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Two Odd Fellows
The other day, I casually mentioned that the Odd Fellows Hall was still standing, and I got a weird look. I revisited the Two Well-Known Gentlemen exhibit at the New Orleans Storyville Museum, and I started doubting if I was right. Why is there an uproar over the unused Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall/Eagle Saloon if they tore it down in 1914? Probably because there have been several Odd Fellows halls in our history. I tried to sort through the records.
What are Odd Fellows?
The Independent Order of the Odd Fellows are men (fellows) who have different jobs (odd jobs) than the traditional trade-based secret benevolent/mutual aid societies. It began in England in the 18th century and spread to the United States in 1819. The first mention I found in New Orleans was in 1837, which is also the year that The Picayune was established1. The mention makes it pretty clear that the Odd Fellows were established in New Orleans before this point. In the Find A Grave entry for Henry Bier, I learned that the I. O. O. F. came to New Orleans in 18312.
They market themselves as primarily charitable, and they still exist in New Orleans. One of their purposes is to bury the dead. Odd Fellows Rest Cemetery was opened in 1849, one of the oldest in New Orleans3.
Old Odd Fellows Hall
(1831—1837) — The earliest home I could find for the Odd Fellows in New Orleans was at No. 50 Canal Street where they had a Lodge Room, mentioned in that first reference I found. No. 50 Canal Street was a boarding house called the Canal Streethouse with a barroom on the first floor, according to a 1844 ad for its sale by J. F. Barnes4.
(1837-1846) — A few months later, in August, an ad appears announcing the new lodge home of the Odd Fellows in New Orleans at the corner of Camp and Natchez5.
(1846-1851) — Between 1846 and 1851, the Odd Fellows occupied the upper story of a building at No. 13 Camp Street, which was between Common and Canal on the 1886 Sanborn insurance maps6.
The Daily Delta Tue, Apr 30, 1850, Page 1 (1852-1866) — In 1850, the Odd Fellows started a company to raise money to build their own building. The cornerstone was laid in 1850 at Lafayette and Camp streets7. It was dedicated in 18528.
This hall was damaged during the aftermath of the Civil War in 1865 and then completely burned in 1866.9
Jewell, Edwin L., Ed. Jewell’s Crescent city, illustrated. New Orleans, 1873, page 86. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, http://www.loc.gov/item/01010867 (1867-1914) — On Camp between Lafayette and Poydras, 522 Camp Street sometimes 530 Camp Street10
The Odd Fellows initially wanted to rebuild in the same spot, but that spot became the Court House11. The 1886 Sanborn map lists this space as the Criminal District Court. The building that is there now, the John Minor Wisdom U. S. Court of Appeals, was built between 1908-1915.
Eventually, they decided to build in a nearby building that was occupied by the Quartermaster’s Department after the Civil War. It was, at one point, the private residence of Benjamin Story. There were two Benjamins — Sidney’s uncle and Sidney’s brother. I think this must have been the brother’s home based on timing12.
The Odd Fellows demolished their hall in 1914 because the cost for rat-proofing would exceed the cost of demolishing it.13 Several cases of the plague originated from the Odd Fellows Hall.14 The city had provided notices all across the city that rat-proofing was necessary to combat the rat plague. They were so serious that they got doctors involved. This is also, believe it or not, when we start getting municipal garbage pickup in New Orleans, but it wasn’t fully in effect until about 1920.
So that’s the Odd Fellows Hall where the Two Well-Known Gentlemen had their infamous balls. What about the one that is still standing?
Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall/Eagle Saloon (1850)
Eagle Saloon in 2025, photo by the author At 401 S. Rampart Street sits an 1850 building once known as the Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall and also the Eagle Saloon. It is currently owned by the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame, but it’s sat empty for some time15. There is no more important building standing for the history of Jazz in the United States, according to Offbeat Magazine16.
The third floor of this building served as the home of the Black Odd Fellows and Masonic society, which formed when two groups merged, in New Orleans17.
The Times-Picayune, Wed, Nov 01, 1876, Page 6 According to most sources, 401 S. Rampart (old address 122 S. Rampart) was built in 185018. Joseph B. Hubbard, owner of Hubbard’s Furniture Palace, occupied the space until 189719. Hubbard advertised that he was the oldest furniture store in New Orleans, since 1840. The oldest ad I found for Hubbard was 1876. In the 1871 New Orleans City Directory, which is the earliest I find a listing, Hubbard’s Furniture is at 401 S. Rampart. His residence is listed as Cincinnati, Ohio.
Hubbard sold the building in 1897, and he died in Cincinnati in 189920. The Masonic and Odd Fellows Hall Association leased the third floor and Jake Itzkovich had a loan/pawn shop on the first floor. Jake moved in 1907 and the first floor became the Eagle Saloon in 1908. Hubbard’s ads referred to a Sign of the Golden Eage. Itzkovich called his place the Eagle Loan Office, and the Saloon carried on the Eagle name.
Commercial Bulletin, Price-Current and Shipping List, Wed, Oct 20, 1880, Page 5 In 1919, Maison Blanche leased the upper floors as warehouses. By 1920, Itzkovich and his loan store are back in the space. In 1925, the building underwent renovations into the look it still has21. In 1938, it’s the Dixie Beer Parlor22. In 1945, the Segrettos, Grace and Joseph, also listed 401 S. Rampart as their address. Grace ran the beer parlor and Joseph was a criminal sheriff deputy. In 1947, it was the Main Liquor Store. The New Orleans Music Hall of Fame purchased the property in 200223.
So What?
Somehow, without anyone really paying attention to it, this building has survived for at least 175 years. During that time, it served as a hub of history. Some of the most significant events in music history happened on the corner of S. Rampart and Perdido. For instance, on this corner, Louis Armstrong fired the gun on New Years’ Eve, the incident that sent him to the Colored Waif’s Home where he learned to play music, seemingly changing music history with that event.
But we can’t count on the luck that’s led the cement of this building to hold. Hurricane Ida knocked down the Karnofsky Tailor Shop, a few doors down from the Eagle Saloon, just a few years ago. The Karnofskys were among those who encouraged a young Louis. In the stories that he told later in life about delivering coal in Storyville as a child, he was accompanying Morris Karnofsky on that mission. I hope we’ve learned our lesson before the Eagle Saloon is gone too.
Demolished instead of Rat-Proofed
The New Orleans Item on September 11, 1915, page 1, details the rat-proofing efforts. They demolished many buildings in the crusade against the plague, 7,068 total including 1,477 dwellings or main buildings. They also installed 53,000 garbage cans in the campaign. They spent about $500,000 by June 30, 1915, which is more than $16,000,000 in 2025.
In addition to Odd Fellows Hall, they also demolished the St. Louis Hotel during the rat-proofing campaign.
