• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • All Articles
  • Arts & Culture
  • Health
  • News
    • News
    • Announcements
    • Obituaries
    • The Official Dish
  • Opinions
  • Horoscopes
  • PODCAST
  • Subscribe

Ambush Magazine

The Official Gay Magazine of the Gulf South™

  • Read All Articles
  • Print Archive
  • Old Archived Site
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise

Book Review: Johnny White’s Sports Bar: The Tiny Joint that Never Closed—Until It Did

August 18, 2021 By Frank Perez

Johnny White’s Sports Bar: The Tiny Joint that Never Closed—Until It Did. Marita Woywod Crandle. The History Press, 2019. 144 pages.

For 23 years, Johnny White’s Sports Bar reigned as Bourbon Street’s premiere dive bar for locals. Located at the corner of Orleans and Bourbon, the small bar was an island for Quarter Rats in the midst of an unceasing flow of tourists. It was visitor friendly for sure, but make no mistake, this bar was one of very few on Bourbon Street that a group of locals called home. It’s closure in 2012 sent shock waves through the Quarter and was properly mourned with a jazz funeral.

Johnny White’s Sports Bar: The Tiny Joint that Never Closed—Until It Did gives readers an inside look at what it was like to work at the bar. Former bartender Marita W. Crandle has written a memoir of her time working at the legendary watering hole. But more than just memories, Crandle provides a history of the bar as well.

Johnny White’s Sports Bar: The Tiny Joint that Never Closed—Until It Did

She writes: “Everyone who frequented Johnny White’s has a story of their own, and if they have one, usually they have at least twenty. When I was new to the bar, I loved to sit around with the old-time regulars and listen to their stories. I was always envious that I had missed so much of what had transpired in the French Quarter before I even knew it existed.”

Crandle also dishes up stories from the original Johnny White’s Bar, which opened at 733 St. Peter Street in 1969. White, a local teacher and coach, had a larger than life personality and the bar was an instant hit with locals. Crandle quotes former bartender Byron Penn who observes, “The bar could be completely empty on any given day. If Johnny White came down, people walking by would see him sitting there, and before you knew it, the bar would be full.” 

Advertisement

After his second divorce, White lived above the bar for a while. He died in 1993 and left the bar to his daughters.

Advertisement

White eventually bought a building at the corner of Bourbon and Orleans and in 1989 leased it to three friends—J.D. Landrum, Tom Hill, and Terry France—who opened a small bar. With Johnny White’s permission, they called it Johnny White’s Sports Bar. The Johnny White’s franchise would expand to include a bar and grill as well as Johnny White’s Hole in the Wall. This book is a must-read for Quarterites, dive bar aficionados, and anyone who has ever had a drink at Johnny White’s.

Originally from Germany, Crandle enjoyed a successful marketing career in California before moving to New Orleans. A resident of the French Quarter, she owns the Boutique de Vampyre, the Vampire Café, and Potions (a vampire speakeasy). She is also the author of New Orleans Vampires: History and Legend and a holiday children’s book, Rufus, the Yuletide Bat.

Filed Under: Arts & Culture, Book Review, Featured

Related Posts

Writers Who Love Too Much: New Narrative 1977— 1997
Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans.
Unveiling the Muse: The Lost History of Gay Carnival in New Orleans

Primary Sidebar

Connect & Join the Conversation

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Recent Print Editions

  • Volume 38 Issue 17
  • Volume 38 Issue 16
  • Volume 38 Issue 15
  • Volume 38 Issue 14
  • Volume 38 Issue 13
  • Volume 38 Issue 12
  • Volume 38 Issue 11
  • Volume 38 Issue 10
  • Volume 38 Issue 05
  • Volume 38 Issue 04

Recent Articles

  • The LGBTLOL Queer Comedy Fest Returns to New Orleans
  • The Rockford Files: Waiting for Life to Begin
  • Trodding the Boards May 9, 2025
  • Queer Arts as Resistance
  • Ambush on the Road – A Gay in the Garden State

Experience Gay New Orleans

  • Gay New Orleans
  • Gay Mardi Gras
  • Gay Easter Parade
  • New Orleans Pride
  • Gay Appreciation Awards
  • Southern Decadence
  • Gay Halloween

Categories

  • A Community within Communities
  • Announcements
  • Arts & Culture
  • Bartender of the Month
  • Book Review
  • Business
  • Chop Chop
  • Commentary
  • Drag Queen Profile
  • Featured
  • Film Review
  • Financial
  • Geo Doing Geo Things
  • Health
  • Horoscopes
  • Interviews
  • Interviews from Key West
  • Letter to the Editor
  • Moments in Queer New Orleans History
  • Museum Spotlights
  • Music
  • Musings by Catherine
  • New to New Orleans
  • News
  • Obituaries
  • Opinions
  • Pride Spotlight
  • Profiles & Spotlights
  • Sports
  • The Here and the Now
  • The Official Dish
  • The Real Cheese
  • The Rockford Files
  • Trodding the Boards
  • Uncategorized
  • Under The Gaydar

Footer

Ambush Magazine Logo

Ambush Magazine is New Orleans' and the Gulf Coast's Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer entertainment, news, and travel guide since 1982.

Publisher TJ Acosta
Editor-In-Chief Reed Wendorf
Founding Publisher/Editor Rip Naquin-Delain
Senior Editor Brian Sands
Distribution George Bevan Jr

Email info@ambushpublishing.com
Phone (504) 522-8049

Recent Posts

  • The LGBTLOL Queer Comedy Fest Returns to New Orleans
  • The Rockford Files: Waiting for Life to Begin
  • Trodding the Boards May 9, 2025
  • Queer Arts as Resistance
  • Ambush on the Road – A Gay in the Garden State

Proud Member

Gulf South LGBT Chamber Logo

Let’s Get Social

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2025 · Ambush Publishing LLC All Rights Reserved · Website Built by Reed Wendorf · Log in