Peter Ricchiuti hosts Out to Lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. Blake Langlinais engineers the recording.
PETER: I want to start out today by running through a few notable New Orleans landmarks: The new terminal at Louis Armstrong Airport. The U.S Custom House. The gold/copper skin on the Superdome. The Civic Theater. The W New Orleans French Quarter Hotel. The Xavier University Dormitories. There are a whole lot more on this list too. If you’re wondering what the link is between all of them, it’s the construction company that built them, or in some cases re-built them. It’s a 50 year old family firm, called Gibbs Construction.
Gibbs Construction was founded in 1976, by Larry Gibbs. 43 years later, In 2019, Larry’s daughter, Lauren, took over as owner and CEO of the company.
Lauren Gibbs, Owner & CEO of Gibbs Construction. With over 50 years of experience building major projects, the company is able to work with developers and give them guidance before there’s even investment finance to draw up plans
PETER: Now, here’s a list of other New Orleans buildings. See if you can tell me what these have in common: The LaLaurie Mansion on Royal Street. The Hermann-Grima House. Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop. The Andrew Jackson Hotel. The Old Ursuline Convent. If you’re a New Orleanian, you’re probably saying, with as much nonchalance and more confidence than you have in today’s weather forecast, “Oh yeah, they’re all haunted.”
Along with the French Quarter, fabulous food, and live music, the supernatural vibe that is a natural part of New Orleans is an element of the city people come here to experience. Most tourists – and locals by the way – learn about our haunted history courtesy of the oldest and largest ghost tour business in New Orleans – a company called, Haunted History Tours.
Haunted History was co-founded in 1994 by partners Sidney and Kalila Smith. Today, Kalila is the sole owner of the company.
Kalila Smith, Co-Founder and Owner of Haunted History Tours. In 1994 Kalila and her late partner, Sidney, came up with the idea of introducing tour groups to the paranormal side of New Orleans and started a whole segment of the local tourist economy that’s now spread to other cities across the country
Kalila is a leading authority on the subject of supernatural New Orleans. She’s the author of multiple books, including New Orleans Ghosts, Voodoo & Vampires, and Tales From The French Quarter. Her many TV appearances include CNN, Fox News, The Today Show, The Travel Channel and Discovery. She was a contributor to Sony’s PlayStation II game Ghosthunter, and produced a PBS documentary on Southern hauntings.
Visible & Invisible
A lot of businesses have a lot in common. But some don’t.
About the only way anybody could run a complex, multi-million dollar construction company is by having years of experience in the industry, which in Lauren’s case she got to some degree by growing up in it. On the other hand, what’s made Kalila’s business successful is the very opposite of continuity – it’s the ability to do something nobody had done before she came along and created it. Lauren and Kalila are wonderful examples of the multi-dimensional tapestry of our unique New Orleans economy, andvastly different but equally important contributors to it.
Kalila Smith, Lauren Gibbs, Peter Ricchiuti, Out to Lunch at The Columns Hotel in New Orleans
Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. Photos by Jill Lafleur.
