Vue Orleans has Tons of Engaging Educational Attractions

Scoot (00:00):
We're broadcasting live from Vue Orleans, where you're facing toward the, uh, north Northwest, I would think.

The Scoot Show (00:09):
West Southwest. See, they got it right up west. So no matter where you are, you can see what direction you're facing.

Scoot (00:14):
Well, west Southwest. See,

The Scoot Show (00:16):
See WSW up there

Scoot (00:18):
West? Wait, west, south. I'm so confused

The Scoot Show (00:21):
Because that it's confusing. But there's the lake. Well, the lake is very big,

Scoot (00:25):
But I know, but the lake is to the

The Scoot Show (00:27):
North, but that north is that way. Lakes this way. Lakes where? The lakes? No, you, he's the lakes on the lake's. Not that the lake's over there, the lake's over there. But see, that says Wild west, southwest, and that over there says Southwest.

Scoot (00:41):
Well, it doesn't matter. It's a beautiful view.

The Scoot Show (00:42):
Yeah. It all directions are, it

Scoot (00:44):
Is such a, it's such an incredible view. So, um, we're, we're broadcasting here to introduce this to, to all of you. Now, if you're a New Orleans Louisiana resident, if you're from Louisiana, uh, it's like just under $25, 24.95 or something like that for, for admission. There's so many special things about this that, that make it so amazing. And as I said in the first hour of the show, um, what I notice is that the, the, the work that went into this, the thought that went into this is above the standard of what is good in New Orleans. This is great. You know, we were in Vegas a couple of weeks ago doing the show, and one thing you notice about Vegas money, snow Object, they're gonna do it. Right? This was done right. You and I just went up to the, uh, the outside observation deck and the cafe upstairs too. We're on the 33rd floor, 407 feet in the air, and there's one floor higher. There's gonna be a big New Year's Eve party here, a New Year's Eve. We'll talk more about that. Um, Karen Nabonne Coaxum. Okay. Welcome to the show. Thank you. Okay. Now you are, you're involved, you're deeply involved in this.

Karen Coaxum (02:01):
My husband, Henry Coaxum, is one of the co-managers of Vue Orleans with Paul Flower of Woodward Design Build, and I'm on the marketing team, which helps to market Vue Orleans. So we're, we're tremendously excited about being involved.

Scoot (02:16):
So what do you like about this place?

Karen Coaxum (02:19):
I, I get goosebumps and I get teary when I come up and see what is here. And the first time I came up was before it opened, and they were unboxing things, and I was just in the back, just crying because I was just so enraptured with what was to be. And it, it meets and over meets my expectations of it.

Scoot (02:47):
Was there a time when you were ever discouraged? You saw the very beginning of this, and sometimes things take a little longer than you want them to, and sometimes, um, things happen and you have have to deal with those things. Was there ever a time you were discouraged?

Karen Coaxum (03:01):
No. The development team, that sort of vision, um, and as local Neworleanians know, and even some people who aren't from New Orleans know how long this building sat vacant. Yeah. And now, and that's where the tears come.

Scoot (03:17):
You know, I from, I spent a lot of time on my show talking about how, um, we, as a city, I'm from here. I grew up here, so I, I know this, I, I know this city. Um, but I also am not afraid to be honest about the city. And it was just really sad that this building sat here empty. And so often it seems like there are people in New Orleans, if they're not involved, they try to block the way for something to happen. You know, it's really kind of a, it's, it's a shame that we have. I mean, looking over here at the Plaza Towers empty, you know, there are so many places that Mercy Hospital in the, you know, central city or the Mid-City area, um, that's empty. And it, it's, I'm so glad that something was done with this building, but not only was something done, but like the right thing was done with this building.

Karen Coaxum (04:04):
It's incredible. It, um, it's, it's, um, something that you can't un-see, right? So I always say it's a must see and a must go. And then once you get here, those who have already visited, they're coming back for more than one visit because you can never see all of this at one, at one visit.

