City experiences tense week in anticipation of monument removal | WVUE

All eyes are now on Lee Circle, the PGT Beauregard and the Jefferson Davis monuments. Mayor Mitch Landrieu says they're coming down sooner rather than later.

Crews set up barricades Friday around the Robert E. Lee statue at Lee Circle. But, unlike the Jefferson Davis monument, you can still walk up to the statue.

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Will The Dew Drop Inn Swing Again? Attempts To Revive New Orleans Hot Spot | NPR

It was known as the "Swankiest Night Spot in the South," one of the most famous clubs in the network of black cabarets known as the "Chitlin' Circuit." During the era of segregation, it was the cultural mecca of black New Orleans, what the Savoy Ballroom was to Harlem. Little Richard, a frequent performer there, even composed a song about the place.

The Dew Drop Inn closed its doors in 1972, after a 34-year run during which it featured some of the greatest R&B and soul artists who ever lived. Now, there's a new effort to rescue and reopen the Dew Drop for a new generation.



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Remembering New Orleans' Overlooked Ties To Slavery | NPR

After the U.S. banned international slave trading in 1808, more than 1 million people were forcibly moved from the Upper South to the Lower South.

Often, the first stop was the slave markets of New Orleans, where families were divided for good.

And today, little evidence of what happened in these places, and to these people, remains.

Back when cotton was king, New Orleans was its queen city.

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Mardi Gras History & Traditions | Mardi Gras New Orleans

During Mardi Gras, all of the businesses and roads are practically shut down--people walk everywhere and meeting new friends. People are dressed in crazy costumes, kids are everywhere, and they love it! How did it all begin, and have the traditions changed?

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New Orleans Cocktail History | The Daily meal

America has a long history of cocktails (one that gets fuzzier the more of them you drink), but there’s a special place in the heart of all drink aficionados for the city of New Orleans. Besides the fact that New Orleans never really allowed Prohibition to take effect, it also has remained a bastion for what many might call "serious" cocktails. As Abigail Deirdre Gullo of SoBou explains, "When the rest of the country fell into the dark ages of vodka sodas and cosmos, people were still drinking rye whiskey here."

SoBou's bar chef Abigail Deidre Gullo explains the unique place of New Orleans in the history of boozy drinks...

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So much for Satchmo: How about another downtown parking lot? | The Lens NOLA

A nine-story parking garage was supposed to be constructed on the 100 block of South Rampart Street. In order to make room for the structure four buildings needed to be destroyed, most notably, Morris Music, the music store of Louis Armstrong’s friend and mentor, Morris Karnofsky. As a young boy Armstrong worked for the Karnofskys, a Lithuanian Jewish family. More importantly, they helped nurture him and even loaned him the money to buy his first cornet.

In the city of New Orleans, there is no consequence if a developer tears down a historic building and then fails to develop the project he tore down the buildings to develop. No mayor in my lifetime has seen fit to secure a performance guarantee to insure that the promised work ever gets done...

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Hospital Building Accelerates in New Orleans After Homes Were Moved | Huffington Post

Husband and wife Justin and Christy Pitard, who opened Avery's Po-Boy's on Tulane Ave. near downtown New Orleans in March, are waiting for the University Medical Center and the adjacent Veterans Administration hospital to rise. This summer, the Pitards have listened to piles being driven on the 70-acre Tulane-Gravier site that was vacated of homes and businesses. They anticipate a brisk sandwich business in the fall as thousands of construction workers arrive.

The UMC is bounded east and west by Canal St. and Tulane Ave. and north and south by South Galvez St. and Claiborne Ave. The VA site is bordered east and west by Canal and Tulane and north and south by South Rocheblave and South Galvez.

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Tipitina's looks to keep dream of Fess alive by restoring historic home | WWLTV

His songs, like “Go to the Mardi Gras” and “Big Chief,” are a Mardi Gras staple and the music he may best be remembered for, but Professor Longhair, or Fess as he was called, was a virtuoso, a music pioneer and now a New Orleans icon.

Now more than three decades later, the Tipitina's Foundation, the United Way and Project Homecoming are working to restore this house for Professor Longhair’s family, and as a tribute to his legacy.

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Louisiana: 200 Years of Statehood | LPB

On April 30, 1812, Louisiana became the 18th state in the Union. In conjunction with the statewide celebration of the 200th anniversary of Louisiana’s statehood, Louisiana Public Broadcasting worked with the Louisiana State Bicentennial Commission to produce a new one-hour documentary which looks back at the first 200 years of the state’s history.

Louisiana Public Broadcasting will premiere its Bicentennial documentary Louisiana: 200 Years of Statehood on Monday, August 13th on LPBHD. It will air on our sister station WLAE-TV32 in New Orleans on Tuesday, August 14th...

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1989: New Orleans Jazz Fest grows up | NOLA.com

The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival had grown up by 1989. The annual celebration of music, food and culture exploded from an audience of about 350 at its founding in 1970 to an estimated 260,000 in 1989, an attendance record since surpassed by a wide margin...