Some New Orleanians Listed as Odd Fellows Publicly
G. W. Cable, President, 1843 (presumably the father of the famous author)
Sidney Story, Director, 1849 (uncle of the famous founder of Storyville)
Thomas F. Bragg, Grand Master 1860
Henry Bier, RWD Grand Master, 1850Sources
- “Odd Fellows Attention,” The Picayune, June 15, 1837, page 3. ↩︎
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/243732664/henry-bier ↩︎
- Napoleon, Chelsey Richard. “Archives Month – Cemetery District/Canal Street Cemeteries Part 2,” October 29, 2021. https://clerkofcivildistrictcourtnotarialarchives.wordpress.com/2021/10/29/archives-month-cemetery-district-canal-street-cemeteries-part-2/ ↩︎
- “For Sale,” The Daily Picayune, December 10, 1844, page 2. ↩︎
- “Odd Fellows, Attention!” The Picayune, August 13, 1837, page 2. ↩︎
- “Dedication of the Odd Fellows Hall,” The Picayune, January 29, 1846, page 2. ↩︎
- “Odd Fellows’ Procession,” The Daily Picayune, April 30, 1850, page 2. ↩︎
- “Buildings Erected,” The Daily Picayune, February 1, 1852, page 3. ↩︎
- “Disastrous Fire: Odd Fellows Hall Destroyed — Loss $225,000-Insurance $95,000,” The Daily Picayune, July 6, 1866, page 2. ↩︎
- Masonic and Odd Fellows Buildings in New Orleans, First Draft blog from the Historic New Orleans Collection, December 8, 2023. https://hnoc.org/publishing/first-draft/feeling-fraternal-freemason-and-odd-fellows-buildings-new-orleans ↩︎
- The Times Picayune, December 10, 1867, page 1. ↩︎
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/40584863/benjamin_saxon-story ↩︎
- “Odd Fellows get $1250 for Hall,” The New Orleans Item, September 6, 1914, page 56. ↩︎
- “Another Victim of Plague Reported: Keeper of Odd Fellows’ Hall Stricken While at His Home — Tenth Infected Rat is Caught,” The New Orleans Item, July 26, 1914, page 60. ↩︎
- McCusker, John. “Save the Eagle Saloon (From Whom?)” The Lens, May 21, 2016. https://thelensnola.org/2016/05/21/save-the-eagle-saloon-from-whom/ ↩︎
- Ramsey, Jan. “Music in New Orleans is a lot More than Entertainment,” Offbeat Magazine, July 31, 2019. https://www.offbeat.com/music-in-new-orleans-is-a-lot-more-than-entertainment/ ↩︎
- Fertel, Randy. “Eagle Saloon / Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall,” A Closer Walk by WWOZ, https://acloserwalknola.com/places/eagle-saloon ↩︎
- Odd Fellows and Masonic Dance Hall and Eagle Saloon https://www.nps.gov/places/odd-fellows-and-masonic-dance-hall-eagle-saloon.htm ↩︎
- Napoleon, Chelsey Richard. “Historic and Popular Jazz Locations,” June 13, 2022. https://clerkofcivildistrictcourtnotarialarchives.wordpress.com/2022/06/13/historic-and-popular-jazz-locations/\”>https://clerkofcivildistrictcourtnotarialarchives.wordpress.com/2022/06/13/historic-and-popular-jazz-locations/ ↩︎
- https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/211428926/joseph-b.-hubbar ↩︎
- National Register of Historic Places nomination, 2002. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/eac34ff8-3446-4e7f-bb11-7189481254af ↩︎
- Landmark Designation Report, December 5, 2008. https://nola.gov/nola/media/HDLC/Designation%20Reports/401-3srampart-report_001.pdf ↩︎
- Russell, Gordon. “Little Gem Saloon sold in heart of CBD; most of landmark New Orleans jazz block under single owner,”https://www.nola.com/entertainment_life/ian_mcnulty/little-gem-saloon-sold-in-heart-of-cbd-most-of-landmark-new-orleans-jazz-block/article_d9dd9048-ae0d-11e9-867c-6b11139d171c.html ↩︎
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Museum Review: The Germaine Wells Mardi Gras Museum at Arnaud’s
The drive to preserve history is stashed in every corner of New Orleans. Inside Arnaud’s, one of the largest restaurants in New Orleans, you can find the Germaine Wells Mardi Gras Museum where her personal Mardi Gras balls gowns and Easter hats are preserved.
Down a hidden hallway, you’ll see walls of intricate sequined gowns on mannequins that look like Elizabeth Taylor. If you’re visiting the restaurant for a meal or a drink, ask about the museum. They’ll be happy to refill your drink and find someone who is excited to show it off.
Restaurant History
Arnaud’s says they opened in 1918, but the earliest newspaper mention I found was April 1921. That doesn’t really mean much, but I also found a 1922 ad that seems to indicate they had been open a year.
The New Orleans Item, April 23, 1922, page 36 That’s still over a century of entertaining New Orleans crowds. The accumulated gowns are a time capsule of Carnivals past and the special experiences of one New Orleanian.
Count Arnaud Cazenave, the restaurant’s founder, died in 1948. He arrived in this country in the 1890s from France. Germaine was his daughter, and she ran the restaurant until 1978. Since then it’s been run by another family, the Casbarians, who seem committed to preserving the history.
The building is now 11 connected buildings that form a winding maze of stairs and mirrored halls with colorful, elaborately patterned wallpapers, the servers quickly whisking you up and down, creating a falling down the rabbit hole feeling. Somewhere along the way are nearly 20 private dining rooms and the climate controlled museum.
The museum opened in September 1983, just before the death of Germaine in December 1983. She claimed to be the queen of 22 Carnival balls, the most anyone ever claimed. The display is some of the gowns from her most famous reigns. It is a fascinating look at the history of Carnival societies from one person’s perspective.
Visiting
I’ve visited Arnaud’s for my birthday, for work lunch, for events, and for dinner before shows at the Saenger. I’ve been able to enjoy several memorable meals in the historic surroundings.
I recommend visiting Arnaud’s if you have interest in any of the classic New Orleans dishes or drinks. Bananas Foster, Cafe Brulot, French 75, baked Alaska, souffle potatoes, turtle soup, oysters every way, you can get it all and more at Arnaud’s and end with a museum visit and probably a history of Carnival from your guide. Not a bad deal.
Sources
https://www.arnaudsrestaurant.com/about/mardi-gras-museum
Morago, Greg. “Arnaud’s, New Orleans’ grand haute Creole restaurant, turns 100,” May 1, 2018. https://www.ctinsider.com/life/travel/explore/article/Arnaud-s-New-Orleans-grand-haute-Creole-12877994.php Retrieved September 14, 2025.
