and crime scene
Orson Foxworth hosts his elaborate dinner party in Antoine's exclusive 1840 Room to celebrate his return to New Orleans and present his niece for Carnival season. During the festivities, Odile Lalande accidentally spills red wine down her white dress, a seemingly innocent moment that becomes ominous when she is found dead thirty hours later. The restaurant's elegant atmosphere contrasts sharply with the tragedy that follows.
Founded in 1840 by Antoine Alciatore, Antoine's is America's oldest family-run restaurant. The 1840 Room, named for the restaurant's founding year, was one of several private dining rooms where New Orleans society held their most important gatherings.
Antoine's continues to operate as a fine dining establishment, still owned by the same family. The 1840 Room remains available for private parties, and the restaurant maintains many of its historic traditions and decor from the 1940s era.
Visit: Antoine's Restaurant (restaurant)
Vieux Carré — The heart of Creole society
The French Quarter serves as the backdrop for much of the novel's action, where the Lalande family lives and where Orson Foxworth reconnects with New Orleans society. The narrow streets and historic buildings witness the investigation into Odile's mysterious death, as detectives and family members move between the grand homes and intimate courtyards of Creole New Orleans.
The French Quarter, or Vieux Carré, was the original city of New Orleans, founded in 1718. By the 1940s, it remained the center of old Creole society, with many families tracing their roots back generations in the same historic buildings.
The French Quarter is now New Orleans' most famous tourist destination, though many historic buildings and the basic street layout remain unchanged from the 1940s. It's a National Historic Landmark district.
Visit: French Quarter Historic District (historic site)
Royal Street — Amelie and Odile's Creole mansion
The elegant Lalande family home on Royal Street is where Amelie Lalande lives with her daughter Odile. It's here that Odile returns after the dinner at Antoine's, still wearing her wine-stained white dress. The house becomes central to the investigation when Odile is found dead in her room with a mysterious pistol and an ambiguous suicide note that investigators doubt is genuine.
Royal Street was lined with the grand mansions of New Orleans' Creole aristocracy. These homes, built in the 18th and 19th centuries, featured distinctive French Colonial and Spanish Colonial architecture with elaborate ironwork balconies and hidden courtyards.
Royal Street remains one of the French Quarter's most prestigious addresses, lined with antique shops, art galleries, and beautifully preserved historic homes. Many of the original Creole mansions still stand.
Rampart Street — Investigation headquarters
The police station becomes the nerve center of the investigation into Odile Lalande's death. Detectives work to prove that what appears to be suicide is actually murder, examining the strange pistol found beside her body and analyzing the ambiguous note. The investigation challenges the initial assumptions about the young woman's death.
The New Orleans Police Department in the 1940s operated from several stations throughout the city. The main station near the French Quarter handled cases involving the city's prominent families and would have been familiar with the complex social dynamics of Creole society.
The New Orleans Police Department now operates from modern facilities throughout the city. The historic police buildings from the 1940s have largely been replaced or converted to other uses.
Garden District — Orson Foxworth's world
St. Charles Avenue represents the world that Orson Foxworth has returned to, the grand mansions and tree-lined boulevards of New Orleans society. This is where he reconnects with old friends and rekindles his romance with Amelie Lalande, setting the stage for the tragic events that follow the dinner party.
St. Charles Avenue became the premier address for New Orleans' American elite in the 19th century, lined with magnificent mansions and served by one of the world's oldest streetcar lines, which began operation in 1835.
St. Charles Avenue remains one of America's most beautiful residential streets. The historic streetcar still runs, and many of the grand mansions from the 1940s period are preserved as private homes or museums.
Visit: St. Charles Streetcar Line (tour)
Canal Street to St. Charles Avenue — Carnival season backdrop
The Carnival season provides the festive backdrop for the novel's events. Orson Foxworth's dinner party is specifically planned to present his niece during this social season, and the elaborate costumes, parades, and parties of Mardi Gras contrast ironically with the dark mystery that unfolds after Odile's death.
Mardi Gras in New Orleans dates back to the 1730s, but the modern parade system began in 1857. By the 1940s, the elaborate parades along Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue were central to the city's social calendar and economy.
The Mardi Gras parade routes remain largely unchanged from the 1940s. Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue still host the major parades, drawing millions of visitors annually to experience this centuries-old tradition.
