City
2019
GUIDE
WHAT TO KNOW BEFORE YOU GO IN NEW ORLEANS
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G AM B I T’ S CI T Y GU I D E 2019 3
City
2019
GUIDE
7 LAFITTE GREENWAY 9 ESPLANADE AVENUE 11 FRERET STREET 13 BAYOU ROAD 15 GENTILLY AVENUE 17 ST. CLAUDE AVENUE 19 HARRISON AVENUE 21 OAK STREET 23 PRYTANIA STREET 25 ORETHA CASTLE HALEY BOULEVARD 27 TULANE AVENUE
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Lafitte GREENWAY A SURPRISINGLY VERDANT BIKE RIDE FROM THE EDGE of the French Quarter to Bayou St. John via the linear park and bike path, the Greenway bridges Treme, the 7th Ward and Mid-City neighborhoods. When you’ve hit Broad Street, roll up to Hollywood’s latest or an independent hit at local fourplex The Broad Theater, or get a shot of espresso at roastery and coffeehouse Hey Coffee Co. Got a flat? Bayou Bicycles can patch up your ride. Your destination is likely in the sleepy, tree-lined cluster of bars and restaurants between Carrollton and the bayou, which calls for a blanket and a picnic — a surfand-turf po-boy from Parkway Bakery can fuel the ride home.
WHO YOU’LL see Families on outings, joggers, cyclists, maintenance workers in wide-haul golf carts WHERE TO eat Grilled oysters at Neyow’s, washed
down with a house-made bologna sandwich at Piece of Meat Butcher Shop across the street.
WHERE TO drink If you’ve made it from downtown to the Greenway’s end at the edge of Lakeview, reward yourself in Second Line Brewing’s beer garden.
WHERE TO GET a
good stretch Friends of the Lafitte Greenway (@lafittegreenway) hosts frequent yoga sessions, kickboxing classes and other outdoor activities, including movies in the park.
A D V O C AT E S TA F F P H O T O BY SCOT T THRELKELD
YOU oughta KNOW The space that’s now the Greenway has been used as a transportation and shipping corridor since the 18th century. The 2.6-mile path officially ends about a half mile before it’s supposed to — an active train track intersects with the path near North Carrollton Avenue.
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Esplanade AVENUE ESPLANADE AVENUE IS ONE OF NEW ORLEANS’ GRAND AVENUES, as scenic as it is historic. Today, residents and tourists alike cycle on its bike lanes under the canopy of oak trees, but the street follows a ridge line that once was a Native American portage route from the river to Bayou St. John. The avenue borders the original colony’s French Quarter grid, passes through Treme, the nation’s oldest continually African-American community with its mid-19th century mansions, and enters a residential stretch with streets named for the colony’s Spanish governors. There also are restaurants and a few historic landmarks along the way.
WHO YOU’LL see Parents with strollers, neighborhood residents, schoolchildren
WHERE TO eat The French Quarter end of the street
is near many options, but a couple of blocks from Bayou St. John is a cluster of eateries serving various cuisines including Cafe Degas (French), Lola’s (Spanish), 1000 Figs (Mediterranean), Santa Fe (Tex-Mex) and Nonna Mia (Italian).
WHERE TO drink Just off Esplanade on N. Lopez Street, Liuzza’s by the Track is a casual neighborhood bar known for its bloody marys and chilled schooners of beer. WHERE TO soak
up history Le Musee de Free People of Color honors New Orleans free people of color, the first of whom arrived in the area in 1722. The converted home at 2336 Esplanade Ave. is a repository for documents, displays art and artifacts and hosts events.
A D V O C AT E S TA F F P H O T O BY SOPHIA GERMER
YOU oughta
KNOW
A former U.S. Mint sits at the bottom of Esplanade Avenue, and in addition to a ground floor exhibit on the mint’s history, the building houses the New Orleans Jazz Museum. Holdings include instruments belonging to jazz legends including Louis Armstrong, and a wealth of archival photos.
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Freret STREET
THIS ONCE-SLEEPY UPTOWN STREET gentrified quickly after Hurricane Katrina and the floods; longtime businesses were pushed out and lots of restaurants moved in. Short and walkable, Freret is lively in the evenings, as well as weekend afternoons. Check out Crescent City Comics for all kinds of cool paraphernalia. Gasa Gasa is the music anchor of Freret, with affordable events seven nights a week.
YOU oughta
WHO YOU’LL see Neighborhood folks, Tulane
KNOW
and Loyola University students, people on dates.
WHERE TO eat The Company Burger and Dat Dog
serve up hamburgers and creative hot dogs. High Hat Cafe (pictured) and Wayfare are spots for modern Southern food.
