The Old U.S. Mint: The Only Mint That Stamped Coins for Two Nations
The Mint That Served Two NationsThe Old U.S. Mint at the edge of the French Quarter holds a distinction no other building in America can claim: it's the only mint facility that produced both United...
Lincoln Beach: The Amusement Park That Jim Crow Built and Joy Reclaimed
The Beach That Jim Crow BuiltFrom 1939 to 1965, Lincoln Beach was the place where Black New Orleanians went to have fun — because it was the only place they were allowed. During the Jim Crow era of...
Monkey Hill: The Hill They Built So New Orleans Kids Could See One
The Hill They Built for Kids Who'd Never Seen OneIn a city that sits below sea level, where the highest natural point is a levee and the closest thing to a mountain is a highway overpass, somebody ...
Sea-Saint Studios: The Gentilly Studio Where New Orleans Music Got Its Sound
The Studio Where New Orleans Sounded Like ItselfFor more than thirty years, a nondescript building at 3809 Clematis Street in Gentilly was the most important recording studio in New Orleans — and o...
St. Louis Cemetery III: The Quiet City of the Dead on Esplanade Avenue
The Quiet Cemetery at the End of the CanalSt. Louis Cemetery No. 3 doesn't get the fame of its older siblings. Cemetery No. 1, right at the edge of the French Quarter, draws the crowds — tour group...
Audubon Park: From Sugar Plantation to Uptown's 350-Acre Living Room
From Sugar Plantation to Urban ParadiseBefore Audubon Park was the place where Uptowners jogged under ancient oaks and kids fed ducks by the lagoon, it was a sugar plantation. Etienne de Bore, New ...
Cafe Du Monde: Two Items, 160 Years, and No Closing Time
Two Items, 160 Years, No Closing TimeThere are restaurants in New Orleans with menus the length of novels, wine lists that require their own table of contents, and reservation systems that would ma...
Popeye & Pals: Saturday Mornings, New Orleans Style
Every Saturday morning, kids across New Orleans piled onto the couch for one reason: Popeye cartoons, a live studio audience, and fried chicken. It was the greatest children's show only New O...
Al Scramuzza: The Crawfish King of New Orleans
"Seafood City, very pretty! You'll never be a looza, if you come see Al Scramuzza!" If you lived in New Orleans anytime between the 1960s and the 2000s, that jingle is lodged permanently in your ...
Maison Blanche: The White House of Canal Street
For generations of New Orleanians, Christmas didn't officially start until the Maison Blanche window displays went up on Canal Street. Maison Blanche wasn't just a department store. It was a desti...
K&B Drugstore: The Purple Paradise New Orleans Never Got Over
If you grew up in New Orleans, you didn't go to the drugstore. You went to K&B. For more than six decades, Katz & Besthoff wasn't just a pharmacy chain — it was part of the fabric of daily...
Gone But Not Forgotten: The Most Missed Old New Orleans Businesses and Landmarks
The Places That Made Us Who We AreNew Orleans is a city that holds onto things. We keep our traditions, our recipes, our grudges, and our second lines. But even here, time has a way of taking thing...
The Dixie Brewery: A New Orleans Beer That Refused to Die
Dixie Beer survived two World Wars, Prohibition, and the rise of national beer brands. It took a hurricane to finally shut the doors — but even then, the story wasn't over. The Dixie Brewery at 24...
The Plaza Tower: 45 Stories of Nothing
It's been empty for over two decades. You can see it from miles away. And nobody can figure out what to do with it. The Plaza Tower rises 45 stories above the Central Business District, a stark co...
The Jax Brewery: From Beer to Boutiques on the Mississippi
For 84 years, the Jax Brewery made beer on the banks of the Mississippi. Now it sells souvenirs. Progress is complicated. The Jackson Brewery building stands on Decatur Street at the edge of the F...
The Market Street Power Plant: New Orleans' Biggest What-If
It powered a city for decades. Now it just sits there, waiting for someone to figure out what to do with it. On the banks of the Mississippi River, wedged between the Warehouse District and the Co...
The St. Charles Streetcar: The Oldest Line in the World, Still Rolling
The St. Charles streetcar is the oldest continuously operating street railway in the world. But the line you ride today isn't quite the one your great-grandmother rode. The St. Charles Streetcar i...
D.H. Holmes: Meet Me Under the Clock
"Meet me under the clock at Holmes." For more than a century, every New Orleanian knew exactly what that meant. D.H. Holmes was the grand old man of Canal Street department stores. Founded in 1842...
The Rivergate: The Masterpiece New Orleans Traded for a Casino
They tore down a masterpiece to build a casino. And New Orleans is still arguing about it. The Rivergate Exhibition Hall stood at the foot of Canal Street for barely three decades, but its demolit...
The Dew Drop Inn: Where American Music Found Its Voice
Before Motown, before Stax, before the world paid attention, the Dew Drop Inn was where it was happening. At 2836 LaSalle Street in Central City, a modest building housed one of the most important...