Scoot (04:23):
Well, and you don't get tired of seeing the city from this perspective, because as I have said, we, you know, we don't have mountains here. Mm-hmm. , you know, the highest view of the city is from the high rise. And, uh, you know, this is just, uh, so beyond that and it's 360 degrees and you really get a, you really get a conceptual sense of where you are and, and what our city looks like from this, this

Karen Coaxum (04:46):
Perspective. It's a moving canvas. It's like a moving pink painting and it changes every second. Yeah. You, um, mm-hmm.

Scoot (04:55):
I think it would be awesome to be up here when it was like storming.

Karen Coaxum (04:59):
I have, you have been up here. Yeah. You can see the rain coming out of the clouds. Wow. It's just incredible. And, um, from the 34th floor, which is the outdoor observation deck, which is outside, even if it is raining or too windy, and you want to get the views, the 33rd floor is indoors. Right. And it's 360 degrees, 360 degrees around. So you still get to see, the entire view of the city, even if you step inside. So that's good. And that's when I saw the rain clouds and

Scoot (05:34):
I care. Would there be a few times when, when there's fog or low low clouds and you would be on top of it?

Karen Coaxum (05:42):
I don't think we're that high. Okay. Yet. And, um, I haven't been up here when it was foggy. Um, but even the viewfinders, the v e finders Yeah. Um, will show you what you're looking at techno and technologically. Okay. So even though it might be rainy or cloudy or, or foggy and you point the viewfinder to a section of the city that you are physically looking at, it will tell you what you're looking at. Even though you're inside and you, you, you know, you can tell all about what, what, and there's several of them located around the, around the floor.

Scoot (06:15):
I just think it would be so cool to be up here in a storm and then like in the summertime where like when you see one of those like big dark thunderstorms heading in the area, and you could see it coming and then boom, it hit you. Mm-hmm.

(06:27):
Mm-hmm. Yeah. It's such a, a beautiful place and such a, such a great view of the city. I mean, out off one side I'm seeing downtown, and then I see the river and I see the lake off in the distance. And on the other end there's the, the, the crescent, uh, part of the river that, um, you know, snakes, its way, you know, around Algiers point and, and the French Quarter and all the different roofs of the, the tops of the buildings and the houses and the French Quarter. It's, it really gives you a unique, a unique perspective of the city. And one thing that I really like about it is, you know, we, we deal with so much in New Orleans and there's, there's negativity at the street level in so many ways. Not in every way, but in, in some ways there's negativity on the street level. It's great to see this perspective of the city because this is where you see the great potential and how great our city really should be. Mm-hmm. , you know, this is a great view.

Karen Coaxum (07:23):
And in addition to the views that you could, you could just take in the views all day, you know? Yeah. You can, there's no time that you have to leave. So once you ticket it, unless you know, you don't, won't be able to spend the whole day. But even in interactive, parts of the, the exhibit, you can, you can learn so much about the city and just, just get entertained and you're inside and you're in a safe environment. Yeah. And you can hear music and you can see things and you can read about things. And, you know, the staff is so helpful. So it's a great day. It's a great way to spend a day here.

Scoot (07:59):
We're just getting in the elevator, coming up here and, and, and I'm watching this catfish just kind of swimming along and boom, this alligator comes and consumes the catfish. I'm going, whoa. Yeah. So it's, it's very exciting.

The Scoot Show (08:13):
This is kind of, uh, an esoteric question, I would say, Karen, but I'm just curious about it. So we've been talking about how cool it would be up here to be, uh, here during a storm. The, the spire that's on top of the tower, does that, uh, is that ever struck by lightning? Is there some sort of lightning rod or lightning mitigation strategy that the building has? I know that's probably not exactly your department. Yeah. But I'm curious if you'd heard anything about that. I haven't even

Karen Coaxum (08:38):
Heard anything about that because I've been up there a little while. Yeah. And it's interesting that you mentioned the 30 foot floor because with the development of the hotel and the, um, design of Vue Orleans, the 34th floor observation deck has never been accessible to the before now. So, um, you know, I, I would think, you know, somebody wants to try to do some little history hunting. Yeah. They could check that out for us.