“Germaine Leontine Yvonne Cazenave Wells,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/104949615
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News Orleans Newsletter
Introducing my new newsletter about what’s going on this week in New Orleans
For the past few months, I’ve been working at museums in New Orleans. This was a natural progression from my fundraising experience. I’d worked in healthcare and education. I wanted to work at a prominent museum to round out my fundraising experience.
But it turns out that I don’t want to be a full-time fundraiser anymore. I want to work with tourists, travelers, and visitors to New Orleans telling important stories. So now I have a docent-esque role at the New Orleans Storyville Museum as well as a tour guide role at the National World War II Museum, two of the best museums in the city, in my opinion.
Where is the bathroom?
I quickly learned how to clearly and succinctly explain where the bathroom is. I also quickly learned about close by attractions, restaurants, and bars to recommend, as well as which are closed on which day.
But many things change regularly, so I started trying to keep up with which cruises were in the port, which conventions were peppering the city, and which concerts might draw interesting visitors. Now, I want to share that info with you.
News Orleans
News Orleans is a new newsletter condensing the weekly goings-on into one sleek email for the savvy New Orleans traveler, tourist, visitor, or hospitality worker. Featuring live music events, concerts and theater, conventions, cruises, museum openings, restaurant news, and more — subscribe to find the things you might have missed!1
Preview of this week’s edition September 21-27
- Alabama Shakes at the Saenger September 23
- Vampire Weekend at the Saenger September 24
- Big Charity screening at the New Orleans Jazz Museum at the Old US Mint September 24
- ACL American Heritage Arriving September 27
Right now, I’m focusing on the things that impact tourism the most in the city. If you’d like to see your event featured, send me a message.
- I am aiming for weekly, but may start out monthly or biweekly in the beginning. Just think of when you can say, “I was subscribed to News Orleans when…” ↩︎
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The Eagle’s Nest
A few years ago, my aunt did a DNA test. Her results connected her to all her known family, but then also to some new first cousins. She was skeptical. “We know all of our first cousins.”
But finding secret families through DNA results is a cliche at this point, and it turns out my family is not immune. In the 1950s, for the first time ever, women outnumbered men. Probably a result of so many young men dying in World War II, the prosperity of the 1950s created another phenomenon. Men sometimes decided to take advantage of the situation and have a whole second family. It’s hard to find statistics on exactly how common parallel families were, but every time I mention that my uncle had a secret second family, I’m met with understanding and usually a tale of a similar secret second family in their line.
As soon as we saw the alleged cousins, their features so familiar and so similar to ours, it was clear we had new cousins to meet.
The Ancestors
My Polish family immigrated to New York in 1892. Before New York, they spent some time in Brazil. My great great grandmother was pregnant when they made the journey from Brazil to New York. She had my Aunt Cecilia in October of 1892, but she had my Uncle John and Uncle Walter before making it to New York. I was able to piece together these details through Uncle Walter’s immigration papers. He was the only one who pursued citizenship.
My great grandfather in his military uniform from World War I. According to the New York State Archives, he served from December 1917, when he was 21 years old, to December 1918. He did not serve overseas. WWI draft was initially men ages 21-30. It was expanded to 18-45 in September 1918. My great grandfather was born in New York in 1896. He had two more siblings after him, Frank and Louise. They grew up in Brooklyn. My great grandfather was exactly the right age to serve in World War I, and he did. One of the only photos we have of him as a young man is in his uniform. I wonder what the Polish family of the first generation American thought of his service in that war even though he only served in the United States. When my family fled Europe, Poland didn’t exist. Documentation lists them as “Polish-speaking Russians” because their part of Poland had been annexed to Russia. I don’t know exactly where in Poland my family lived, but this helps narrow down the region.
My grandfather was born in 1927, and he grew up in the same house in Brooklyn as his father did on Louisiana Avenue. Our Polish name was spelled differently in every census from their arrival until 1940, so that Brooklyn address is how I found my family each year.
My grandfather was a little too young to serve in World War II, but his baby brother Johnny, the link to the new cousins, lied about his age, documented on his draft card. He made himself two years older, which was the same age as my grandfather…and still too young.
Uncle Johnny
I heard stories about Uncle Johnny my whole life. Uncle Johnny was a bit of a troubled soul, from my grandfather’s perspective. He wasn’t motivated in the same way, and I don’t know if we had the vocabulary or societal knowledge about mental health to provide the right support. I’m not sure we have that even now.
The story I remember most vividly was at a funeral. After the ritual portion of the funeral, Uncle Johnny decided to go across the street to a bar to get a drink. They watched him walk away and never saw him again. Uncle Johnny walked off the face of the Earth. It happened before I was born, so I never met Uncle Johnny or knew anything but these stories that were passed down.
But I grew up knowing my dad’s cousin Glen, Uncle Johnny’s son. Cousin Glen is a character who is very fun to be around. He’s gentle and calm now, but I understand that is different than his youth. We always looked forward to any random visit from Cousin Glen, and we’re still just as thrilled when we get to see him today. Like my dad, who moved as far from New York as he could be comfortable, Cousin Glen also moved far away. It took several more states before he got comfortable, and he’s a West Coast resident now.
As recently as 2017, when we decided to get together in Key West (before we knew about the new cousins), Glen was still asking where his father could be.
Potential Relationship: First Cousin
In 2020, my aunt bought DNA tests for Christmas. My grandmother did one and so did she. My grandfather died when I was seven years old, but my aunt’s test would reveal his family. When first cousin matches came up, she thought it was a mistake because she makes it a point to keep up with all of her cousins, even though they are scattered across the country now.
But Cousin Rose, Glen’s half-sister, was looking for us — the family she didn’t know yet.
The Reunion, Florida, 2023
The new cousins live in Florida, so as soon as it was safe enough during the Pandemic, we planned a reunion. The new cousins weren’t the only cousins who live in Florida now, so we also reunited with some of my second cousins on that trip. We drove around the Gulf anticipating our new cousins. Some nerves, but comfort in knowing we’d all be together, excitement at seeing those we hadn’t for awhile, relief at the ending quarantine. Emotions mixing like static, dulling and distracting.
When Rose and Pauline showed up, looking so much like our cousins, the static started clearing. We learned middle names we did not know. They learned about step-parents who seemed like strangers on their Ancestry family trees. We each had pieces to the puzzle needed to see more of the picture.
The campground where we met in Florida was hosting an eagle in a prominent nest with her babies. She embodies the scrappy American spirit of the immigrants seeking better opportunities on stolen land…without which my family doesn’t exist.
Eagle with its nest, Auburndale, Florida, March 2023 After we marveled at our shared physical features, they fell right in with our family like it had always been. And I guess it always had been somewhere even when we didn’t know it yet.
