By Keith Griffith, Senior Travel Correspondent

Historical Building Houses Boutique Hotel Steps from French Quarter

New Orleans simply has a better soundtrack than other cities. Instead of top 40 or classic rock, the background music in every shop, restaurant, and cab is something you've never heard before but know you want to hear again. In the lobby of the Queen and Crescent Hotel, the mix is mostly Dixieland jazz, with a little R & B thrown in for good measure. "Music is important," says front office manager Stacey. "It's something visitors can relate to when they get here, to start to get the feeling of New Orleans."

Named for the rail line once headquartered in the building—it ran from New Orleans, the Crescent City, to Cincinnati, the Queen City—this boutique hotel makes for a comfortable base from which to explore the nearby French Quarter. Strict preservation laws prevent major changes to the structure, the tallest in the city when it opened in 1913. The rooms, small but comfortable, house simple, elegant furnishings. Tasteful floral prints accent the Deluxe queen rooms, and an armoire conceals the flat-screen TV.

On the hotel's fourth floor—where that music is still wafting through the halls—a modest fitness center stays open 24 hours a day, and on the ground floor, a one-computer business center off the lobby offers Internet access. The Club Car Lounge, also situated off the lobby, slings local brews such as Dixie and Abita alongside the house special Fire Starter cocktail, a potent concoction served with a flaming cherry on top. In the evening, the Club Car's bartender, Attila, greets visitors like neighborhood regulars, and every morning the bar hosts a basic cereal-and-pastries breakfast buffet.

New Orleans's French Quarter: Vivid Local Color Defined by Generations-Old Culture

"Stop thinking of New Orleans as the worst-organized city in the United States," writes author Dan Baum. "Start thinking of it as the best-organized city in the Caribbean." There is definitely something foreign about New Orleans, where life moves at a different pace and priorities incline toward enjoying life and living in the moment.

In the French Quarter, located a few minutes' walk north of the hotel, historical buildings with intricate wrought-iron balconies line the narrow streets. Just off Jackson Square, the legendary Café Du Monde serves beignets under heaping piles of powdered sugar, as well as cups of iced or steaming café au lait. Street musicians strike up on the north side of the square most evenings, and the occasional street performer or occult spell peddler sets up for business. The open-air Café Pontalba makes for a handy perch from which to take it all in while feasting on a roast-beef po boy and sucking down an Abita Amber.

Deeper in the Quarter, the city's rich gumbo of cultural influences becomes even more apparent. Bennachin Restaurant on Royal Street serves excellent African cuisine, and nearby Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, a dim piano bar, claims to be the oldest bar in the country.

And then there's Bourbon Street. It's a mecca for some, though to others it might resemble a neon-lit level of perdition, crowded with police, underage revelers, and gaudy strip clubs. But nearby Frenchmen Street, just north of the Quarter, offers an authentic alternative. Small jazz and blues bars line the street, drawing locals with performers such as trumpeter Kermit Ruffins, known to out-of-towners for his recurring role on HBO's Treme. At the Spotted Cat Music Club, where jazz and smoke fill the air, a sign warns that drinks and drunks are both barred from the piano—but like all rules in New Orleans, it's one that's bound to get bent from time to time.