The Scoot Show (09:02):
Yeah. I would be, I would be curious cuz you know, I don't know, I guess it's just a question for any of these skyscrapers now. I mean, you can see the Capital One building mm-hmm. and one shell square, whatever that's called now, they must get struck by lightning all the time. Right. There must be something you have to consider when you have a big building like this. But I'm, I don't know, that's just me kind of just being curious about the way that tall buildings work. But,

Scoot (09:23):
But you know, there are people in all these buildings and, you know, nothing ever happens as a result of them getting, you know, struck by lightning. If that, if that should happen. I, I remember when this was the PLIs all club. It was a, it was a restaurant, a rotating restaurant. Mm-hmm. . And you're right, the bar, you're right. This was the, this was the, the highest it was. Mm-hmm. . Yeah. Because there was nothing up there. So that's like breaking through to new territory.

Karen Coaxum (09:45):
And it is funny you should mention that cuz I grew up in New Orleans and a lot of times people question, well what happened with the bar? I hope they would bring the bar back. But this is better because this is open to everyone. You know, kids can come and go through all the interactive experience that they have here. So it's open to everyone. Visitors local, you know, anybody can, can come to Vue Orleans.

Scoot (10:05):
It is awesome. Now, you know, when I think back on the, the, the bars that used to be at top buildings and the clubs back in the eighties, I I, I can, I can see this would be one hot nightclub, but um, it's got to be beautiful night when you, when you

Karen Coaxum (10:19):
Well hold the

Scoot (10:20):
Phone when you see the views,

Karen Coaxum (10:21):
You can, you can rent Vue Orleans for special event. Oh,

Scoot (10:24):
Maybe have eighties night.

The Scoot Show (10:26):
I just got married three weeks ago. A jerk. Didn't Do Vue Orleans - Bush League

Karen Coaxum (10:30):
A lot of engagement parties. See, it's a lot of proposals up on the, the, the observation day. Really?

The Scoot Show (10:36):
Yeah.

Karen Coaxum (10:36):
How sweet. Yeah.

The Scoot Show (10:38):
We, we, I think we, we we wanted to ask David about this, but we ran out of time. Most people I think have a memory of being here, you know, in the eighties or nineties when the, when the top floors would rotate. But I'm curious, you know, in, in the development of the building, was there a moment where we're like, ah, we could, we could find a way to do that? Or is that technically too difficult or is that too expensive or is it not safe anymore? I'm just curious if you know anything about the journey of that decision making process.

Karen Coaxum (11:07):
I, I don't have the, you know, I hate to ever say I don't have an answer to something, but you ask a lot of great

The Scoot Show (11:13):
Questions. I'm, I'm the worst interviewer cuz I'm just like, I'm curious about this, even though it's not in your job description at all, but just at the scuttle. But you know, if you,

Karen Coaxum (11:21):
I would probably have motion sickness cuz I suffered from that

The Scoot Show (11:24):
A lot.

Scoot (11:25):
I would too. You know, and when I was here, I was here once at the Plimsoul Club and I was having dinner and it didn't take long for me to notice that, you know, you could actually notice that the, the, the restaurant was spinning and I got nauseous and couldn't finish the meal. See? So I would, I would rather walk around. It's less nauseating to walk around than for this thing to be spinning.

The Scoot Show (11:45):
Yeah. If you want to sit at a bar and spin, you can go to the carousel bar like everybody else. This is up here just to be nice. You don't have to

Scoot (11:52):
Around, you're not sitting at, at that bar.

