Oliver Pollock: The Man Who May Have Invented the Dollar Sign
The Man Who May Have Invented the Dollar SignOliver Pollock might be responsible for the most widely recognized symbol in the world, and almost nobody has heard of him. He's the man most often cred...
Danny Granger: Metairie's Most Improved
Metairie's Most ImprovedDanny Granger was born in New Orleans in 1983 and grew up in Metairie, where he became one of the most dominant high school basketball players the metro area had ever seen —...
Ben Turpin: The First Pie in the Face
The First Pie in the FaceBefore there was slapstick comedy as we know it, before Laurel and Hardy, before the Three Stooges, there was a cross-eyed kid from New Orleans named Ben Turpin who helped ...
Wardell Quezergue: The Creole Beethoven
The Creole BeethovenIf you've ever heard "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jean Knight, or "Barefootin'" by Robert Parker, or "Chapel of Love" by the Dixie Cups, you've heard Wardell Quezergue's work — even if yo...
Tommy Wiseau: Oh Hi, Chalmette
Oh Hi, ChalmetteNobody knows exactly where Tommy Wiseau comes from, which is fitting for a man who made the most mysteriously funded, bizarrely compelling bad movie in the history of cinema. What w...
Landon Collins: Algiers to the NFL
Algiers to the NFLLandon Collins was born in New Orleans in 1994 and grew up in Algiers, on the West Bank side of the river. He was a kid from the neighborhood, playing football on the same fields ...
Emile Weil: The Man Who Built the Saenger
The Man Who Built the SaengerIf you've ever walked into the Saenger Theatre on Canal Street — looked up at that ceiling painted like a Mediterranean night sky, complete with twinkling stars and dri...
B.G.: The Kid Who Invented Bling
The Kid Who Invented BlingChristopher Dorsey was twelve years old when he signed with Cash Money Records. Twelve. He was a kid from the Freret neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans — his father had be...
The Hot Boys: Uptown's Supergroup
Uptown's SupergroupIn the summer of 1997, Cash Money Records did something that would change hip-hop: they put four young rappers from Uptown New Orleans together and called them the Hot Boys. B.G....
Magnolia's GhostJames Tapp Jr. grew up in the Magnolia Projects and called himself Magnolia Slim before the world knew him as Soulja Slim. He attended Cohen High School before dropping out, and by ...
Baby Built an EmpireBryan Williams was born in New Orleans in 1969 and went unnamed for nearly a month. They just called him Baby. The nickname stuck, and decades later, when he was running one of ...
Mannie Fresh: The Beat Behind Cash Money
The Beat Behind Cash MoneyIn the late nineties, when Cash Money Records went from a New Orleans independent label to the biggest force in hip-hop, everyone knew the names out front — Lil Wayne, Juv...
Robert Charles: The Man Who Fought Back
The Man Who Fought BackIn the summer of 1900, New Orleans erupted in one of the most violent race riots in American history. At its center was Robert Charles — a self-educated Black laborer from Mi...
Harold Battiste: The Man Behind Everyone Else's Hits
The Man Behind Everyone Else's HitsHarold Battiste arranged "You Send Me" for Sam Cooke. Let that sink in. One of the most important songs in the history of popular music — the song that launched S...
John Goodman: New Orleans' Favorite Adopted Son
New Orleans' Favorite Adopted SonJohn Goodman isn't from New Orleans. He was born in Missouri, raised in the Midwest, and became famous playing a furniture store owner from Lanford, Illinois, on Ro...
Poppy Z. Brite: New Orleans' Gothic Laureate
New Orleans' Gothic LaureateIn the early nineties, a young writer named Poppy Z. Brite published a novel called Lost Souls that dropped readers into a world of vampires, goth culture, and the noctu...
Papa Celestin: Four Thousand People Marched in His Funeral
Four Thousand People Marched in His FuneralWhen Papa Celestin died on December 15, 1954, four thousand people marched in his funeral parade through the streets of New Orleans. That tells you everyt...
Bunk Johnson: The Trumpet Player They Had to Find
The Trumpet Player They Had to FindIn the late 1930s, two music historians named William Russell and Frederic Ramsey Jr. were writing a book about the origins of jazz when they kept hearing about a...
Dorothy Mae Taylor: The Woman Who Changed Mardi Gras
The Woman Who Changed Mardi GrasIn 1992, Dorothy Mae Taylor did something that shook New Orleans to its foundations. She authored a city council ordinance requiring Mardi Gras krewes to sign anti-d...
Toya Johnson: New Orleans' Resilience Defined
Toya's StoryToya Johnson was born in New Orleans in 1983, and her story is one of the most New Orleans stories there is — a teenage girl from the city who became a mother at fifteen, married one of...
