NEW ORLEANS From Bienville to Bourbon Street to bounce. 300 moments that make New Orleans unique.

WHAT HAPPENED Anne Rice’s 1718 ~ 2018 first book, ‘Interview with the Vampire,’ was published 300 in 1976. TRICENTENNIAL

Like the city of her birth, Anne Rice’s vampires are flawed, elegant and timeless. Rice’s “Interview with the Vampire” celebrated Anne Rice signs copies of ‘Prince the city’s rougher edges and mysterious past. Lestat’ at the Rice grew up Catholic in New Orleans, but Garden District moved away to Texas and then lived in Califor- Book Shop.

nia for more two decades. But her memories and THENEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE yearning for New Orleans shaped her books. In an interview, Rice said her writing, “had some- thing to do with growing up in New Orleans, this strange, decadent city full of antebellum houses.” After the publication of her first novel “Inter- view with the Vampire” in 1976 fans flocked to the Garden District and the French Quarter to see the decadent city. Even more fans came after the 1994 movie adaptation of the book, with Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise.

New Orleans is also featured prominently in THENEW ORLEANS ADVOCATE Rice’s non-vampire books, including “The Witch- ing Hour” and the “Feast of All Saints.” Rice returned to the city in the 1980s and pur- chased several properties, including St. Eliza- beth’s Orphanage on Napoleon Avenue. Her primary residence, though, was at 1239 First St., which was the setting for five of her more than 30 novels. Shortly before Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Rice moved to California to be closer to her son and author, Christopher Rice. Anne Rice’s home at 1239 First St. is the setting for at least five Rice returns to New Orleans often and has fre- WIKIPEDIA An October 2016 fundraiser raised money for the the Karstendiek family tomb in of her novels. quently said she wants to move back, but has not Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, which is known as Vampire Lestat Tomb because of its yet done so. resemblance to the tomb in the movie ‘Interview with the Vampire.’