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175 years of The Times-Picayune in New Orleans | NOLA.com

Celebrating the The Times-Picayune newspaper's history from January 25, 1837 to January 25, 2012...

1958: Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opens

1946: Moisant Field opens on outskirts of New Orleans

1949: Neighborhood movie theaters flourished

1948: New Orleans gets its first TV station

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Battle Over Rents In Historic New Orleans Apartments | Huffington Post

Saxophone riffs from an unseen street musician waft up three floors to the balcony of Leslie Snadowsky's French Quarter apartment, punctuated by the bustle of waiters, bartenders, tourists and street people wandering among restaurants and shops below and enhanced by the view of sun glinting off the spires of nearby St. Louis Cathedral.

But inside, the hardwood floors are covered with sticky notes marking chinks and spots of rot. On the walls, along with paintings of plantations, are photographs of water spots – dated to note when they were taken and taped beneath the stains themselves...

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1918: New Orleans as the cradle of jazz | NOLA.com

Jazz has a long history in New Orleans, but acceptance of it came slowly. In 1838, The Picayune noted a mania in the city for horn playing, while in 1853, an editorial mentioned the growing number of brass band funerals being held. According to a Picayune report in 1853, brass bands played somber dirges on the way to the cemetery and “gay and lightsome” airs on the return. Today, most brass bands that play funerals follow the same practice...

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1856: New Orleans street names are all over the map ‎ | NOLA.com

Bayou Road and Grand Route St. John predate the city; the route connecting what became known as Bayou St. John to the Mississippi River was in use by American Indians when French explorers arrived.

Can you say Tchoupitoulas? The city came of age under a number of different flags -- French, Spanish, American and even Confederate -- and the street names are a reminder of that diverse background. An 1816 map of the city shows street names in the Vieux Carre, many of them referring to French royalty...

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American Girl unveils 2 characters, one journey through New Orleans in 1853

For the first time in American Girl's 25-year history, the company is introducing two different historical characters, Cecile Rey(TM) and Marie-Grace Gardner(TM), in one six-book series set in 1850s New Orleans. The new characters--one African American and one Caucasian--show the power of friendship and community as they reach across the boundaries of race and class to help their families, friends, and city during a time of great need. To celebrate Cecile and Marie-Grace's debut and the rich musical tradition of New Orleans, American Girl has partnered with 13-year-old Kate Connick and her father, world-renowned musician and actor Harry Connick, Jr., to create an original song--"A Lot Like Me"--with all proceeds benefiting the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music in New Orleans.

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New Orleans Mint Once Used as a Jail | NumisMaster.com

It was turned over to Louisiana in 1966 by the General Services Administration. In 1979 it was transferred to the Louisiana Historical Society. Did you know that at one time after the mint closed the building was used as a jail? ...

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1970: First Super Bowl in New Orleans at Tulane Stadium | NOLA.com

A look back at Super Bowl IV on Jan. 11, 1970, the first to be held in New Orleans. The halftime show at Tulane Stadium presented a 'resplendent' sampling of New Orleans culture:

• A pageant on Crescent City streets featured Al Hirt playing 'Bourbon Street Parade.'
• A re-enactment of the Battle of New Orleans
• Olympia and Onward brass bands
• Ended with a miniature Mardi Gras parade

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Archdiocese of New Orleans releases Catholic records of slaves | WVUE

The Archdiocese of New Orleans has done something historic, with a hi-tech twist. Centuries old records of slaves and free people of color in New Orleans are now available on its website.

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'New Orleans Besieged' offers an historic twist | The News Star

What if the British had captured New Orleans in January, 1815, changing the course of the city and the War of 1812? D.K. Midkiff plays with this alternative history in his novel, "New Orleans Besieged," by Louisiana publisher Margaret Media.

It's January 1815 and the treasure-city of New Orleans lies vulnerable and exposed to greedy, blood thirsty pirates. Protection comes not by force of arms but from the cracfty mind of an old Spanish monk. Britain, already exhausted from a generation-long war, has planned a final military campaign aimed at the seizure of the city. This is a novel of alternate history in which the unthinkable happens: the Battle of New Orleans is won by the British. Midkiff, through scrupulous research, posits what the repercussions of such a victory might have been for the time at hand as well as the long term. The work is inspired by many of the actual people and events surrounding the Battle. Several maps true to the period are included. The reader is pulled into the political, cultural and racial tensions of early 19th century Louisiana as seen through the eyes of Andrew Jackson, Jean Lafitte, Edward Livingston, Padre Antonio Sedella and many more.

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No home for jazz in ‘New’ Orleans | The Hindu

New Orleans’ heritage as the cradle of jazz helps it draw millions of visitors each year, and the city reminds them of that history with pamphlets, murals and bright neon. Yet numerous homes and music halls that incubated the art form have disappeared, with the city allowing the most recent of them to be razed late last year...

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