Visit: Mardi Gras World (museum)
French Quarter — Heart of old New Orleans
Jackson Square serves as a central gathering place in the novel's New Orleans, where characters move between the cathedral, the Cabildo, and the surrounding buildings that house the city's elite. The square represents the enduring traditions and Catholic faith that underpin Creole society, elements that make Odile's apparent suicide even more shocking to the community.
Originally called Place d'Armes, Jackson Square was the heart of colonial New Orleans. The St. Louis Cathedral, flanked by the Cabildo and Presbytère, dominated the square and served as the center of religious and civic life for the Creole community.
Jackson Square remains the heart of the French Quarter, surrounded by the same historic buildings that existed in the 1940s. The cathedral, Cabildo, and Presbytère are now museums and active religious sites open to the public.
Visit: Jackson Square (historic site)
Jackson Square — Symbol of Louisiana law
The Cabildo, seat of Spanish colonial government and later Louisiana's legal system, symbolizes the complex legal questions surrounding Odile's death. The building represents the intersection of law, history, and justice that the investigators must navigate as they work to prove that the apparent suicide was actually murder.
The Cabildo was built in the 1790s as the seat of Spanish colonial government. After the Louisiana Purchase, it became a courthouse and government building. The Louisiana Purchase was signed here in 1803.
The Cabildo is now a museum operated by the Louisiana State Museum, featuring exhibits on Louisiana history including the period when the novel is set.
Visit: The Cabildo (museum)
800 Decatur Street — French Market coffee stand
Café du Monde represents the everyday rhythms of New Orleans life that continue even as the mystery unfolds. Characters might meet here for coffee and beignets while discussing the case, providing a contrast to the formal dinner at Antoine's and reflecting the more casual side of the city's social fabric.
Café du Monde opened in 1862 in the French Market, serving café au lait and beignets to generations of New Orleanians. By the 1940s, it was already an established institution and gathering place for locals and visitors alike.
Café du Monde continues to operate 24 hours a day, serving the same coffee and beignets recipe it has used since 1862. It remains one of New Orleans' most famous and unchanged establishments.
Visit: Café du Monde (restaurant)
Magazine Street area — American sector elite
The Garden District mansions represent the American elite of New Orleans, the social circle that Orson Foxworth moves in upon his return to the city. These grand homes with their elaborate gardens provide the setting for the social gatherings and relationships that form the backdrop to the mystery of Odile's death.
The Garden District was developed in the 1840s by wealthy Americans who wanted to build outside the Creole-dominated French Quarter. The area became known for its elaborate Greek Revival and Italianate mansions surrounded by lush gardens.
The Garden District remains one of New Orleans' most prestigious neighborhoods, with many of the original mansions preserved as private homes. It's a popular destination for architectural tours and sightseeing.
Visit: Garden District Historic District (historic site)
Neutral ground between quarters
Canal Street serves as the main thoroughfare connecting the French Quarter with the American sector, representing the division and connection between the Creole and American communities that both Orson Foxworth and the Lalande family navigate. The street witnesses the movement of characters as the investigation into Odile's death unfolds.
Canal Street was the dividing line between the original Creole city and the American sector. By the 1940s, it was New Orleans' premier shopping and business street, lined with department stores, hotels, and theaters.
Canal Street remains a major commercial thoroughfare and is home to the streetcar lines that connect downtown to the Garden District and beyond. Many of the grand buildings from the 1940s era still stand.
Visit: Canal Street Streetcar (tour)
Magazine Street — Uptown gathering place
Audubon Park provides a peaceful setting where characters might walk and reflect on the tragic events surrounding Odile's death. The park's lagoons and oak trees offer a contemplative space away from the intensity of the investigation, where Orson Foxworth and others can process the shock of the young woman's mysterious death.
Audubon Park was created for the 1884 World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. By the 1940s, it had become a beloved recreational space for uptown New Orleans, featuring lagoons, walking paths, and ancient live oak trees.
Audubon Park remains a popular destination for New Orleanians and visitors, featuring the same lagoons and oak trees from the 1940s, along with the Audubon Zoo and golf course.
Visit: Audubon Park (park)
More by Frances Parkinson Keyes: All Frances Parkinson Keyes books
More novels set in New Orleans: Browse all New Orleans books on Map A Story
Other nearby maps: The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke locations map · City of Refuge by Tom Piazza locations map · Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson locations map · Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg locations map