Mitch Landrieu: The Mayor Who Took the Statues Down
The Mayor Who Took the Statues DownMitchell Joseph Landrieu was born on August 16, 1960, in New Orleans — the fifth of Moon Landrieu's nine children, the brother of Senator Mary Landrieu, and the i...
Stassi Schroeder: New Orleans' Next Level Basic
New Orleans' Next Level BasicStassi Schroeder was born in New Orleans in 1988, and if you know anything about her, you know she has never been shy about claiming that fact. The city shaped her pers...
Hong Chau: From a Refugee Camp to the Oscars
From a Refugee Camp to the OscarsHong Chau's story starts before she was born. In 1979, her parents fled Vietnam as part of the desperate exodus of boat people — refugees risking everything on over...
Will Clark: Will the Thrill from New Orleans
Will the ThrillBefore Peyton and Eli Manning put Newman School on the national sports map, there was another New Orleans kid who showed up to the big leagues and immediately started hitting like he...
$uicideboy$: New Orleans' Dark Underground
New Orleans' Dark UndergroundIn 2013, two cousins from New Orleans — Scott Arceneaux Jr. and Aristos Petrou — made a pact. No plan B. Music or nothing. They started uploading tracks to SoundCloud u...
Magnolia Shorty: The Queen of Bounce
The Queen of BounceRenetta Lowe grew up in the Magnolia Projects, one of the toughest housing developments in New Orleans. Soulja Slim, who grew up in the same neighborhood and went by Magnolia Sli...
Cowboy Mouth: The Band That Never Stopped Playing
The Band That Never Stopped PlayingIf you've never seen Cowboy Mouth live, you haven't experienced the full range of what a New Orleans rock band can do to a room. Fred LeBlanc stands behind his dr...
Bryan Batt: From Newman to Mad Men
From Newman to Mad MenBryan Batt grew up in a New Orleans family that ran one of the city's most beloved institutions — Pontchartrain Beach amusement park. He went to Newman School, then Tulane, an...
Leander Perez: The Political Boss of Plaquemines
The Political Boss of PlaqueminesFor the better part of four decades, one man controlled everything that happened in Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes — every election, every oil lease, every do...
Henry Howard: The Architect Who Built the Plantations
The Architect Who Built the PlantationsIf you've ever driven River Road and marveled at the antebellum plantation houses — the massive columns, the wide galleries, the kind of architecture that mak...
Snooks Eaglin: The Human Jukebox
The Human JukeboxSnooks Eaglin could play anything. And we mean anything. Blues, rock and roll, jazz, country, Latin, pop standards — the man claimed to know about 2,500 songs, and if you shouted a...
Better Than Ezra: Good Enough for New Orleans
Good Enough for New OrleansIn the early nineties, if you were a college kid in Louisiana and you went to a bar, there was a very good chance you heard Better Than Ezra before you heard them on the ...
John Minor Wisdom: The Judge Who Made Civil Rights the Law
The Judge Who Made Civil Rights the LawWhen people talk about the civil rights movement in the South, they usually talk about marchers and preachers and activists. They don't talk enough about judg...
A.P. Tureaud: The Lawyer Who Desegregated New Orleans
The Lawyer Who Desegregated New OrleansBefore Ruby Bridges walked through those doors at William Frantz Elementary School in 1960, somebody had to file the lawsuit. That somebody was Alexander Pier...
Danny Barker: The Man Who Saved New Orleans Jazz
The Man Who Saved New Orleans JazzBy the 1960s, traditional New Orleans jazz was dying. The old musicians were passing away, the young ones were playing rock and roll or rhythm and blues, and the b...
James Booker: The Greatest Piano Player Nobody Knew
The Greatest Piano Player Nobody KnewIf you asked Dr. John who the best pianist in New Orleans was, he wouldn't hesitate. Harry Connick Jr. would tell you the same thing. So would Allen Toussaint. ...
Pierre Lafitte: The Pirate's Brother
The Pirate's BrotherPierre Lafitte was born around 1770, likely in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now Haiti), and along with his younger brother Jean, became one of the most notorious smuggle...
James Gallier Jr.: The Architect Who Gave New Orleans Its Face
The Architect Who Gave New Orleans Its FaceJames Gallier Jr. was born in 1827 in New Orleans, Louisiana — the son of James Gallier Sr., an Irish-born architect who had already established himself a...
Earl King: The King Who Made New Orleans an R&B Empire
The King Who Made New Orleans an R&B EmpireEarl King was born Earl Silas Johnson IV on February 7, 1934, in New Orleans, Louisiana. He grew up listening to Guitar Slim, whose wild stage perform...
Ruthie the Duck Girl: The French Quarter's Finest
The French Quarter's Roller-Skating Duck LadyEvery great city needs its characters — the people who refuse to live by anyone else's rules, who turn the sidewalk into a stage and make you question w...