WHERE TO drink Cure is a cocktail destination, while Bar Frances is a wine bar with a lovely patio.
It’s pronounced “ferETTE,” and was named for 19th-century mayor and businessman William Freret, who owned a cotton press.
THINK ink Abracadabra Tattoo and Sailor’s Cross Tattoo & Gallery are two shops on Freret that can take care of your inking and piercing needs. G AM B I T’ S CI T Y GU I D E 2019 11
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Bayou ROAD THE SHORT STRIP VEERING OFF ESPLANADE AVENUE AND CROSSING NORTH BROAD STREET before turning into Gentilly Boulevard has flourished in recent years, now filling several blocks with a cluster of restaurants, the Community Book Center, Domino Sound Record Shack used record store and more. It’s also home to a couple of arts institutions. The Joan Mitchell Center is a satellite program of the New Yorkbased foundation, and its small campus hosts artist residencies primarily for mid-career painters. Southern Rep Theatre opened a new home in the former St. Rose de Lima Church, part of a development housing other nonprofit organizations. The renovated church building has allowed Southern Rep to increase programming with a small cabaret space, classes and more.
WHO YOU’LL see Artists, neighbors. WHERE TO eat Pirogues is a casual neighborhood
hybrid, with regulars drinking cheap beer, Jell-O shots, frozen daiquiris or original cocktails — and snacking on a quixotic selection including loaded potato tots and happy hour sushi specials.
WHERE TO drink Among the oases of Caribbean culture in New Orleans is Coco Hut, a laid-back restaurant that serves jerk chicken or shrimp, mango and coconut fish specials and other Jamaican dishes. WHERE TO caffeinate Pagoda Cafeis the strip’s
coffee hub, with a menu including baked goods, vegetarian sandwiches and a sausage roll with Italian sausage from nearby Terranova Brothers sausages. The kitschy building is from a Chinese-themed laundry service from the 1920s and ’30s.
PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER / AP IM AGE S FOR AMERIC AN EXPRESS
YOU oughta
KNOW
New Orleans hosted a World’s Fair focused on the cotton industry in 1884, and though a state official absconded with much of its budget, the event was a success. The fair took place in Uptown New Orleans, but a commemorative monument was moved to a tiny triangle at North Tonti Street, where Bayou Road forks off Esplanade Avenue.
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Gentilly BOULEVARD NEW ORLEANS’ GENTILLY NEIGHBORHOOD is a mostly residential stretch of the city, and Gentilly Boulevard slices through the bottom third of the area, connecting it to New Orleans East and the Treme-Lafitte neighborhoods. The sights and sounds down the length of Gentilly Boulevard vary widely — one end houses the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots (pictured), home of the Louisiana Derby and the third oldest race track in the country, and the other end terminates in the Gentilly Terrace neighborhood, which was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1999 for its array of architectural styles, from bungalows and California Craftsman-style homes to Colonial Revival mini-mansions (many of which were built before 1940). Gentilly Boulevard is dotted with eateries serving American and New Orleans fare, cozy watering holes, barber shops and other locally owned small businesses.
A D V O C AT E P H O T O B Y SOPHIA GERMER
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WHO YOU’LL see Families, college students,
KNOW
bewildered drivers at the frenetic intersections of Gentilly Boulevard, DeSaix Boulevard and St. Bernard Avenue.
WHERE TO eat Catty Shack for Taco Tuesday (or any other day of the week that warrants a delicious Tex-Mex treat).
WHERE TO drink Jockey’s Pub & Sports Bar is an inexpensive watering hole with lots of local and domestic beers and some of the friendliest bartenders in town. WHERE TO go for fried chicken THAT DOESN’T REQUIRE WAITING IN LINE Locals love McKenzie’s Chicken-in-a-Box, opened in 1952. The take-out-only restaurant survived the bankruptcy of its parent chain, McKenzie’s Bakery, and thrives as a standalone neighborhood chicken joint with a polite price point.
There has been some form of public transportation running through the Gentilly area since as early as 1900. From 1926 to 1948, the Gentilly streetcar route traversed the French Quarter, traveled down present-day Franklin Avenue and ended at a terminal on Dreux Avenue near Lake Pontchartrain.
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St. Claude AVENUE THE THOROUGHFARE CONNECTS FAUBOURG MARIGNY, ST. ROCH, BYWATER AND THE LOWER 9TH WARD with a long stretch of restaurants, galleries, bars and late-night attractions, from the 24-hour rogue’s gallery outside Hank’s Supermarket parking lot (and on its Instagram, @hanks_supermarket) to the crowd spilling out of dance parties at Saturn Bar. The lounge trinity — AllWays Lounge, Hi-Ho Lounge and Siberia Lounge — at the intersection of St. Claude Avenue and Marigny Street packs drag, comedy, house music, singer-songwriters, Balkan music and everything else into its corners, and Kajun’s nearby is the go-to karaoke after-party. Travel up or down the road on second Saturdays for art gallery crawls, or stay put at your bar of choice and watch the parties pass by.
