Off the Beaten Path in New Orleans
Written: Jun 15 '00 (Updated Jan 23 '02)
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Pros: Few tourists, unique, different, a "real" NOLA experience
Cons: None at all
The Bottom Line: Any excuse for a visit to the "Big Easy"
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| Howard_Creech's Full Review: New Orleans |
New Orleans has always been my favorite American city. A fun loving, colorful, loud, exotic city of almost two million improbably built in the middle of a swamp. The birthplace of American popular music, an epicure's delight, a city defined by its characters, in love with its history, proud of its architecture, and famed for its artistry. Here is a short list of "real" New Orleans attractions.
Tujague's Restaurant. One of New Orleans oldest restaurants, with exceptional creole cuisine, and first rate service. Open daily 11am-3pm and 5pm to 10:30pm (11:00pm Fri & Sat) 3 course creole lunches and 6 course creole dinners. 823 Decatur St. (right across from the French Market) call 525-8676 for information. The food is delicious, portions are large, and prices are reasonable.
Picnicing New Orleans style. Buy a Muffaletta (this sandwich is unique to New Orleans...it consists of a round loaf of specially baked Italian bread, imported Italian cold cuts, cheeses, and olive salad) a quarter Muffaletta will usually feed one adult. Buy them at the Central Grocery (a NOLA institution for many decades) 923 Decatur St. There are a few seats in the rear of this wonderful "old world" style Alimentari-Italian grocery, but most people get their sandwiches to go. If the Central Grocery is too crowded, walk a couple of doors down to the Progress Grocery, 915 Decatur St. their Muffalettas are just as good. Buy some soda (Barq's grape or root beer, are the local "favs"), grab a handful of napkins, and walk over to the moonwalk and people watch while you eat lunch.
St. Roch (pronounced St. Rock in NOLA) Shrine and Cemeteries 1&2. Just after the civil war New Orleans was hit with a yellow fever epidemic. A local priest (father Peter Leonard Thevis) asked his flock to pray to St. Roch (the patron saint of plague suffers) to save them from the epidemic. Father Thevis' flock was spared and he built a small chapel dedicated to St. Roch. The chapel became a popular pilgrimage site for the sick and suffering. Many were miraculously cured. They left behind a collection of crutches, canes, false limbs, fake eyeballs, plaster organs and other weird and bizarre items, which now fill the chapel 945-5961
1725 St. Roch Ave.
Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop (941 Bourbon St.) This small, cozy, friendly neighborhood bar may be the oldest building in the Mississippi Valley. Legend has it that the Pirate Jean Lafitte used the blacksmith shop here as a front to sell goods plundered on the high seas (and trade illegally in slaves) Its been a bar since World War Two, and is especially popular among local artists and writers.
Right across the street is the Clover Grill (900 Bourbon St) another New Orleans institution. Open twenty four hours a day, This little diner serves the best breakfasts and best burgers (they're cooked under a hubcap to seal in the juices) in the French Quarter. Stop in even if you aren't hungry, the menu and the staff are a hoot.
Just out of the French Quarter is Checkpoint Charlie's 501 Esplanade Ave. 949-7012, Live music (mostly R&R) a full bar, food, pool, and a coin op laundromat (Julia Roberts called Washington, D. C. from the pay phone in the laundromat in "The Pelican Brief") This place is open twenty four hours a day, so you can shoot a couple games of eight ball, wash your duds, have a burger, and drink a couple of beers even after (almost) everything else in the Quarter is closed.
Cafe Brasil, 2100 Chartres St. 949-0851 (five minutes from the French Quarter) during the day this is a wonderful place to see what the French Quarter looked liked twenty years ago. Get a cup of coffee and watch all the activity. The "Frenchmen" area is full of artists, writers, musicians and the like...and the Cafe Brasil is the defacto city hall of the neighborhood. Live music after dark, with a hip, casual, trendy, artistic crowd. The music is always upbeat and the crowd often fills the street in front of this funky club. I took one of my favorite New Orleans photos here. The cafe is canary yellow and royal blue and my wife and I arrived in time to spot a black and silver 1957 Plymouth Fury parked right in front of the place.