Let’s Do it Again, Long Island, 2025
This summer, we decided to do another reunion, this time on Long Island. My dad grew up on Long Island and two of my aunts, my grandmother, and a slew of my first cousins still live there. One of my aunts generously hosted us at her house where we had planned activities for the whole weekend, including line dancing, an ice cream truck, crafts with my mom (a famous Faceobok crafter), a movie night, and fireworks. We spent time on Long Island during summers when I was growing up, so seeing the lightning bugs and needing a jacket in the evenings (while my family complained about the heat) were very nostalgic for me.
Several of my cousins and my sister decided that we should be ancestors one day too. I’m diligently filing all the family secrets so that I can be the aunt with the stories and backstories everyone needs to know.
My cousin’s baby (my first cousin once removed) with my niece. They turned nine and 10 months old. One of my favorite activities was a trip to visit the Suffolk County Vanderbilt Mansion, Museum, and Planetarium with a private tour from my step-uncle who is on the board of the museum. This was the summer home of William K. Vanderbilt, the great-grandson of Cornelius the railroad magnate. Cornelius was known for connecting railroads for one continuous journey, a far more convenient way to travel than constantly changing trains and buying tickets in each small town. William spent his days traveling the seas trying to find new species, and many of the specimens he brought back are now on display in the museum.
The mansion, built right on the Northport Bay so that Vanderbilt could park his yacht in the front yard, was nicknamed The Eagle’s Nest. William apparently struggled with his purpose as the descendant of someone with such a prolific biography. None of the species he found were new. His was the third generation of wealth, the generation who tends to lose the wealth.
The Eagle’s Nest now has two giant eagle statues at the entryway from Grand Central Station in New York City, the city that called my ancestors home.
My step-uncle Steve leading us to The Eagle’s Nest on a private tour. Kristin (Michael’s partner), my mom, my cousin Michael, and Sue (Cousin Glen’s wife). The Luck of Family
There are a few lessons that I’ve learned from the saga of our new family. First, family is the luck of the draw, and we don’t all get a good hand. It seems like I’m among the most lucky, though. Some of us have famous ancestors who created things we still use. Some of us have infamous ancestors whose mistakes we all learn from. Some of us just have ordinary people who traveled three continents to ensure that their descendants could prosper, and it’s up to us to remember them and tell their stories.
A lesson we all have to learn over and over is that this time could be the last. One of my second cousins who we saw on that 2023 trip with the eagle’s nest has passed on. Another story to preserve and cherish. Another ancestor to honor. As we’re reminded every Mardi Gras, it is later than you think. Ash Wednesday gives us another version: remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.
Finally, expanding family, whether by blood or choice, results in more. More people to know, more stories to share, more memories and hugs, more opportunities to love, more souls to eventually grieve.
I often wonder what the ancestors would think of us and how we tell their stories. I wish I had more to remember, and I would love for them to correct my mistakes and misunderstandings. But I have no doubt they would recognize the things they passed down — our dimpled chins, hooded eyes, and insistence on remembering.
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Protected: The Ghost of Mary A. Deubler
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Bulbancha and De-Colonizing Tours
Tensas Gazette
Fri, Feb 05, 1932 ·Page 1In 2018, I was astonished to learn via a podcast that New Orleans had a name before the Europeans came here. Then, I was pretty infuriated that I didn’t know that before, as a native Louisianan who attended public school through LSU. I started de-colonizing Bulbancha on a minor scale by telling everyone who would listen.
I grew up off of Choctaw Road, near the Bogue Chitto river in a town called Bogalusa. I learned that Bogue Chitto meant Big Creek and Bogalusa meant Black Creek as a child. The Washington Parish Free Fair, the largest free county/parish fair in the United States by some claims, includes an exhibit and demonstration of local indigenous people. A road that historians believe Europeans used since 1542, the Old Choctaw Trail, is in Washington Parish.
LSU is in a town called Baton Rouge because the French just translated what the people who were already there called it — Istrouma or Red Stick. There, you can find the LSU Campus Mounds, some of the oldest man made structures on North America (older than the Egyptian pyramids). Unfortunately, during my time at LSU, we regularly climbed the Mounds with no real interest in what they may mean or why they were there (you can no longer walk on the Mounds today).
I grew up eating pecans, grits, cornbread, crawfish, red beans, and tabasco peppers, all of which I learned are actually Indian foods, not Cajun foods!
With so much native language, history, and culture in my life, how did I never know about Bulbancha? Why was I never interested in what was here before the colonizers came?
Decolonizing Myself
Last weekend, I attended the Indigenous History: Decolonizing Bulbancha Tours seminar organized by Frank Perez and the Tour Guide Association of Greater New Orleans to try to rectify that and fill in some of the gaps.
In addition to Frank’s overview of indigenous history in Louisiana and the Natchez Attack on Fort Rosalie, Dr. Jeffery Darensbourg spoke on “Indigenous Enslavement and Linguistics”, Dr. John DePriest spoke on “Jean Baptiste Baudrau II: An 18th Century Case Study of Colonial/Indigenous Relations”, and Joseph Darensbourg spoke on “Inter-Tribal Creole Identity”.
Dr. Darensbourg is the scholar who taught all the white people that Bulbancha is still a place. He explained that his own birth certificate from 1972 lists his parents as negra/negro. The practice of using these and other terms instead of the Indian terms was an intentional erasure. He is Ishak, the people who were in south Louisiana before Europeans. They are sometimes called the Creole Indians. Sometimes they are called Atakapa or “Maneaters,” a misnomer that he explained was because of their tradition of taking people into their tribe, not cannibalism. He is working to spread Ishakkoy, the language they speak.
Dr. DePriest is a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and a professor at Tulane. He provided rich history about one of the original Creoles, Jean Baptiste Baudrau II.
Baudrau’s mother was indigenous and his father was French. He only lived about 40 years, but his adventures were enough for many lifetimes. Jean Baptiste Baudrau knew Bienville, the four time governor of Louisiana and “founder” of the city of New Orleans, which probably helped him out of trouble as much as it could.
Baudrau was arrested for smuggling, kidnapping, salvaging a wreck, and even for a rebellion he wasn’t part of. Eventually, the French made an example of him because they could not control him, and he became one of only two men in what is now the United States whose body was broken on a wheel. He was thrown into the Mississippi River. His descendants installed a plaque at that spot commemorating his life.
Baudrau fell between worlds as a Creole, not French but not Indigenous either. His existence along with the other original Creoles provided a reason for the colonizers to begin creating their elaborate classification and caste system for people. Dr. DePriest ended his talk by proclaiming that the colonial government did everything to silence Baudrau, but his descendants, of which there are many, prove they were not successful.
Monument Builders
Joseph Darensbourg and John DePriest, PhD perform
at the Indigenous Hisory: De-Colonizing Bulbancha Tours
seminar on July 26, 2025.Joseph Darensbourg closed out the day by sharing a song and introducing the next chief of the Ishak people, reiterating that the people who were here before colonization are not extinct.