WHO YOU’LL see Gentrifier caricatures, lost Airbn-
bers, night owls, artists and service industry workers.
WHERE TO eat Romantic no-frills French bistro N7,
PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
YOU oughta
KNOW
Press Street at St. Claude is named Homer Plessy
tucked away behind a hidden courtyard off St. Claude
Way in honor of the
WHERE TO drink Queenie’s or Gene’s for a
New Orleans civil rights
giant neon daiquiri.
WHERE TO play
pinball
Kebab hosts a rotating selection of classic pinball machines from the Mystic Krewe of the Silver Ball, a sampling of the arcade at its elusive Pin Church.
hero who boarded a whites-only train car near the street, which led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous “separate but equal” ruling in 1896.
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Harrison AVENUE HARRISON AVENUE HAS EVERYTHING ITS VIBRANT LAKEVIEW NEIGHBORHOOD needs, including schools, banks, a library, dining, retailers, a grocery store, a public library, salons and more. The four-lane streets are manicured and on the end near New Orleans City Park provide free parking in lots on the neutral ground. The ambience is that of a cohesive neighborhood, where baristas know their customers’ names and the variety of dining options draws visitors from other parts of the city. Shopping includes the longtime anchor Little Miss Muffin, Angelique and Swoon clothing stores and Lil Pnuts toy store.
YOU oughta
WHO YOU’LL see Parents with strollers,
KNOW
neighborhood residents, schoolchildren
WHERE TO eat Chef Susan Spicer’s casual eatery Mondo for wood-fired pizzas, fish and locally sourced produce or Cava for Creole/Cajun dishes.
WHERE TO drink Top-shelf margaritas at El Gato Negro, or grab a stool at the neighborhood watering hole Parlay’s, which reportedly has the longest bar in Orleans Parish.
shop outside The Harrison Avenue Marketplace takes over the parking lot of Lakeview Grocery on the second Wednesday of most months, with an evening (5 p.m.-8:30 p.m.) of live music and 70 vendors offering arts and crafts, food, services and more.
WHERE TO
PHOTO BY CHERYL GERBER
West End Boulevard, which cuts perpendicular across Harrison Avenue, used to be the New Canal Basin, a waterway that allowed boat traffic between downtown and Lake Pontchartrain between 1835 and the 1950s, when it was filled and turned into a roadway.
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UPTOWN
at Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 or
DOWNTOWN at St. Louis Cemetery No. 1
Walking tours through some of New Orleans historic cemeteries. Reserve now at 504-525-3377 or at www.SaveOurCemeteries.org
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The ONLY Non-Profit Touring Organization Dedicated to Cemetery Promotion, Preservation, Restoration & Education.
Oak STREET BY DAY IT’S A RELAXED COMMERCIAL CORRIDOR that’s home to decades-old shops as well as newer businesses including the Ra Shop and Japanese cutlery store Coutelier NOLA. More Fun Comics is a packed (but organized) trove of comic books and related items; there are new-to-you outfits at Glue Clothing Exchange; or take a respite from shopping with a yoga class or some hot coffee and vegan pastries at the grotto-like Z’otz. After dark, the mood changes to date night, dining, music and dancing, particularly at Maple Leaf Bar, which hosts Rebirth Brass Band on Tuesdays and schedules jazz musicians most other nights.
WHO YOU’LL see Neighborhood residents, university students, millennials.
WHERE TO eat Breakfast or lunch comes with live
music at Live Oak Cafe. For dinner there are New Orleans dishes at Jacques-Imo’s Cafe or “coastal Cajun” cuisine at DTB (Down The Bayou).
WHERE TO drink The wine bar Oak and Ale on Oak. The two bars share a deck so you can appease cravings for wine and craft beer at the same place. WHERE TO do Mardi IN THE SUMMERTIME
Gras
The Krewe of O.A.K. (Outrageous And Kinky) stages a walking Mardi Gras parade the last weekend in August attended by as many as 20,000 people. It starts at Maple Leaf Bar (pictured) and includes krewe royalty and wacky costumes.
A D V O C AT E S TA F F P H O T O BY SOPHIA GERMER
YOU oughta
KNOW
The annual Oak Street Po-boy Festival in early November transforms the street into a pedestrian midway for a full day of live music and po-boys from 30 vendors showcasing versions of the sandwiches ranging from roast beef to escargot.
