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The Vacant Lot: Ashes to Oranges
Coors Underground (or is it Chords Underground? ....Cords?) was an old Frenchmen Street venue that was destroyed in a violent explosion in the mid-70s. It’s exceedingly hard to find any information…
30/90, Cafe Negril, Spotted Cat: Hannah’s Three-Venue Runaround
In many places where the music industry thrives, bands and businesses are competitive, proprietary, or just plain isolated from one another. Frenchmen Street, on the other hand, has traditionally…
Bicycle Michael’s: Post-Katrina Chair-Racing on a Freshly-Paved Street
Bicycle Michael’s is the oldest bike shop in New Orleans. As soon as Michael Ferrand opened it--on Royal Street, in 1983--his rent was inflated in anticipation of the 1984 World’s Fair. He was forced…
Maison: Sierra Green Entertains The Entertainer
Frenchmen denizens are known for holding up their homegrown heroes rather than kowtowing to celebrity. (Think Coco Robicheaux, Uncle Lionel, Little Freddie King…) But that doesn’t mean that an…
Filming Location: The Belle of New Orleans
The Old Jockey Club of New Orleans was a primary filming location of the 1912 silent film "The Belle of New Orleans." The film was created and produced entirely in New Orleans by the Kalem Film…
A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire is the title of a 1947 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Tennessee Williams, adapted in 1951 for the big screen by director Elia Kazan. It is undoubtedly one of the most famous…
Filming Location: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a 2008 Oscar winning film by director David Fincher, filmed primarily in uptown New Orleans. The film was adapted from a 1922 short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald…
Imperial Theatre
The Imperial played an important role not only in the history of New Orleans theaters but also in the history of one of the city’s most prominent theater families, the Brunets.
Bell Theater
The Bell Theater was originally located at Bell and Dorgenois Streets, where it operated between 1914 and 1921. In the early years, the theater served not only as an entertainment venue, but was…
The General Strike of 1892
Over 120 years ago, one of the greatest united strikes happened here in New Orleans.
Charity Hospital
Paper Monument Project #025: Charity was the second-oldest continually operating public hospital in the country.
Farewell to the Honorable Marcus Garvey
Paper Monument Poster #023: Remembering Marcus Garvey's deportation and commemorates the New Orleans members of the United Negro Improvement Association who stood on the shores of Mississippi to bid…
Courting 1910's Film Industry: New Orleans Association of Commerce
The New Orleans Association of Commerce was an organization dedicated to stimulating New Orleans-based industries, the organization increasingly saw film as part of their public relations strategies…
Le Petit Salon
Le Petit Salon was once the most exclusive and prestigious private women’s organization in New Orleans. Founded in 1924 and described as a “circle of distinguished ladies,” the Salon quickly became an…
Desire Neighborhood: Destroyed to build Desire Housing Development: A perspective from a former Desire neighborhood resident.
As a former resident of the Desire neighborhood, I am taking the opportunity to defend the integrity of our African-American community in the Upper Ninth Ward. These photographs depict our…
Dorothée Lassize's Family Business
Harriet Martineau, Saxe Weimar, and numerous other antebellum writers described New Orleans free women of color as promiscuous, seductive characters who sought partnerships with wealthy white men so…
Reviving the Vieux Carre: Home of the Louisiana Supreme Court, 1910-1958 & 2004-present
The Louisiana State Legislature established the Courthouse Commission in 1902 in response to the persistent need for a new courthouse for the Louisiana Supreme Court and the New Orleans Civil District…
Leland University
Founded in 1870, Leland University was created with the purpose of educating free black people living in Southern Louisiana. Originally meant to educate only freemen (black people that were free prior…
1946 Flambeaux Strike
Paper Monuments Project #021: In 1946, Carnival triumphantly returned to New Orleans’ streets after four years of canceled celebrations due to World War II. On the Thursday before Mardi Gras, a wage…
St. Louis La Nuit: Soldier, Slave, CItizen
Paper Monuments Project #017: Freed from slavery for extraordinary service by his French planter “owner,” La Nuit’s was in the vanguard of black entrepreneurial men and women who claimed civic…
Marie Baron and Les Forcats
Paper Monument #023: Marie Baron was among thousands of forçats, or French criminals sent to Louisiana in the early 1700s as forced laborers. Marie’s life illustrates the harsh conditions of French…
Mahalia Jackson
Mahalia Jackson, also known as the Queen of Gospel, was born and raised in New Orleans. In 1995, the performing arts center located in Louis Armstrong Park was name in her honor.
Faulkner's House
William Faulkner was born in New Albany, Mississippi in 1897, and frequently used his familiar Southern surroundings as the setting for many of his works. Faulkner was an American novelist and poet…
Battle of New Orleans: Pirate's Alley, The Arsenal, Creole House & Jackson House
Walking out of Jackson Square toward St. Louis Cathedral, Pirate’s Alley appears on the left, between the Cathedral and the Cabildo. Formerly known as “Orleans Alley,” the passage is one block long,…