View from inside one of the Mounds at Poverty Point. Photo by the author, 2017. Rights reserved. Joseph reminded us that, in this age of…dubious monuments, our indigenous ancestors were also monument builders. Beyond the ancient Mounds at LSU, Poverty Point and several other sites still exist around the state.
There used to be several mounds in Bulbancha, too, such as where St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is. Now, thanks to the efforts of the Nanih Bvlbancha team, there is a prominent one in Bulbancha again. Here they can hold celebrations without having to leave the city, like they used to before the colonizers.
I ended my weekend by visiting it. Monuments are important, and the people of Bulbancha knew that. We still know that, even if we pretend to be blind to the propaganda. What we choose to build in materials that will last far longer than us tell the future humans what we valued. I’m glad that part of our stories is removing old monuments that no longer align with our values while adding new monuments that move us a little closer to de-colonizing Bulbancha.
Nanih Bvulbancha. Photo by the author, 2025. Rights reserved. -
Once Upon a Time in Storyville: The District’s Children
The Girl with the Striped Stockings or Raleigh Rye Girl is the most famous of E. J. Bellocq’s portraits from Storyville. The photo appears on the cover of books, in poetry, and endless examples of life in The District. A surface analysis shows us a pleased woman in finery enjoying a drink. E. J. includes many details for analysis that can give us a glimpse into the deeper truth, including that of The District’s children.
E.J. Bellocq, and American. Storyville Portrait. gelatin silver print, c. 1970, c. 1912. The National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.); Patrons’ Permanent Fund, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.14906722. Accessed 21 June 2025. Sometimes viewers miss the prominent bottle of whiskey with label facing forward and statue mimicking the swirling fabric draped on the woman because of her striking stockings and mischievous grin. Raleigh Rye was the favored whiskey of the time, according to some sources. Some have speculated that this was a commercial photo for Raleigh Rye.1 But descriptions almost always omit the army of feathered rocking chairs on the bottom of the table.
At first I thought these may be some sort of time keeping device, which is why they would need many of them. The only mention I’ve found of them is from a book of poetry about the portraits entitled Bellocq’s Ophelia by Natasha Trethewey. The poem is Photograph of a Bawd Drinking Raleigh Rye. The mention is fleeting with no explanation provided:
beside her: a clock, tiny feather-backed rocking chairs
poised to move with the slightest wind or breath;This description is accurate and totally ruins any idea that these were meant to keep time. I truly can’t even describe how I thought they worked if you asked me now.
The Reality of Storyville
Upon closer look, it’s not many little rocking chairs, but a set of tiny furniture with a rocking chair most eye-catching, all decorated with feathers.
Creator: E.J. Bellocq (creator); American (creator); Date: c. 1912; Material: gelatin silver print, c. 1970; Measurements: sheet: 25.2 x 20.2 cm (9 15/16 x 7 15/16 in.) I asked Olive Camp, the operations manager at the New Orleans Storyville Museum, what she thought. Her instant reply: “I think that we often forget how young the girls in Storyville were.”
Indeed, a search for feather doll furniture from 1912 returned many more promising results, including several examples of doll furniture made out of feather quills, with feather details included.
Antique Prisoner of War Feather Miniature Chairs — Miniature Dolls House Furniture, https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-prisoner-war-feather-537496511 Another photo from Bellocq’s Storyville series doesn’t feature a woman, but a series of photographs of women. Perhaps this is a display of Bellocq’s own work in one of the brothels. The photos have the women in varying levels of dress, just like Bellocq’s known portraits. Some sprawl, some pose, some are fully clothed. In one of the photos, the woman or girl holds a baby doll. The gallery items include sculptures and clocks on the cabinet with a toy mug of beer, toy horses, and a toy car on display, more evidence of the youth represented in The District.
E. J. Bellocq, American, New Orleans, Louisiana, 1873-1949, New Orleans, Louisiana. Untitled. gelatin silver print, ca. 1912. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Accessions Committee Fund purchase, JSTOR, https://jstor.org/stable/community.14727779. Accessed 21 June 2025. Pretty Babies
In 1978, the movie Pretty Baby famously and controversially depicted the life of a child in Storyville2. The movie was loosely based on interviews conducted by Al Rose for his book Storyville, New Orleans, published in 1974. He interviews a “trick baby” who he named Violet.3
“I was born upstairs, like in the attic of Hilma Burt’s house on Basin Street. A lot of kids was born in that attic and in the Arlington attic and other places like that. There was a midwife used to come…for all the girls who got caught. Why do people think whores can’t have kids?” Rose quotes Violet.
She explains that life in the brothel was just what she knew her whole life.
“Nobody never stopped me from seeing my mother and the rest of the girls turn tricks. I don’t remember anytime when I didn’t know what they did, or what a man’s prick looked like. Sometimes I’d watch through them portiers like they had then, and other times I’d walk right in the room and nobody said nothing,” Rose quotes Violet.
The movie Pretty Baby opens with a scene of a child intently staring directly at the camera and the sound of a woman moaning in the background. The woman in the background is her mother having another baby. Malle depicts the realities of the natural result of sex work, pregnancy and children, from a child’s perspective. In the movie, Violet is always presented as a child, even when they are auctioning her off.
“I don’t know if it was a good life or a bad life. I know I got a good life now, and I know how to appreciate it. But I don’t know how I’d feel about it if I went through the whole life, you know, with pimps and dope and turning tricks till I was fifty. All my three girls is older now than I was when I quit the business, and I don’t see how they’re much better off than I was at their age. I know it’d be good if I could say how awful it was and like crime don’t pay—but to me it seems just like anything else—like a kid who’s father owns a grocery store. He helps him in the store. Well, my mother didn’t sell groceries,” Violet is quoted.
In the movie, the auction scene reminds me so directly of debutante culture.4 From the white dress to the age of the girl to the tuxedoed men clamoring for a taste, there are not many differences between how prized sex workers are treated in Pretty Baby and how young girls of society’s highest rungs are treated. They are largely the same men perpetuating that behavior.
The Children after Storyville
I think it’s interesting to note that the production of this movie required abusing a child, Brooke Shields. In 2023, Shields released a documentary on ABC called Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields. She discussed the experience in the documentary.
“Louis [Malle] talked about the subject matter…I was 11 years old…and I may have not known all of the nuance, but it was a real artistic endeavor,” Brooke Shields said in her documentary.5
She also explains that Malle wanted her to be childlike in that he didn’t explain how he wanted her to behave. He wanted her to seem like a child repeating what she’d heard adults say, not a child seductress. Although, she does pointedly recount how Malle got mad at her when she scrunched her face, like a child, at kissing an adult man for her first kiss. Shields explains that she got through it because the adult man, Keith Carradine, gently told her that this kiss was pretend and didn’t count as her first kiss.