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Prytania STREET
A D V O C AT E S TA F F RUNNING VERY ROUGHLY PARALLEL TO ITS MORE PHOTO BY A . J. SI SCO FAMOUS SISTERS, St. Charles Avenue and Magazine Street, Prytania Street offers shopping, dining and strolling. Creole Creamery is an ice cream favorite; Gracious Bakery has the (baked) goods; and St. James Cheese Company offers charcuterie. Or chow down on an overstuffed po-boy from Parran’s or Zara’s Lil’ Giant Supermarket.
YOU oughta
WHO YOU’LL see College kids, Uptown families and
KNOW
mostly locals.
WHERE TO eat Upperline and Le Crepe Nanou are local institutions.
WHERE TO drink The small, laid-back Prytania Bar offers generously poured cocktails, food and sometimes live music. WHERE TO catch
a flick
The Prytania Theatre, which just turned 100, is the only single-screen theater in town and shows new movies as well as the classics.
According to Sally Asher, author of “Hope & New Orleans: A History of Crescent City Street Names,” the Roman-sounding word Prytania is an invention: “The word Prytania does not exist anywhere except in the streets of New Orleans.”
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Oretha Castle Haley BLVD. KNOWN TO LOCALS AS O.C. HALEY, this rejuvenated business corridor in Central City is a cultural and dining destination for city residents as well as tourists. The Southern Food & Beverage Museum has exhibits, demonstrations, kids’ programs and classes, plus it houses The Museum of the American Cocktail. Ashe Cultural Arts Center offers classes, social events, theater, interactive programs and art exhibits focusing on African heritage. The New Orleans Jazz Market stages periodic concerts by the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, and its Bolden Bar is open Thursday through Saturday nights with free live music. Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center shows foreign, independent and alternative films.
WHO YOU’LL see The culturally curious, neighborhood residents, locals dining out.
WHERE TO eat Cafe Reconcile, a restaurant training ground for at-risk youth, serves traditional New Orleans dishes during weekday lunches.
WHERE TO drink Bolden Bar at New Orleans Jazz Market or Casa Borrega,which serves Mexico City street food, margaritas, mezcal and drinks from Cuba and Brazil in a funky folk art-bedecked restaurant with live music in the courtyard Friday and Saturday. WHERE TO watch
others get hammered
The Friday Night Fights Gym holds outdoor fights three times a year, drawing more than 1,000 spectators to watch amateur boxing matches as well as intermissions filled with spectacles including dance routines, burlesque, drag shows and more.
YOU oughta
KNOW
Known as Dryades Street until the late 1980s, this neighborhood was a hub for minority-owned businesses — African-American, Jewish, Italian and German. During the Jim Crow era, it became a hotspot for hearing black musicians barred from other venues and was an incubator for the civil rights movement.
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VICTORY
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Tulane AVENUE TULANE AVENUE IS A WIDE-RANGING CROSS-SECTION of the city it traverses. On its downtown terminus is the main branch of the New Orleans Public Library, the mammoth defunct Charity Hospital (pictured), a few national hotel chains and frou-frou dining venues and towering office buildings. Once you’ve passed the new biomedical corridor comprising three major hospitals, things are decidedly less shiny (perhaps most accurately illustrated by the city’s justice district, anchored by the shabby-chic Criminal District Court), but what is New Orleans without the requisite amount of grit. There are plenty of hidden gems from end-to-end.
A D V O C AT E S TA F F P H O T O BY SOPHIA GERMER
WHO YOU’LL see Lawyers, cops, plaintiffs, defen-
YOU oughta
WHERE TO eat World Famous Anita’s Grill serves
The corner of Tulane and South Jefferson Davis Parkway once was the home of the S.J. Peter Key Club “Teen Canteen” during World War II. It opened in 1944 as a gathering space for teenagers to dance, play parlor games and listen to music. A memorial obelisk was constructed near the site to commemorate the fallen soldiers that once called Mid-City home.
dants, medical residents, hipsters and the errant New Orleans Saints fan during football season.
inexpensive, rib-sticking breakfast and lunch specials daily. Note: Anita’s is cash-only.
WHERE TO drink Bottles, growlers and flights, oh my! 504 Craft Beer Reserve is a haven for beer drinkers. The bar boasts a rotating cast of 14 beers on draft and plenty of individual local, domestic and imported bottles that can be purchased as a mix-and-match six-pack. WHERE TO catch
40 winks
The Site 61 Hostel’s sci-fi-themed rooms offer the perfect amount of kitsch for your buck. The 451 Lounge’s decor is inspired by Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (think collages of burning books and paperbacks “hidden” in air conditioning vents), and the steampunk-themed lobby is dotted with space aliens, UFOs and Star Wars paraphernalia.
KNOW
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