Beyond Bourbon Street - An Insider's Guide To New Orleans

NOTE: Today’s discussion involves some gruesome descriptions of what happened on the night of Sunday, June 24, 1973. You may wish to listen to this one when your little ones are not around. On June 24, 1973 an arsonist set fire to a gay bar in New Orleans called the Up Stairs Lounge. Within moments fire engulfed the bar, and ultimately claimed the lives of 32 people. It was the largest massacre of LGBTQ individuals in the United States until the Pulse Nightclub shooting in 2016. My guests today are Robert “Bobby” Fieseler, and Clayton Delery. Bobby authored a new book about the fire entitled, Tinderbox, the Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation. Clayton Delery is a native of Metairie, LA just outside of New Orleans. Clayton’s 2015 book about the fire, The Upstairs Lounge Arson: 32 Deaths in a Gay Bar, was recognized by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities with a Book of the Year Award. Join us as we talk about the fire, about life in New Orleans during that time, and a