I only recently decided to watch Pretty Baby as I’ve avoided it due to the controversy. I found it hard to watch for several reasons — the overt racism and the obvious youth of an 11 year old star to start. However, I did not find that Malle intended the movie to be sexy at all. I always found the perspective as that of a child. Even when she marries an adult man, he buys her a baby doll and tells her she’s a child. I think Malle wanted to tell a story about life in Storyville for a forgotten group of people who had their childhoods erased. However, there’s no doubt that to do it he abused another child and was partially responsible for the erasure of her childhood, too.
Storyville Excavation
In 1999, a tour guide was the catalyst for an archaeological dig of a portion of Bienville Street. The site was right in the thick of The District, more than 80 years after it closed and about 50 since it was demolished. Robert Florence was convinced that work to install new sewer lines resulted in unearthing forgotten graves from the original footprint of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, and he was determined to preserve the history. While no bones were discovered once the archaeologists were called in, they did find more evidence of children in Storyville.
”Perhaps the most surprising finds are pieces of children’s dolls and toy tea cups. Two small metal wheels may have been a toy carriage. Romanticized accounts of the district largely omit children, but they must have been an important presence in the daily life of Storyville…It’s impossible to look at the toys without wondering about the difficulties of rearing a child in a red-light district.” p. 296
Earlier the article points out that Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was also in The District as a child delivering coal and soaking up jazz. Maybe it wasn’t the children posing as women who were playing with the toys. They wanted to be perceived as adults. The furniture set is on the bottom shelf and is ignored by the photo’s subject, within reach but out of the way. Perhaps it was the children born of the situation for whom toys were needed.
Storyville Census Data
What can we learn about how children lived in Storyville from the census data? The 1910 census was taken right in the height of Storyville. The map below is the approximate locations of homes where the census taker stopped (in progress). Starred residences were noted as homes of Black people. The diamonds are Asian residents and the teardrops are white. Hearts show where people of multiple races were listed. The markers in purple show where children under 18 are listed in the census. Since all of these homes have been demolished, these addresses are very approximate.
Not only can you see how scattered children were throughout The District, but you can see how every race was represented on nearly every block also. The District was all about segregating prostitution away from “polite” society, but it refused racial segregation within its bounds in many ways. Historians and tour guides often remember the Treme, the neighborhood where Storyville was located, as the first Black neighborhood in the United States. But this isn’t really true. The Treme was always an area with people of diverse backgrounds, a mixed neighborhood, including through the Storyville era.
I have three more installments of my Storyville video series to complete. The final episode is about Willie Piazza who famously won an early segregation battle, after Storyville was officially disbanded.
Conclusion
Raleigh Rye Girl provides some valuable and interesting insights into life in Storyville. The architecture and decor are distinct to the time. The threadbare rug and makeshift dress indicate frequent use. The clock is featured in several of Bellocq’s portraits. He also favored the necklace she wears. The booze that drenched The District, making the real money for the proprietors, is a focal point. These details along with the paraphernalia of youth are all accurate background dressings for the time. The ghostly toys point to the subtle prominence of children and maybe even the immaturity of the “women” working.
Sources
- Waguespack, Christian. “Posh and Tawdry: Inventing and Rethinking E.J. Bellocq’s Storyville Portraits,” September 29, 2017. https://medium.com/exposure-magazine/posh-and-tawdry-inventing-and-rethinking-e-j-bellocqs-storyville-portraits-b47b24042d03 ↩︎
- Pretty Baby. Directed by Louis Malle, performances by Brooke Shields and Susan Sarandon, Paramount, 1978. ↩︎
- Rose, Al. Storyville, New Orleans: Being an Authentic, Illustrated Account of the Notorious Red-Light District, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa, AL © 1974. ↩︎
- “Hilda Burt’s House and Pretty Baby’s Historical Context,” November 25, 2024, https://nolaguide.wordpress.com/2024/11/25/hilma-burts-house-and-pretty-babys-historical-context/ ↩︎
- “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” ABC News Docuseries, March 2023. ↩︎
- Powell, Eric A. “TALES FROM Storyville.” Archaeology, vol. 55, no. 6, 2002, pp. 26–31. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41779085. Accessed 21 June 2025. ↩︎
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The Cornstalk Fences
I’m taking a little break from procrastinating on my Irish New Orleans series to document an adventure in tour guiding cooperation. Recently, a few other guides helped me crowd source an elusive list, the cornstalk fences of New Orleans, and I want to share it with you.
The First Legend I was Told
The Cornstalk Fence in New Orleans is a subject of fascination by many. I recently posted a video about the fence and its origin. Tour guides have created winding histories of the fence and pegged it as unique. I received such a tale on a Garden District Food Tour for my first wedding anniversary. We had gone on a food tour in Miami on the way home from climbing Machu Picchu for our honeymoon, and the experience was incredible. We couldn’t stop raving about the bites we tasted, the stories we learned, and how much we enjoyed the tour guide, who was phenomenal at her job.
Because of this experience, we searched for a food tour in New Orleans. This was 2013. We struggled to find even one then believe it or not. Eventually, we booked a Garden District food tour for a weekend near our anniversary. We were excited because we knew that a food tour in New Orleans would be worlds better than the amazing tour we had in Miami.
On the day of our tour, the guide called to confirm that we still wanted to do it even though no one else had signed up…yes, a private tour is a feature not a bug. As a tour guide, this still seems like a weird question to me. We did a mini tour of homes in the Garden District and ate food at some places along the way. One of the homes featured was Col. Short’s Villa on Fourth Street where the guide told us The Legend of the Cornstalk Fence.
In short, the legend claims that the wife who lived in the home was from Iowa and was homesick. Her husband had a custom fence built so that she could see her familiar rows of Iowa corn at home in New Orleans. The legend can’t be true for many reasons, explored in thoughtful articles before my research began.
Other Legends of the Cornstalk Fence
The legend is probably repeated most often in the French Quarter though, where there is another prominent iron fence with a cornstalk pattern. The double cornstalk fences provide a bit of a problem for the tour guide legends that claim it was a one-of-a-kind masterpiece…The 1938 New Orleans City Guide doesn’t include the legend and does point out the two cornstalk fences and their “similar” designs, claiming these are the only two in New Orleans. Perhaps they were at the time.
During my tour guiding class, our Garden District tour also included the cornstalk fence legend. It was presented as a legend and Frank, our teacher and guide, ended his spiel by saying it was probably from a catalog from Pennsylvania…
The Elusive Eleven Fences
The main article I found exploring the legend was from Strange True Tours written in 2020 by Historian Jane. The article is no longer available, but it is captured on the Wayback Machine. In the article, she mentions that there are 11 cornstalk fences in New Orleans. ELEVEN!? There were four that were fairly well known. The French Quarter and Garden District and then one in the Marigny and one in Bayou St. John. Where are the other seven cornstalk fences???
