They told me to take a streetcar named Desire, and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at—Elysian Fields!
I studied “A Streetcar Called Desire”, even in Australia. I don't remember it being set in New Orleans (but I do remember Marlon Brando, I do remember it being hot). I certainly didn't know there is an actual neighborhood here called Desire, and a streetcar line that once ended there.
The actual address of Stella and Stanley Kowalski's apartment, 642 Elysian Fields, is in the Marigny Triangle - a neighboring area just down river from the French Quarter. Poorer, more working class than the property magnates, plantation owners and freed colored people of commerce then living in the Quarter.
I wonder why Tennessee Williams chose this real life address when he could have just made one up - the building is not two stories, and the famed balcony is not there. But the address sure is lyrical. Kudos to the original founders and town planners of New Orleans.
Hey, little girl, is your daddy home?
Did he go away and leave you all alone?
I got a bad desire
Oh, oh, oh... I’m on fire