UpStairs Lounge Memorial

On June 24, 1973, an arson fire tore through the UpStairs Lounge, a second-floor gay bar at the corner of Iberville and Chartres in the French Quarter. Thirty-two people died and fifteen were injured. It was the deadliest attack on LGBTQ Americans of the twentieth century, and remained so until the Pulse shooting in 2016. The aftermath compounded the tragedy. City officials said little. Most churches refused funerals for the victims. Some families would not claim their dead. No one was ever charged. For decades the fire went almost unmentioned — and its recovery into public memory, through the work of survivors, historians and local activists, became part of New Orleans' own reckoning. The fire is now understood as a turning point that helped catalyze the LGBTQ rights movement in the city. In 2003, on the thirtieth anniversary, a bronze memorial plaque was set into the sidewalk at the corner. It carries the names of the victims around its border. The plaque was refurbished in 2019, stolen in 2024, and a new one was dedicated in June 2025. What you see today: the plaque in the pavement at Iberville and Chartres — small, easy to miss, and worth the pause. The 1848 building still stands; its ground floor houses a neighborhood bar, and the upper floor where the Lounge stood is not accessible. This is a place of mourning within one of the world's most festive neighborhoods: stop, read the names, and carry them with you.