There’s a new kind of buzz at 1030 Elysian Fields Avenue. Until recent years, customers lined up at this location for takeout frozen daiquiris with flavors given notorious names, some verging on the profane. A new business at this location quenches a thirst of another kind—for knowledge, along with a jolt of caffeine.
Baldwin & Co., an independent bookstore and coffeehouse, opened February 20 as the second phase of a redevelopment project by DJ Johnson. The New Orleans native and visionary entrepreneur has grand plans for three properties that anchor a corner of Elysian Fields and St. Claude Avenue.
Baldwin & Co. opened on February 20, 2021, at 1030 Elysian Fields Avenue. Photo by David Johnson.
A fresh coat of white paint covers the two-story art-deco building that formerly housed Gene’s Curbside Daiquiris, which had been cast in the same shocking Pepto-pink as neighboring Gene’s Po-Boys. Both were shuttered and put up for sale in 2019. The interior has undergone a major rehab, too, replete with a coffee-and-pastry counter, a curated selection of books for purchase, cozy seating areas made for conversation or solo reading, a spacious patio converted from a former parking lot, and, in a first for New Orleans, a rental recording studio for podcasts.
For Johnson, the overhaul of the business cluster began with a message he personally applied from the song “No Days Off” by rap artist Wale. Even on days set aside for rest and relaxation, the disciplined go-getter habitually devotes at least one hour to pursue life goals. This self motivation led Johnson to check a real-estate website at 3 a.m. on the morning following his birthday—an “day off”—where he came across the listing for what would ultimately become Baldwin & Co. After that initial purchase, he would go on to buy two neighboring properties. The first endeavor to launch was NOLA Art Bar, which opened in February 2020 at the site of the former Ilys Bistro at 2128 St. Claude Avenue. Johnson describes the space as a gallery for “underrepresented street artists,” a live-music venue, and a bar presided over by “bartenders who are also artists in making specialty cocktails.” He has not yet revealed plans for the now-vacant Gene’s Po-Boys.
Baldwin & Co. is named after one of Johnson’s heroes, African American writer and activist James Baldwin.
“My parents were very strict about education and we were encouraged to read,” Johnson said. As the middle child in a family of six brothers and one sister in the Seventh Ward, Johnson happily discovered that books, unlike toys or games, were not required to be shared with his siblings. He could escape into his own world through the printed page, far from “the crime, drugs, and impoverishment that surrounded us every day.” Works by prominent Black writers, including Ralph Ellison, Langston Hughes, Carter G. Woodson, Dick Gregory, and Alice Walker were common in the Johnson household, along with the inspirational words of James Baldwin, whose rhetorical force captivated Johnson while in his early teens.
Many of these life-shaping books line shelves in the midsection of the store, along with newer titles that inspire Johnson. “I research and find Black authors first, be it mystery, thriller, romance, biography, self-help or any other category. Those receive priority.” An oversized portrait of Baldwin, painted in a mosaic style on the spines of old books, occupies the front end of the display shelves.
Johnson says “the bookstore is the goal, the coffee is lagniappe,” but he will be the first to admit that this investment is a major departure from his presumed career path. He was previously employed in the tech industry in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C., on the executive track and poised to become a chief information officer. In 2018 his mother became gravely ill and spent three months in a hospital bed. Johnson left his lucrative job and returned to New Orleans to become her full-time caregiver. Determined to reverse his mother’s terminal prognosis, he nursed her back to good health. She is now a frequent presence at her son’s businesses.
There is value in the spoken word as well as the written for Johnson, as evidenced in a state-of-the-art podcast studio available by reservation. Based on feedback from people he knew who were recording podcasts “on iPhones in their living rooms,” he saw a need “to supply a space where people can get their voices heard with professional-grade equipment.”
Future plans include community-outreach programs, particularly ones for youth, all of which have been put on hold during the COVID pandemic.
“I want to encourage children, particularly urban kids, to read more—to choose education over entertainment,” he said. “Kids are more often educated through digital mediums, but I want to see a return to picking up a book rather than tuning in to an iPhone, computer or television. The written message is imprinted differently in the mind than when you watch something visually on an electronic screen. I want kids to feel at home here, as a place where they can pick up a book, finish homework, and meet authors.
“I want them to see what a kid who grew up in this neighborhood can become. When you pick up a book and become obsessive with learning, there is no limit to what you can do.”
Baldwin & Co., located at 1030 Elysian Fields Avenue, is open seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, visit baldwinandcobooks.com.
