After 40 Years Launching New Orleans Musicians, Neutral Ground Coffee House Is Closing | Eater New Orleans

"A longtime New Orleans gathering place known for music and community, Neutral Ground Coffee House announced it will close on April 23 after 40 years; its 5110 Daneel Street building went up for sale in January 2023 and the cafe has officially lost its lease after the space sold to new owners. Co-owners James Naylor and Caroline “Phant” Williams are actively searching for a new location and say this time they want to own their building to prevent future displacement. To raise funds for buying a new location they organized a fundraiser and an all-day concert, Neutral Ground Fest, on the Mississippi River batture on Saturday, April 22 from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m., featuring musicians whose careers the coffee house helped launch; Sunday, April 23 will be its last day and last open mic on Daneel Street, though they plan to continue the weekly open mic at nearby NOLA Spaces. Several unique things set Neutral Ground apart: there’s no wi-fi (they tried it once and felt it didn’t add anything), its hours are 7 p.m. to midnight Thursday through Sunday, and the focus is on music, poetry readings, plays, and table games rather than coffee — and as an all-ages, alcohol-free nighttime hangout it has been a special place for teens and people who are sober. The spot was one of New Orleans’s first worker-owned restaurant cooperatives: it began as the Penny Post founded by a nurse known only as Greta on Maple Street in 1976, was rebuilt as a co-op at 5110 Daneel Street after a 1977 fire, later became Neutral Ground Coffee House after the Penny Post closed in 1992, was bought in 2000 by local musician Phil Melancon, and was purchased by longtime regulars Naylor and Williams in March 2020, who even used the bed of Naylor’s ’79 Chevy as an outdoor stage during the pandemic. In their closure announcement Naylor and Williams said they think they have found a new home but face zoning, neighborhood, and permit hurdles, and closed with a poetic note: "It is but a phoenix; killing itself, to return as witness. Spirit, fire, water. A living state, it dies, and yet rises again. Her ashes new create another heir." - Clair Lorell