Litterers: Tarnishing the Beauty of New Orleans One Wrapper at a Time
Tarnishing the Beauty One Wrapper at a TimeNew Orleans is one of the most beautiful cities in America. The live oaks arch over the avenues like cathedral ceilings. The shotgun houses line up in row...
Scammers: I Bet I Know Where You Got Your Shoes
I Bet I Know Where You Got Your ShoesYou will hear the line before you see the person delivering it. You will be walking down Bourbon Street or through Jackson Square or along Decatur, minding your...
Swamp Ass: The Not-So-Pleasant Consequence of New Orleans' Climate
The Condition That Binds UsThere are things about living in New Orleans that the tourism board does not put on the brochure. The potholes, sure. The crime, occasionally. But swamp ass? Never. And y...
Weed Rats: Most Often Found in the NOPD Evidence Room
Most Often Found in the Evidence RoomEvery city has its unique wildlife. New Orleans has the weed rat — a creature most commonly spotted not in the swamps or the gutters but in the NOPD evidence ro...
Entergy: Keeping the Crescent City Powered, Most of the Time
Keeping the Lights On, Most of the TimeEntergy New Orleans is the utility company that provides electricity to the Crescent City, and it does so with the consistency of a jazz musician who shows up...
Flood Insurance: The Most Expensive Piece of Paper in Your Filing Cabinet
The Most Expensive Piece of Paper in Your Filing CabinetOwning a home in New Orleans means accepting certain truths. The foundation will shift. The plumbing will be mysterious. And every year, you ...
Hurricanes: The Powerful Named Storms That Test This City Every Year
They Have NamesThat is the thing about hurricanes that separates them from every other pest on this list. They get names. And in New Orleans, those names carry weight the way saints' names carry we...
Mosquitos: The Unofficial State Bird of Louisiana
The Unofficial State BirdIf New Orleans had an honest tourism campaign, it would include an asterisk. Come for the music, the food, the culture — and bring bug spray, because the mosquitos here are...
Salt Water Intrusion: The Gulf of Mexico Is Slowly Coming for Your Drinking Water
The Gulf Is Coming UpriverOf all the pests that plague New Orleans, this one does not buzz, bite, or steal your packages. It creeps. Slowly, invisibly, and with the patience of geology, salt water ...
The Political Machine: Deep-Rooted Networks Powered by Money and Gatekeepers
Deep Roots, Long MemoriesIn most American cities, politics is a profession. In New Orleans, it is a family business. The political machine that has powered this city for generations is not a single...
City Hall: Take a Number, Wait, Wonder, Stare, Hope, Pray, Pay
Take a NumberThere are certain inevitabilities in New Orleans life. You will sweat through your shirt in July. You will argue about the best po-boy. And at some point, no matter how long you have a...
The College Kids: Every August They Return for a Bourbon Street Education
Every August, They ReturnYou can set your calendar by it. Somewhere around the second week of August, before the heat has even thought about breaking, the migration begins. SUVs with out-of-state p...
Construction: Always Under Construction, Never Quite Finished
Always Under Construction, Never Quite FinishedIn New Orleans, our foundations are always having to be rebuilt. Improvements to drain the rain water and to keep us from sinking are constant. The ci...
Drunks: Loud, Obnoxious, and Thinking the World Is Their Urinal
Loud, Obnoxious, and Leavin' a MessIn a city with no last call, go-cups on every corner, and a Bourbon Street that operates as a 24-hour open-air bar, drunks are not a bug in the system — they are ...
The Heat: It Smothers Everything and Everyone in New Orleans
It Smothers EverythingIf humidity is New Orleans' most brutal unifier, the heat is its enforcer. The heat smothers any chance of outdoor activity from June through September. It pairs with humidity...
No Left Turns: The Three Most Frustrating Words in New Orleans Driving
The Three Most Frustrating Words in New OrleansNo Left Turn. Three words that are seen at nearly every intersection while driving down the likes of Canal and Broad Streets. Three words that confoun...
DJ Jubilee: The Bounce Music Pioneer Who Put Twerk on Tape
The Man Who Made a City TwerkBorn Jerome Temple and raised in the St. Thomas Housing Projects, DJ Jubilee is one of the founding fathers of New Orleans bounce music — the high-energy, call-and-resp...
King Oliver: The Jazz Cornetist Who Mentored Louis Armstrong
The King Before ArmstrongBefore Louis Armstrong became the most famous jazz musician in the world, he had a teacher. That teacher was Joe "King" Oliver, a cornet player and bandleader whose influen...
Fats Domino: The Quiet King of Rock and Roll from the Lower Ninth Ward
The Quiet King of Rock and RollAntoine Domino Jr. did not look like a rock and roll revolutionary. He was short, round, soft-spoken, and unfailingly polite — the opposite of the wild men who define...
Frankie Ford: Sea Cruise and the Rock and Roll Life
Sea Cruise and the Rock and Roll LifeFrankie Ford had one massive hit, and it was enough to make him a New Orleans legend. "Sea Cruise," released in 1959, is one of those songs that captures an ent...
