T-shirt shops, grey market electronics stores and fast food are not charming? The name Canal Street is kind of interesting in that there's never been a canal anywhere near Canal Street. Oh yea, there was a lot of construction going on in the bus lane or common area of Canal during JazzFest, so it's probably quite a mess up and down Canal right now.

Hotels that I can recommend would be the Le Meriden on Canal and the Intercontinental, The Le Pavilon and the Whitney, all off Canal in the Poydras area of the CBD (not a bad walk to the Quarter and much quieter at night). The new Masion Orleans on Iberville (old Masion Blanche Dept. store) looks very nice although I've never stayed there. I never stay in the Quarter so can't recommend any specific hotels there but I know there are some very nice boutique hotels off Bourbon that have good reputations.

Good luck and have a safe trip.

edited to add: Summer is the slow season in NOLA, so if you are going to be there during the summer, you should be able to get deeply discounted rates at the best hotels.

[This message has been edited by Soonerman (edited 06-06-2002).]