Karen Coaxum (11:53):
I was thinking of imbibing. We have a cafe on the 34th floor, which is the same floor as a outdoor observation deck. Yes ma'am. And we serve alcoholic beverages and snacks and you know, food. And so if you, you know, want to come into Vue and go up there first and then come down, you can do either r you can go up to the ob observation deck if you want to in case there may be some rain threatening. You wanna do that first? Yeah. Yeah. And then you can go down to the second floor and see some of the interactive exhibits and, and do it not backwards, but you know, it's open. Right. So you can actually go to any of the levels at any time. Well,

The Scoot Show (12:29):
I think at four o'clock when we wrap up, we should probably go up there and check out the cafe. Just check out the alcohol options, you know, just to see what they got.

Scoot (12:36):
Well, I think we, I think, I think we owe it to, uh, to ourselves and the audience to actually live and experience what we're talking

The Scoot Show (12:43):
About. So three o'clock we should go up and get a drink? Is that what you saying? Well,

Scoot (12:46):
Maybe so. Okay.

The Scoot Show (12:47):
All right. Right.

Scoot (12:48):
It's, it's free for all Friday folks. Yeah. If you wanna join us with a comment this afternoon, the Aucoin Hart Jeweler's talking text line is 5 0 4 2 6 0 1 8 70. Um, what is the most special aspect of, of, of this area to you?

Karen Coaxum (13:03):
I think given anyone that visits the grand opportunity to learn about something that they did not know. And, um, there's so many details about Orleans's history and the visual, um, exhibit portions, um, and the, the touchless technology. You don't even have to touch some of the exhibits to see changes that are made right in front of you. And, um, it's, it's so modern and it's a most modern way of talking about history. So it keeps you engaged and nothing is real long. But, you know, the, the, the theater that has, uh, uh, of video of Irma Thomas's narration of the history of New Orleans, it's, it's only about nine minutes, but when you're sitting there, you feel like you've been in there for an hour because it's so compelling and it's so entertaining. Um, and so you, it it just, it's just really magical. It's like something that you, you've not experienced here in New Orleans.

Scoot (14:12):
Well that's the, that's the really great unique thing about this is there are so many people in New Orleans that have never really seen a, a higher perspective of a ship going up and down the river. And like I see Carnival Cruise here, so at like four o'clock Carnival Cruise is gonna break away from the dock and, and, and head down the river. It's gonna be really intriguing to, to watch that.

Karen Coaxum (14:33):
If you let me mention of, uh, Vue Open special hours. So this is the first holiday season, so this Thanksgiving we're offering some nighttime views cuz Vue would normally be open from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM daily. But this week and ending, to, to tomorrow night of this week. And then November 25th at 26th, we're doing, um, um, where guests can come in and after hours and view this view, view the city at nighttime. So eight o'clock, you know, where you can go online and, and book your tickets to be here at night. And it's a whole different view of the nighttime lights and what you can see at night. So we're doing after Thanksgiving, I don't, I don't know, you know, how far into the holiday season. We'll, we'll do that. You

Scoot (15:19):
Know, so, and then we're looking at traffic on the Crescent City connection. Oh yeah. Kind of a slow move going into the city, but, uh, wide open going to the West Bank . So, you know, we can always, uh, add that traffic update here. Courtney P will give us some more traffic, uh, in just a little while. But, you know, from learning about the food, something simple like the, the history of the Po Boy, uh, and a lot of people enjoy Po Boys and don't know the history and, and then, you know, there are, there are always new people coming to New Orleans and, and moving here and people who are not here as long as some of us have been here and there are things that they don't know that they would, so they would be so, um, they would be so absorbed in, in, in great history in everything by experiencing this.

