Jennifer Coolidge on Her Love Affair With New Orleans

“I fell in enjoy with New Year’s Eve a ten years in the past, when a number of girlfriends and I spontaneously went to a area termed the Commander’s Palace in New Orleans. I’ve by no means been a significant New Year’s person—I generally discover that it can be form of strike-or-pass up. This celebration was hunting the exact same, specially since all the places to eat about ended up total. But then I acquired a random mobile phone contact that anyone experienced canceled their reservation and to occur by correct absent. 

We had enjoyment consuming wine and having fun with Creole-motivated hors d’oeuvres, but what I’ll hardly ever forget about is what occurred ideal right after we remaining. Some person was handing out these significant bunches of silver balloons, huge ample that it pretty much felt like they could lift us. We tied them to the handlebars of our bicycles and located ourselves, at two in the morning, using down a avenue in the Garden District—past grand historic mansions with ornate iron railings and remarkable gardens—with these large bunches of balloons bobbing in the wind. It was a fully unplanned practical experience that felt like a scene in a motion picture: a instant of bliss that I would like absolutely everyone could have. 

And that is what New Orleans is all about, which is why I ended up obtaining a household there—you can not have a system and close up carrying out a thing seriously appealing and enjoyment. I’ve experienced evenings where by a wedding day bash took above the bar I was at all through a rainstorm and we all finished up dancing, soaking damp and among the strangers, into the night time collectively. Or wherever a random person began playing the piano at a lounge and a different girl began singing and it wound up currently being some of the greatest songs I’ve at any time heard. I mean, look—I do not know a good deal of metropolitan areas exactly where I would somewhat be out on my bike on New Year’s Eve than at a fabulous celebration.” —As told to Scott Bay

Jennifer Coolidge stars in season 2 of The White Lotus, airing October 30 on HBO. 

This write-up appeared in the November 2022 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.