I knew that I wouldn’t be able to search the city to find them, but I collected references I found along the way. For instance, once someone posted in a comment that they knew of one at 3434 Canal Street.
I commented on Reddit recently about the cornstalk fences, and someone revealed the one at 1540 Erato Street. I posted a photo of that one on Facebook, and a tour guide friend revealed the one on Willow Street. After that, another tour guide friend posted one he had found in 2021 on Marias Street. Then, other tour guides chimed in with the ones they had found on missions to find them all, including the husband of Historian Jane.
In total, our cooperation revealed 13 current fences around the city and one former fence. All of them are mapped below, so you can build your own deep tour of the city and probably see neighborhoods you’ve missed. I’ve also included fences that are outside of New Orleans.
Tour guides have a tendency to be extremely competitive. This is an example of wonderful cooperation for our collective knowledge, and I couldn’t be happier to be a part of it. Maybe together we are just as influential as the tour guide who made up the legend.
But what about that catalog…?
The Cornstalk Catalog
The Metal Museum says that the original fence was the 915 Royal Street fence and it was installed in 1856. But I haven’t found any primary documentation for that yet. The Metal Museum also includes the Iowa story as if it’s true…The fence was added to the Wood & Perot foundry catalog in 1858, and there are only three remaining complete fences, per the Metal Museum — the one in the French Quarter, the one in the Garden District, and one in California that was moved from a property at Julia and St. Charles. The Metal Museum also explains that the Fourth Street example is from the Wood and Miltenberger foundry in New Orleans. Although, the plaque on the fence says it’s from Philadelphia.
One late night, I was trying to find any semblance of Romeo Spikes in an archived ironworks catalog for the Robert Wood foundry in Philadelphia from the 1860s. My bleary eyes focused on a cornstalk in one of the fence designs. I still haven’t found any Romeo Spikes but I found…the catalog with the cornstalk fence???
Yes, there are the pumpkins (my favorite part), and the morning glory vines, and the cornucopias, and the butterflies! This is clearly the cornstalk fence design. Is the 915 emblazoned on the plate like the supposed original on Royal Street? No, of course not. [To be fair, the address in 1856 for this lot was 217 Royal Street. It was changed to 915 when the numbers were standardized around 1895.]
Design 511. Robert Wood & Co.’s “Portfolio of Original Designs of Ornamental Ironwork of Every Description” from 1860s, p. 131. G. W. Mordecai 1860
The fence plate reads “G.W. Mordecai 1860”. There were two G.W. Mordecais who could have this fence built in 1860. George Washington Mordecai (1801-1871) and George Washington Mordecai II (1844-1920).
Based on brief research and some clues (like GW2 would be only 16 in 1860), my instincts tell me the first G. W. had this fence made and that he initially used it in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he is also buried.
Is the fence bearing the G.W. Mordecai label the actual original fence…? According to the Society of Architectural Historians, the original fence was from 1850, so maybe not. The design was also part of an earlier catalog than I’m referencing, according to the Metal Museum, so, again, probably not the original depicted in this catalog.
When did 915 get the Fence?
The earliest photo I have found of the building is from 1899, and the fence is clearly visible. This image accompanies a 1939 article that briefly explains the provenance of the fence as they understood it then. “In its earliest days, the house didn’t have its odd fence. In the late 1850s, according to available evidence, the daughter of Dr. Biamanti inherited it, and had the fence cast.” Dr. Biamanti had two daughters, Maria and Aimee. The daughters inherited the property in 1858 and partitioned it in 1859. If it was a daughter who had the fence cast, it wasn’t in the 1850s.
The only property description I found that seems to include the fence is very vague. It’s from an ad for the home’s sale in 1900, and just says “under a massive iron inclosure” as a feature. I think the most information available is from the Sanborn Insurance Maps. I highlighted 217 on the 1876 map below to show where this property is. Based on the key, there is a firewall six inches above the roof. There are four windows on one side and two on the other. The home and back building have three stories each. The roof is composite. While the buildings next door have iron and wooden cornices, none are listed in front of 217. I don’t see anything about iron fence or gating on the key, so I don’t think this map holds the information we need to know if the cornstalk fence was added already in 1876. Please let me know if you can help me learn more!
Sanborn’s Insurance Maps, April 1876, Negative Detail Number: N-1281D57
Courtesy of: Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries via the Historic New Orleans Collection
Provenance: Howard-Tilton Library (Tulane University)By searching for images of the very famous building next door, formerly known as the Old Spanish Courthouse and currently known as the Andrew Jackson Hotel, I was able to find etchings as far back as 1871 showing the fence. After seeing a reference on the Historic New Orleans Collection’s Vieux Carre Digital Survey, I discovered that the University of Michigan has digitized Appleton’s Journal: A Magazine of General Literature. You can find the etching of the Old Spanish Courthouse with a cornstalk fence neighbor along with many other etchings of the city in the article “New Orleans: The Crescent City” from the October 26, 1872 issue.
So the fence was there by 1871. That means it was a Biamanti daughter, probably Maria, or Marie Antoinette Biamonti Ogden, who installed the fence. Right? She is listed at the address many times in the paper, including for her funeral.
But…ornamental iron production ceased during the Civil War in New Orleans. A massive iron fence like this wouldn’t be installed in the city after about 1860 (when the Fourth Street iteration dates from) and definitely not after 1862. So the fence probably was installed in the late 1850s, which means it was Dr. Biamanti who possibly had it cast. If the original dates to 1850, then it’s doubtful that this is the original cast. The iron trend in New Orleans didn’t really start until 1850 or 1851. Wouldn’t it be interesting to find a receipt and learn how much the fence cost originally and who it was for?
A Clue in the Maker’s Mark
I’ve been searching for a maker’s mark on the cornstalk fences. I’ve definitely been the weirdo looking at the bottom of the posts to try to see words through many layers of paint. I hadn’t found any success until the twelfth and thirteenth fences revealed their makers clearly — Wood, Miltenberger, & Co. New Orleans, LA. The most run down of the fences has the most clear mark. I did find a mark on the fence on Fourth Street and remnants of one on the Royal Street fence. So far, all of the fences with visible marks are Wood & Miltenberger, indicating they were made in New Orleans.
Let me know if you’ve found any more cornstalk fences in New Orleans or beyond. Besides California and Memphis, there is a piece at a Native American memorial in Tulsa, Oklahoma. If you have more information about the original cast iron cornstalk fence, I would love to update this information!
Sources
“Inside the Collection: Cornstalk Fence Section,” The Metal Museum, https://www.metalmuseum.org/post/2018/06/01/inside-the-collection-cornstalk-fence-section
Historian Jane, “Cornstalk Fence Blog,” Strange True Tours, 2020, archived.