Karen Coaxum (16:02):
I thought it'd be part of the welcome package

Scoot (16:04):
Yeah. It it should. It should be. It should be. Wow. It's just amazing. Well, Karen, Nabonne Coaxum, I'm sorry. Thank you so much for being with us. You're, congratulations to you and your husband for, for having a vision and sticking with it and doing it and, and also by rising above what is considered sometimes the standard of good for New Orleans. That is the first thing that I noticed about this whole place view or Lean mm-hmm. , is that it rises above the standard of what is good here. It is. Excellent. Thank you. So really well done. Thank you very much. It is free for all Friday. I'm Scoot on the air and we are broadcasting live from Vue Orleans. It's Capital V, capital U, capital E - Vue Orleans. We are atop the Four Seasons Hotel at the foot of Canal Street. And we just had some people pass by and they, uh, they said that, uh, they heard us talking about it. So wait, so people actually listen to us and they believe what we say and they actually act on what we say. Are

The Scoot Show (17:08):
You saying our show has credibility? Is that what you're trying to put out

Scoot (17:11):
There? I apparently it does. I didn't think it did. Well, apparently it does. I mean, these people heard us saying they, they came up here and, you know, they didn't like attack us or anything. They gave us the, they gave us the thumb up.

The Scoot Show (17:22):
Yeah.

Scoot (17:23):
Said it was. Yeah, it was really, really nice.

The Scoot Show (17:24):
You know what's cool is, uh, they have extended hours tonight and next weekend, so, you know, the sun is gonna set a little bit after five o'clock. Yeah. So gentle listener, you still got time to come down here, park, uh, get your tickets downstairs. It's 24 95 for Louisiana residence. Uh, you can do the little interactive thing downstairs and then come up here to the observatory. You can get your right in time for Sunset.

Scoot (17:46):
Now, when I lived in Seattle, I went to the Space Needle a few times. Yeah. And I think probably through the radio station. I think I probably had free tickets. I don't remember actually paying, so I don't know what that cost, what is the cost of going up the Space Needle instead? So

The Scoot Show (17:57):
I've been looking it up because some people are wondering about the price point to come here to view Orleans. And, uh, the Space Needle is 37 50 for a regular ticket. The St. Louis Gateway Arch is a little bit cheaper. That's $19. But they, they, you don't, you, you can't hang out in there all day like that has a beginning and an end time. You're out of there in about 45 minutes. Uh, the Stratosphere Tower where David, who we spoke to in the one o'clock hour, that's where he used to work. Um, the Stratosphere Tower is $30 for admission and the, uh, one World Observatory at the Freedom Tower in New York City, that's, that's $58. So I think this is a pretty good deal. Louisiana residents, you get in here for 24 95, that's a, that's a great price.

Scoot (18:41):
Everybody else, it's, uh, 29 95. Yeah. And again, this look, this is unique experience and you don't have to do this all the time. This is not the kind of thing that you have to do every week. You do it once and you've just got this incredible sense of where you are with the river and the lake, and you see the West Bank and the Crescent City connection and the buildings downtown and the cbd. And you see beyond the cbd, and again, we we're looking at, uh, at, at Lake Poncha train as well, and you get a sense of really in some ways how small the city is and how we are just really, uh, bound by, by water on all sides.

The Scoot Show (19:15):
You know, what it reminds me of is the way that the astronauts talk when they come back from low earth orbit or outer space, or William Shatner went up with the Elon Musk spaceship a little while ago and he came back down Earth. He says, you know, just makes all your problems seem so completely small to see the earth and all its inhabitants. It's all it's petty disagreements and all the nonsense and all the noise. It all just looks so small from that distance. And it kind of feels that way to me up here. Like we see the entire city from where we're sitting right now. And it's just,

Scoot (19:47):
Well, that's what I meant when I said from this perspective, you're not on the street and you don't sense the negativity of being on the street in New Orleans mm-hmm. . And it's really, um, worth it to see the city from this perspective where you don't have that negativity and you see how great the city is and the potential of the, of the city. And maybe it, it wants to, maybe it wants, maybe it would help us wanna work harder to make the city better than it is. All right. I'm Scoot. We're talking about New Orleans High above New Orleans from Vue Orleans. Atop the Four Seasons hotel.