Meet the Neighbors: New Orleans’ Original Bike Tour Company: 5 Questions with A Street Tour Named Desire / Confederacy of Cruisers

Welcome to our Meet the Neighbors blog series, where we highlight the incredible local businesses, creators, and characters that make our block what it is. Since we are all New Orleanians here, I am patiently awaiting the responses from my friends down the street about their shops. Patience isn’t just a virtue here—it is a necessity for survival.

As I wait, I figured I’d practice by interviewing myself! So today I am sitting down with me—the founder of A Street Tour Named Desire (formerly Confederacy of Cruisers). We have been guiding visitors through the historic streets, architecture, and hidden local food spots of the Faubourg Marigny, Bywater, and Tremé for nearly two decades.

I asked myself about everything from my early days operating our cruiser fleet right on the sidewalk off Frenchmen Street, to the historic local history and streetcar line that inspired our new name. Here is an unscripted look at how our neighborhood rides come together

1. What inspired you to base your bike tour company right here in the heart of the Faubourg Marigny?

I chose this spot—and honestly, the spot chose me. We sit at the cultural crossroads of the Marigny, Bywater, and Tremé neighborhoods, and we got incredibly lucky with how the music and cultural resurgence blossomed right around us. Being just steps away from Frenchmen Street means our riders instantly feel the creative energy of the city the second their feet hit the pedals. We live, eat, and cruise along these exact same streets every single day.

As for the exact location? Eighteen years ago, we worked right off the street corner without even a shop, just to keep expenses down. Because these were quiet streets only ten blocks from my house, I had no desire to be anywhere else. Then, in typical New Orleans fashion, our current landlord approached us after seeing us working on the corner. He gave us a chance to move into a permanent location, saving us from hauling the bikes back and forth every day. Operating our shop among neighborhood bars and local kitchens allows us to give visitors an unscripted, authentic experience. It feels like riding around with an old friend—and luckily, we make friends easily here.

2. How do you design safe, easy-to-ride New Orleans bike tour routes?

The routes practically design themselves based on the culture, food, or drink history we want to share. New Orleans is completely flat, meaning absolutely any spot in the city can be reached safely by bicycle while sticking strictly to quiet, scenic residential streets.

Many travelers are anxious about navigating city traffic or dodging our legendary potholes, which is why knowing our streets inside and out is so vital. I ride my child on her tag-a-long bike down these exact roads; if I can handle her confidently here, I can handle anyone. We map out every single turn to keep riders safe and comfortable. Plus, we ride single-speed, cruiser-style bikes with large, cushy tires and wide seats, ensuring the entire route feels like an effortless, breezy sightseeing experience. We always tell our guests: we ride slow, we talk like friends, and biking with us is not even close to exercise.

3. Why the name change from Confederacy of Cruisers to A Street Tour Named Desire?

We changed our name because as our tours grew globally popular, some out-of-town visitors started confusing our love for classic New Orleans literature with a connection to other historical confederacies.

Confederacy of Cruisers was originally named after the greatest piece of New Orleans neighborhood fiction ever written: A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. That book was a massive inspiration to my younger life here—I even tried to get a job as a hot dog vendor at Lucky Dogs, the iconic local street company that inspired the "Paradise Vendors" in the novel. To us, the confusion seemed silly since we all grew up with Toole's book as an ever-present pillar of New Orleans life. But not everyone is from here, and we completely understood why the name felt heavy to outsiders. Luckily, incredible literature is absolutely everywhere in this city. The actual, historic Desire streetcar line used to run right up Royal Street directly past our shop door, so transitioning our name to honor Tennessee Williams felt like a perfectly natural next chapter.

4. How do you choose the stops for your New Orleans Culinary and Cocktail Bike Tours?

The secret behind choosing our tour stops is that we don’t look at generic tourist websites; we go exactly where I eat when I am out biking around for lunch with my family. These are the family-run counters, neighborhood joints, and local staples that keep us returning time after time, with or without customers.

Frady’s One Stop Food Store is where I would beseech anyone wanting a perfect shrimp po-boy to go. Cajun Seafood on Claiborne is where I grab an emergency gumbo that I could proudly serve to friends if I accidentally spilled my own on Christmas Eve. Drinking frozen Irish coffees at Molly’s at the Market has been a true rite of passage on warm days for as far back as I can remember, and I spent the tense hours leading up to Hurricane Katrina in our favorite neighborhood spot, Marie’s Bar, and Danny, the cocktail tour guide, practically lives there. Because the standard of everyday home cooking is so incredibly high in New Orleans, our neighborhood businesses have to keep their quality flawless just to stand a chance. The classic old-timers we visit have pleased generations. We choose our tour stops simply by living our natural local lives, right out of the saddle.

5. What is the future of New Orleans, the Marigny, and A Street Tour Named Desire?

The semi real commemorative street name plaque for our historic bike tour company.

Well, they say if you don’t know the past, you can’t know the future, and if there is one thing we know, it’s the past. But while we have read everything about our history, all we know of the future is that it remains unwritten.

When I think back to the 1990s—when Frenchmen Street was a semi-abandoned corridor that every Lundi Gras transformed into a wild hub of all-night street fires, drumming on any scrap metal that could be found, and a decadence so thick the police eventually had to shut it down—nobody would have predicted the next thirty years. Back then, guessing that you would one day be able to walk to five nice boutique hotels from that exact same corner, or that Frenchmen Street would become globally famous for live music, would have been a wild prediction. While the block has changed drastically, close friends of mine still own the independent venues and shops throughout the area, keeping it rooted in a real local feeling today.

As for tomorrow? Will we be completely underwater, operating as a low-IQ Venice? Will our bicycle fleet turn into a kayak tour company? Will future travelers ask us about the brief era when Frenchmen Street served as the musical centerpiece of the city before new fads took the crowds elsewhere—as has always happened throughout our history? Book your ride for the year 2051 today so when the time comes, you can find out with us.