Who knew that the most entertaining store in New Orleans would belong to a locksmith?
The H. Rault Locksmiths shop on Magazine Street is part museum, part antique store, and very much a working locksmith. Antique safes and locks, vintage door parts, old bottles and advertising placards, and plenty of other curiosities make for a colorful, inviting clutter. Handwritten signs explain some of the displays and the history of locks and hardware. The history of the business is also told on its walls.
It’s a quite a story: the company was founded by Joseph Rault in 1845 at 515 Bourbon Street and was primarily a blacksmith and gunsmith shop. Son Henri Rault moved the business to Magazine Street in 1886, when the company turned towards locksmithing and operated out of several locations until settling at its present address in 1947. This makes H. Rault Locksmiths the oldest business on Magazine, as well as the second-oldest locksmith in the United States…