Design No. 511. Robert Wood & Co.’s Portfolio of Original Designs of Ornamental Ironwork of Every Description. Philadelphia. © 1860s p. 131. https://archive.org/details/portfoliooforigi00robe/page/131/mode/1up
“George Washington Mordecai,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/32402890/george_washington-mordecai
“George Washington Mordecai,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/67809727/george-washington-mordecai
Kingsley, Karen and Lake Douglas. “Miltenberger Houses,” https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/LA-02-OR22
“New Orleans: The Crescent City,” Appletons’ journal: a magazine of general literature. / Volume 8, Issue 187, p. 449-454. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/moajrnl/acw8433.1-08.187/455:1?rgn=full+text&view=image
“Marie Antoinette Ogden,” https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/11894714/marie_antoinette-ogden
915 Royal 
915 Royal 
915 Royal 
1448 Fourth 
1448 Fourth 
1448 Fourth 
1448 Fourth 
1205 N. White 
1205 N. White 
1205 N. White 
1205 N. White 
1205 N. White 
The Times-Democrat Sun, Apr 08, 1900 ·Page 23 
The Times-Picayune Wed, Nov 15, 1876 ·Page 4 
The Sunday Item-Tribune, March 19, 1939, p 50 
4316 Willow 
Appleton Journal etching from 1872 
3434 Canal Street 
Robert Wood & Co. Portfolio 
New Orleans Republican Sun, Apr 10, 1870 ·Page 3 
The New Orleans Crescent Mon, Jun 14, 1858 ·Page 5 
1448 Fourth 
1538 Fourth 
1408 Esplanade 
1801 General Pershing- view of back
Postscript
As if this wasn’t long enough, right as I was preparing to publish, I found an odd connection between the French Quarter fence and the Garden District fence that still needs solving. Robert Short bought the property on Fourth and Prytania from Edward Ogden in 1858, according to the newspaper article from 1870 describing the seizure of the property from Short. Maria Biamanti married Robert W. Ogden in 1847 and lived with him in the property on Royal Street, presumably from 1859 when she inherited it completely for the duration of their marriage. Who is Edward Ogden?
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Mardi Gras 2025 Tips and Tricks
Heading into the greatest free show on Earth on March 4, 2025, here are my updated tips and tricks for a safe and fun Carnival celebration this year.
Everywhere Else it’s just Another Tuesday
Mardi Gras Day 2018 If you have different mobility needs or just would like a place to sit, buy grandstands tickets on St. Charles Avenue. Visit Mardi Gras Tickets to get your tickets to Mardi Gras.
If you’re looking for your sober pals, there is a sober tent on Napoleon Avenue. You can find more information about the organization who hosts it here.
Download a parade tracker app. There are several options. Some track both the beginning and the end of the parades. They also include information about start times and which routes each parade takes. While the parades roll, it shows exactly where the it is on the route. It’s a valuable tool during the season to plan parking and travel routes.
Parking
Speaking of parking, you can use the Park Mobile app to find street parking and availability. The app will say no availability if it is outside of the pay times. Parking is paid in two hour increments, but is free on Mardi Gras day or after 7 pm in most places.
You will see signs on any parade route that say “No Parking Two Hours before and Two Hours after Parades.” This means parking is available most times, but not on parade days.
Parking information from the City of New Orleans
There will be public parking lots that charge by the hour or day available. Security will be different for this Mardi Gras, but there are always many road closures. My typical Mardi Gras parking experience is parking in a neighborhood and walking a long way to the French Quarter.
For public transportation options, including buses and streetcars, please download the Le Pass app. You can plan routes and get updates on route closures and alternate routes because of parades.
Throws You Need
According to Arthur Hardy, our tradition of throwing gifts from floats began with the Twelfth Night Revelers, one of whom decided to dress as Santa and throw trinkets in 1871. These are some that you can’t miss.
In 1959, the story goes, H. Alvin Sharpe walked into the office of Darwin S. Fenner, the captain of Rex, and threw a handful of his handmade aluminum coins in his face. He knew his doubloons would be a hit at Mardi Gras and he wanted to convince him they were safe with his display. He was an artist from Kentucky who had been in the Navy and settled in New Orleans. Fenner was convinced and the first 80,000 doubloons were produced the 1960 Mardi Gras a few months later. Sharpe was right. The doubloons are still a hit more than 60 years later. You can find some of those first doubloons for sale online for hundreds of dollars. But you can find modern ones thrown from nearly every parade float all season long.
Parade goers love the personally decorated shoes handed out by the Muses during their parade on the Thursday before Mardi Gras. Of course some outsource the labor, but many of the krewe members conceive and execute their own designs for the shoes, which are elaborately decorated actual women’s shoes recycled into art you will cherish forever. You are chosen to receive a shoe by a Muse during the parade. She personally hands it to you from the float. Many people create elaborate costumes and signs to increase the odds of being a chosen one. The ritual is a special Carnival experience with a permanent addition to your collection and a story you’ll never forget.
According to a 2024 article on WDSU, the Zulu coconut tradition began in 1910 when Lloyd Lucas purchased a sack of coconuts in the French Market because they could not afford beads for throws. The tradition eventually evolved to elaborately decorated coconuts, but was stopped in 1987 because of lawsuits.
In 1988 the so-called Coconut Bill exempted Carnival societies from “liability claims resulting from inadvertant coconut-caused injuries” allowing the krewes to shower the crowds with their precious throws without worry.
Must See Events
In order to prevent people from climbing up the poles that hold up the balconies on Bourbon Street, so the story goes, they started greasing the poles. The Royal Sonesta has turned this chore into an event, inviting local celebrities to perform the greasing each year on the Friday before Mardi Gras.
On Lundi Gras, or Fat Monday, the day before Mardi Gras, the courts of Zulu and Rex arrive at Spanish Plaza in a celebration, along with many other events and parades.
The first event of Mardi Gras day is the sunrise wake up call by the North Side Skull and Bones Gang, reminding us that it is later than you think, as they have been doing for more than two centuries.
St. Anne Society March began with the artists who created the floats for Rex in 1969. They decided to enjoy the fruits of their labor by walking to Canal Street. During the AIDS crisis, the tradition of putting the ashes of loved ones in the river formed and persists to this day. You will see a large group of elaborately costumed people walking together through the neighborhoods. Enjoy their creativity like any parade you may see!
Secret societies are the backbone of Mardi Gras, and secret parades and a parties will pop up all throughout the weeks leading to Mardi Gras. Many of these exist in the form of walking troupes, calling back to the origins of Mardi Gras, with secret routes that you will only know about if you piece together clues or happen to live along the route to see it go by. This is definitely one of my favorite Mardi Gras traditions, and such a treat to discover or, if you’re lucky, participate in.
Let me know your favorite Mardi Gras tips in the comments below. I hope to marvel at your costume out on the route!