Carrollton Avenue: From a Separate Town to the Heart of the City

Carrollton Avenue: From a Separate Town to the Heart of the City

Carrollton Avenue is one of those New Orleans streets that carries an entire lost world in its name. Before it was a street in New Orleans, Carrollton was its own town—an independent municipality with its own government, its own identity, and its own streetcar line. The city of New Orleans eventually absorbed Carrollton in 1874, but the avenue that bears its name still feels like a main street of a small town that happens to exist inside a major city.

History

The town of Carrollton was founded in the 1830s and named for General William Carroll, a hero of the Battle of New Orleans. It grew up around the terminus of the New Orleans and Carrollton Railroad, one of the earliest streetcar lines in the world. The town had its own courthouse, which still stands today as a school building on the avenue. When New Orleans annexed Carrollton, the main street of the old town became Carrollton Avenue, stretching from the Riverbend all the way to City Park and beyond.

The Neighborhoods

Carrollton Avenue begins at the Riverbend, where St. Charles Avenue curves and the streetcar makes its turn. From there it runs through the Carrollton neighborhood, crosses the busy intersection at Claiborne Avenue, passes through Mid-City, and terminates near City Park. The Riverbend end is a charming commercial node of restaurants, bars, and shops catering to Tulane and Loyola students as well as neighborhood regulars. The Mid-City stretch is more diverse and working-class, with a mix of Creole cottages, shotgun houses, and small businesses.

Key Landmarks and Businesses

The Camellia Grill at 626 South Carrollton is one of the most beloved diners in New Orleans—a white-columned lunch counter where the waiters perform as much as they serve and the pecan waffles are legendary. Brocato's, the century-old Sicilian ice cream and pastry shop, operated on Carrollton for years before moving to its current Mid-City location. Oak Street, which intersects Carrollton at the Riverbend, is a thriving strip of local businesses including the Maple Leaf Bar, one of the best live music venues in the city. Jacques-Imo's Café, the funky Uptown restaurant known for over-the-top Creole cooking, sits just off Carrollton on Oak Street. And the streetcar barn where the St. Charles line cars are maintained sits at the Carrollton end of the route.

Small Town in a Big City

Carrollton Avenue retains a small-town feel that most of New Orleans has lost. People know their neighbors here. The same families have been eating at the Camellia Grill for three and four generations. The oaks along the neutral ground are some of the oldest in the city. Walking Carrollton from the Riverbend to City Park, you get the sense that this was once a separate place—and in many ways, it still is.