Magie Noire Nightclub - 565 Gedney Street
New Jerusalem’s newest hotspot, the Magie Noire Nightclub opened in early 1955 and plans to give the Commercial House and every other night spot in town a run for their money. The club was funded and is operated by Laurence Destrahan, a recent transplant to Massachusetts from his home town of New Orleans. Destrahan spared no expense in creating and staffing this unique nightclub and restaurant. The uniqueness of the “Black Magic” lies in its easy-going atmosphere and the feeling that here one is safe from stifling cultural conservatism. The nightclub is the only place in town where laborers, blacks, women, and foreigners all feel at home.
Early on in life, Destrahan—the youngest scion of a once-prosperous Creole family ruined by the Civil War—realized that he was good for little more than his disarming smile, an unshakably cheery attitude about the future, and an ability to put anybody at ease. His natural disposition makes him the perfect manager; he can always be seen cruising the tables and bar, chatting it up with customers who are having a good time (he calls everyone “friend”), and putting grins on the faces of those who are not smiling. It is Destrahan himself that is responsible for the club's easy-going mood, a man truly without prejudice, malice, or cynicism of any kind. The city fathers had some serious misgivings about such a place being opened in New Jerusalem, but Destrahan easily won them over one by one and got his nightclub.
A center courtyard serves as an open-air dining hall, a collection of tables and chairs surrounded by potted plants and hanging vines. Two sets of staircases lead to the second floor balconies, where there is additional seating. The upper floor also houses the residence of Laurence and his daughter, Katherine. The loggia which faces the courtyard is used for emergency seating, in case of rain. During the winter the courtyard is closed-over at the roof level and movable heaters brought in so that the experience of a New Orleans courtyard nightclub is not spoiled by harsh northeastern weather.
Beer, rum, vodka, and whiskey are the popular choices here, each selling for 40 cents a glass. Wine and classic Vieux Carré beverages—Ramos gin-fizz, Sazarac cocktail, absinthe frappé and absinthe-anisette—cost $1.20. Luke Turner, the Noire’s black bartender, is the skilled mixer of a variety of drinks, as well as an aspiring jazz drummer. The talkative young man has a small bag hanging around his neck; if asked, he says it is a genuine gris-gris, a voodoo good luck charm, to help him get music jobs. Luke aspires to play with the Noire’s house band, the Funky Butts, named after legendary trumpeter Charles “Funky Butt” Bolden.
Another form of entertainment is the keno parlor on the second floor. Keno has not changed much over the years; modern-day lottos are played in a similar manner. A gambler places his wager (the Noire’s minimum bet is 75 cents) and receives a card with the numbers 1 through 80 printed on it. The player can select up to fifteen of the numbers on the card, ticking them off with a pencil. Once the numbers have been chosen, a copy of the card is returned to the “roller,” the leader of the game, who stands on a nearby stage beside a globe filled with numbered balls. The roller then spins the globe, pulling out twenty balls and calling out each number—these are the winning numbers. The player wins an amount of money based on how many of the winning numbers are on his card.
Customers here simply to dine will find that the meals served range from $1.50 to $4.50, and all are excellent. The house specialty is Creole cuisine, and newcomers will be recommended the bouillabaisse (a French fish soup), calas tout chaud (puffy and delicious hot rice cakes), crayfish bisque, gombo zhèbes (gumbo of herbs—a boiled concoction of greens, seasonings, flour, and lard, which tastes much better than it sounds), or red beans.
The Noire employs two full-time cooks, a wait staff of six, and ten busboys (all black, all male). There are a few guards of mixed race (who run the keno parlor), but the most noticeable is Mr. Yun, an enormous Chinaman with a terrible knife scar running under his neck. He received the scar in a fight back in his seafaring days, and it severed his vocal cords. Those who find a way to communicate with him (although he understands spoken English well, he is illiterate in that language) find him a passionate, intelligent man nursing an unrequited love for Laurence’s pretty, bratty daughter, Katherine. A notorious “party girl,” Katherine tends to attach herself to unaccompanied, attractive, male customers and follow them around until they pay her an appropriate amount of attention. This does not go unnoticed—nor is it appreciated—by Mr. Yun.
However, the undeniable mistress of the Magie Noire is Destrahan’s unusually large, black Bombay cat, Madam Laveau. The Madam has the full run of the club and the housing above and can be easily spotted wandering through the restaurant, sitting contentedly on the bandstand enjoying the music, or ambling through the keno parlor. Patrons of the club say that if she stops by your chair or gets up in your lap you are sure to win that night. Madam Laveau has a piercing, intelligent gaze that unsettles some, as it seems as if the cat can understand every word spoken around her. Whenever anyone mentions this to Destrahan he just laughs heartily and says with a winning smile and wink that the reason for this is because the Madam is actually his wife trapped in the form of a cat due to a hoodoo trick gone wrong. Most laugh along with him, but some whisper that they have heard Katherine call the cat Mama rather than Madam.
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