5 minute read
The Drifter, New Orleans
This hotel — a former motel in a traditionally rough part of New Orleans — isn’t afraid to go against the grain. Co-founder Jayson Seidman explains his motivations behind the space and how it reflects his own sense of being a ‘drifter’. Human connection, he says, has to be the most important part of a hotel guest’s experience.
“ I like the grit. I like the contrast,” says serial hotelier Jayson Seidman, who’s made a career out of opening boutique hotels in rough neighbourhoods. Tulane Avenue, the street on which The Drifter is located, was once called Highway 61, connecting New Orleans to Memphis and beyond, and appropriately nicknamed ‘The Blues Highway’. In the 1950s, when the 20-room property was built, it arrived at the peak of America’s motel boom, but when the US Interstate system was introduced in the 1980s, and the new Interstate road bypassed Highway 61, the motel and many other businesses in the locale fell upon tougher times, and the neighbourhood has been widely considered “pretty rough”, as Jayson describes it, ever since. “If you’d told anybody you’re doing a project on Tulane Avenue, they’d say, ‘you’re nuts’. This was the last pocket of New Orleans to get any kind of development.” However, Jayson is keen to point out that he’s not a fan of the word ‘gentrification’. “Mainly because I’m not about displacing people,” he explains. “I’m about working within the local fabric of the community.”
Purchased as a just-about-running motel in 2016, and then reopened as a hotel after a year’s worth of renovation, the property’s transformation cannot be understated — and yet The Drifter is nothing short of unassuming from the outside. The name ‘The Drifter’ isn’t actually written anywhere, and the hotel’s main entrance is now around the side of the building. “It’s not like we’re going for a speakeasy thing,” Jayson explains, “but if you look at the building from the outside, you can’t really tell what it is. When you step inside, it’s like this Wizard of Oz thing: you move from the blackand-white film into this world of vivid colour.”
One of the first changes Jayson and his team made was to dig trenches into the parking lot and turn it into a landscape garden — “the goal was to make this an oasis” — but it’s the vibrancy of the interior that most obviously conveys the building’s new lease of life. Combining multiple aesthetics, periods, and places manifests itself in what Jayson calls the ‘low-high’ game: “The ‘low’ element is that this is a 1950s motel — it’s not something architecturally impressive — and I saved as much money as possible on the design choices. I put in Mexican tile floors, all the beds are platform beds built into the wall. But the ‘high’ element is all the little touch points: our lighting is from Nicole Cota Studio, Jax, and Zangra; the linen is from Frette; the toiletries are from Aesop. You see a bottle of Aesop in an old motel room and it’s kind of cool.”
It’s obvious that a lot of consideration has been given to The Drifter’s aesthetics, especially with a keen eye for would-be Instagrammers. “If someone were to photograph the room while staying there, it should be equally as beautiful as when it’s empty — if not better.” And yet a cursory glance at the brand’s own Instagram page might leave you surprised to find almost no pictures of the hotel itself. “They’re my photos,” Jayson says, proudly. “Usually they’re current, so when I’m travelling, they’re what I’m seeing — what’s inspiring me. It’s all with the slight nod to what I believe it is to be a drifter.”
However, it’s not all about looking cool. Far from it, in fact. For Jayson, authenticity is the key. “So many hotel brands are trying to play off this hipster revolution. You know: how many Edison light bulbs can you see? Oh, yet another restoration look? Unless it’s real, should you be pretending to be old? If it’s a new building, make it modern! If it’s old, maybe pay tribute to what it was.” And so The Drifter is a gentle homage to mid-century motels, but also a deeply personal expression of Jayson’s own tastes and experiences. “The design intent was to transcend time,” he says. “Sure, to be aware of elements of the 50s — because it’s referenced in the architecture — but then you move forward.” There’s inspiration from Jayson’s time spent travelling in Mexico and Japan, and his living in Miami and New York. “I’ve worked on quite a few hotels, but this one is definitely my baby,” he admits.
All of this makes me wonder if The Drifter is, perhaps, named after him. “It’s kind of a tribute to my own story, of drifting around the world as a massive sponge,” he says. “But also to reflect the drifters who come here to New Orleans. This city doesn’t really have any major industry besides tourism, so if you’re coming here, you’re coming here for the right reasons: the quality of life, the climate, the food, the music, the culture — deeper reasons beyond simply getting work.”
Staying at The Drifter is an undeniably visual experience, but it goes way beyond the imagery and the artistry, and these are feelings Jayson shares: “For me, the most important thing is the guest experience. How were they treated? How did they feel? How warm of a welcome did they receive? All of my staff are extremely talented and really good about connecting people, and connecting with people.” He explains that he always wants there to be some form of dialogue.
“For instance, I don’t have bar menus; as well as it being wasteful to print them, our bartender will simply ask people what drink they like. He or she will say, ‘If you don’t like this, don’t worry, I’ll make you something else’, and I want people to feel like they’ve been treated to a tremendous level of hospitality and warmth.”
A stay at The Drifter, or a visit to its bar, might be a treat for the senses, and glimpse inside its co-founder’s head, but above all, human connection appears to be the most important part of the experience. “Those hotel desks where you check yourself in via your phone — sure, they’re cool,” Jayson says. “But people need reminding that we’re here to live amongst each other.” L
Visit The Drifter at 3522 Tulane Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119, USA, or online at thedrifterhotel.com