If your tastes run to the occult be sure to try the "Bottom of the cup Tearoom" 732 Royal St. In business since 1929 this tiny little shop has clairvoyants and psychics who read palms, tell fortunes (by reading tealeaves or doing tarot) plot your astrological chart, or answer your questions with a crystal ball. This is the oldest "tearoom" in the United States. Books, crystal balls, tarot decks, healing crystals, etc. available for purchase. Call 523-1204 for hours and information.
Just down Royal Street is "A Gallery for Fine Photography" 322 Royal St. 568-1313, This is one of the foremost photography galleries in the United States. There are usually one or two photographers whose work is on display (during one visit there was a Jock Sturges exhibit upstairs and a Helmut Newton exhibit downstairs) plus hundreds of prints, posters, books, and other artifacts documenting the art and history of photography. You can buy Belloq's famous "Storeyville" (The movie "Pretty Baby" was based on Belloq's Storeyville photographs of turn of the century NOLA prostitutes) prints here, the gallery specializes in New Orleans and Southern photography. African American photography is well represented as is Jazz and music photography.
Finally, for those who say that nothing in New Orleans is free, take a walk to the foot of Canal Street (where it meets the river) walk down to the ferry dock and take the FREE ferry across the river to Algiers Pointe. This is the best way to see what life is like on the river. When my wife and I lived in NOLA in the early seventies we used to ride the ferry every so often just to get a look at all the activity on the mighty Mississippi. The ferry was used in the opening credits of the movie "The Cincinnati Kid", Steve McQueen rode it over from Algiers. The Ferry also figured prominently in Jack Kerouac's "On The Road" the "hipsters" tooled Dean Moriarity's '47 Hudson across the river for a night on the town after visiting with "Old Bull Lee" (William Burroughs) in Algiers. Once you reach the Algiers side of the river, you can either return or take the shuttle bus to Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World to see the floats used in the Mardi Gras parades.
New Orleans is a literary city, in addition to being a music hotspot, and an epicure's delight. One of my favorite activities is finding the locales mentioned in books by New Orleans authors that I enjoy, writers like Samuel Clemmens (who became Mark Twain in New Orleans) William Faulkner (who wrote his first novel in the French Quarter),John Kennedy Toole, James Sallis, Walker Percy, Tennessee Williams, Lillian Hellman, William Burroughs (who skipped town to avoid a stint in Parish Prison), George Washington Cable, Lafcadio Hearn, James Lee Burke, and Anne Rice. Bring the books along and try the restaurants, bars, and other locales favored by the characters in the books about New Orleans that you love. Nothing will make you feel like a "local" faster than eating, drinking, and hanging out in the places mentioned by your favorite NOLA writers.
If you enjoyed reading this Louisiana travel review, please read my other Louisiana travel reviews:
New Orleans
Off the Beaten Path in New Orleans
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1C6C-B84F727-39485E6B-prod2
New Orleans With an Attitude
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-27B-148CC64-3888A033-bd1
On the Trail of Jean Lafitte
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-7BA1-779DB91-389871D2-prod1
Louisiana Highway One
Exploring Louisiana’s Enchanted Backroads
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-23C0-71FABF8-395BAC56-prod2
Traveling back in Time
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-55C9-1846C465-39691684-prod5
Into the Cajun Heartland
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-206C-260B35E8-398C54E8-prod5
Cajun Country
A Pilgrimage to the Musical Heart of Louisiana
http://www.epinions.com/content_51310136964
A South Louisiana Journey
http://www.epinions.com/content_43274440324
Evangeline Parish, Real Cajun Country
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-4AE2-BA4E605-39229E55-prod4
A Quick Tour of Cajun Country
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-3AF1-245F61E-38970F4B-prod2
Rendevous Des Cajuns
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-42C-C0FA2A-38874480-bd1
Florida Parishes
St. Francisville the Capital of English Louisiana
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-1B91-51748AE-391D72B3-prod6
Southwest Louisiana
Creole Nature Trail
http://www.epinions.com/trvl-review-69F8-47FAB2-388DE015-bd3
Just “cut’n’paste” the URL into your browser’s address window
Recommended:
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Howard_Creech
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Member: Howard Creech
Location: Louisville, KY
Reviews written: 334
Trusted by: 1276 members
About Me:
Photographer/Writer fascinated by Movies, Music, Books, American Diner Food, History, "Popular Culture", and Travel.
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