Your hosts are Joanne, Dennis and Layne Hilton. They are pioneers in this "Bed & Breakfast / Urban Inn" concept in New Orleans. Following a trip to London, more than forty years ago, they devised a plan to spearhead the development of an area in New Orleans, similar to Russel Square in London, where visitors could walk from place to place to find available, reasonable B&B accommodations. Prytania Street, ¾ mile from the French Quarter, in the Lower Garden District was ideal - a convenient and picturesque area zoned for commercial but very residential in appearance. They bought the ST. CHARLES GUEST HOUSE at 1748 Prytania, an old Maritime boarding house which had been closed for a few years. They gussied it up, built a pool, and spread the word: B&B was alive & well in New Orleans. The message took hold. There are now about a dozen B&B's in a six block radius, not to mention scores of others all around town.

 

Dennis is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, with a Master's Degree in Psychiatric Social Work from Louisiana State University. He is at the Guest House full-time and available for free over the counter advice, ad hoc!

 

Joanne, a graduate of Louisiana State University with a B.A. in Literature, handles the business part of the enterprise, after having spent a long career in Television Advertising. 

 

Their daughter Layne, a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, and Emory University School of Law, handles them both.