Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday in New Orleans
There is a moment every March, usually on the third Sunday, when something extraordinary happens on the streets of Central City and Mid-City. No barricades, no Ticketmaster presale, no VIP section....
New Orleans has a long and rich history of brilliant inventions, many of which have had a hugely positive impact on the world. From the Grain Elevator to the Ferris Wheel, New Orleans has given us ...
Flying Cockroaches: The Palmetto Bug That Wants to Be Your Roommate
The Palmetto Bug: A Roach by Any Other NameNew Orleanians don't have cockroaches. They have palmetto bugs. The distinction is important — not biologically, since they are absolutely cockroaches, bu...
Humidity: New Orleans' Most Brutal Unifier
The Great UnifierThere are things that divide New Orleanians — uptown versus downtown, Zulu versus Rex, dry roux versus dark roux. And then there is the one thing that unites every single person wh...
Short-Term Rentals: The Pest That's Eating New Orleans Neighborhoods
The Neighbor You Never MeetThere was a time when the house next door had a neighbor in it — someone who borrowed your lawnmower, waved from the porch, and yelled at your kids for cutting through th...
Buck Moth Caterpillars: New Orleans' Annual Springtime Aerial Assault
The Annual Aerial AssaultEvery spring, right around April, when the live oaks are putting out their new leaves and the azaleas are in full bloom and everything in New Orleans looks like a garden pa...
Potholes: Fill Them With Beads, Crawfish, Hopes, and Dreams
Fill Them With Beads, Crawfish, Hopes, and DreamsA pothole is a structural failure in the road surface — usually asphalt pavement — caused by water in the underlying soil structure and traffic pass...
River Rats: They Live in the Palm Trees and They Want Your Dinner
They Live in the Palm Trees and They Want Your LeftoversRiver rats are the uninvited dinner guests of the French Quarter — sleek, fast, and bold enough to scamper across a restaurant table while yo...
Traffic Cameras: The Greatest Bane of Opening Your Mailbox
The Greatest Bane of Opening the MailboxThere are few things that can ruin a New Orleanian's day faster than opening the mailbox and finding a traffic camera citation. That slim envelope — the one ...
Carpetbaggers: The Outsiders Who Arrived With a Plan to Fix Everything
The Outsiders Who Know BetterThe word "carpetbagger" dates to Reconstruction, when outsider opportunists from the North moved South with their belongings in cheap carpet-fabric bags, perceived by l...
Nutria: The Orange-Toothed Rodent Eating Louisiana's Coastline
The Orange-Toothed Rodent Eating Louisiana's CoastlineThe nutria is a herbivorous, semiaquatic, web-footed rodent with bright orange incisors and a face that only a mother nutria could love. Origin...
Porch Package Pirates: They See Your Amazon Box Before You Do
They See Your Amazon Box Before You DoPorch package pirates scamper around New Orleans night and day like mice going after cheese. They can be found on porches and stoops across the city, from Upto...
Bourbon Street Sauce: The Corrosive Stench of a Damn Good Time
The Stench of a Good TimeNobody knows exactly what Bourbon Street Sauce is. It's not a recipe. It's not a condiment. It's the corrosive, vile, nausea-inducing film that coats the streets and sidewa...
Bike Thieves: The Special Place in Hell Reserved for These People
A Rite of Passage You'd Rather SkipA handful of experiences in New Orleans can be considered a rite of passage to living in the city — getting the baby in the king cake, having your car towed durin...
Hangovers: The Price of Admission to New Orleans' Nightlife
The Price of AdmissionThe hangover is New Orleans' most democratic affliction — a bipartisan, interfaith, cross-cultural experience that unites tourists and locals, saints and sinners, in the share...
Traffic: The Daily Pileup of Anger, Potholes, and Honking Horns
The Daily PileupNew Orleans traffic is not like traffic in other cities. In most cities, traffic is a function of too many cars and not enough roads. In New Orleans, traffic is a function of too ma...
Fire Ants: The Invisible Army That Ruins Every Picnic in New Orleans
The Invisible Army Beneath Your FeetFire ants are everywhere in New Orleans — in parks, driveways, sidewalk cracks, and usually right where you just sat down to watch some live music. You don't see...
The Possum: New Orleans' Ugly, Misunderstood, Mosquito-Eating Neighbor
The Misunderstood MarsupialThe possum is New Orleans' most unfairly maligned neighbor. They're ugly — let's get that out of the way first. With their ratlike tails, beady eyes, and tendency to hiss...
Sweat: The Common Denominator That Binds All New Orleanians
The Common DenominatorSweat is the great equalizer of New Orleans. It doesn't matter if you're the mayor or a busker on Royal Street, a surgeon at Ochsner or a line cook on Magazine — from May thro...
Parking Tickets: The Orange Envelope of Doom Under Your Windshield
The Orange Envelope of DoomThere are few sights more gut-wrenching in New Orleans than returning to your car and seeing a bright orange envelope tucked under the windshield wiper. That envelope con...
