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The French Market, Bulbancha, and Zero Waste Crafts
During these slow summer months, I’ve been working on updates to this site. After more than six months without any articles, I finally published some research I had been sitting on for over a year.

I’ve been focusing on creating new YouTube videos over the past few months, so I have several scheduled. I’d love your subscription over there. I have an update of my biography of Jean Galatoire coming in September. I also have a video about the first Stormin’ the Sazerac and what actually happened in September.

In October, I have planned videos every week starting with a video about 1331 First St in the Garden District, The Dark Origin of Columbus Day, The History of Lower Decatur, and a custom full city tour focusing on the Corn Stalk fences.

I’d also love some accountability to help me finish my two in-progress series — The Real Storyville and The Irish of New Orleans. I have a few more videos to research to complete those projects — Lulu White, Willie Piazza, the Irish Channel, and the rest of the Garden District.

The Slow Summer

I’ve also been using the summer down time to create some projects with my hands. I’m turning grocery bags into grocery bags. One of my favorite hobbies is crocheting. My grandmother crocheted intricate snowflakes and doilies (fine work that I do not yet have skills for). In addition, one of the skills that women were taught in the early colony was crocheting. So crocheting makes me feel in touch with my ancestors on many realms.

I’m particularly fond of turning plastic trash into material to crochet. Plarn from plastic grocery bags makes an excellent reusable grocery bag. I use a pattern called a French Market Bag to create my plarn crochet bags. This is not referring to the French Market in New Orleans, but the markets in France where bags like this are used. But in New Orleans, French Market only means one thing.

French Market < Bulbancha

The location of the French Market in New Orleans, or the high ground in the bend in the Mississippi River, is likely the place where the trading post known as Bulbancha was located before the Europeans colonized New Orleans. In his article about Bulbancha for 64 Parishes, Jeffery Darensbourg wrote, “There were large cities on the Mississippi River before Europeans arrived, but Bulbancha was not one of them.”

It wasn’t a big cosmopolitan town, possibly because it floods here and is prone to bad storms, but it was the Place of Many Tongues, or the place where you can find people who speak different languages, according to Darensbourg.

So in honor of those natives to this land, who knew thousands of years before my ancestors arrived (to literally live on Chippewa Street and then Choctaw Road) that this place was special, I’m calling my crocheted bags Bulbancha Bags.

Some Creative Ways I’ve Made Money Over the Summer

Summer is a notoriously difficult time in the tourism culture of hurricane-land. So I’ve been trying to get creative to supplement the jobs that don’t exist.

One of my less lucrative experiments is selling aluminum cans for recycling. Cans are still one of the most endlessly recyclable things, and we are not very good at recycling in New Orleans. I stash cans and then periodically bring them to sell, largely to ensure they are actually recycled. I figure if they are giving me money for it, then they are making more money on it. I last sold cans in December 2025. Seven months of cans earned me $6.55. The largest haul I had was a four year accumulation during COVID that netted me $20.

I also received a commission to take some photos in New Orleans for an artist who is pregnant and on travel restrictions. I love receiving interesting research projects or commissions like this. I’ve researched dogs, duels, and Storyville. I’ve designed brochures for tour companies. I’ve helped with design details for weddings. I love jobs like these, so please let me know if you need my help!

Bulbancha Bags

Now I’m selling these handmade bags! I have six available currently, all for $35. The sizes vary, but one is decidedly smaller than the others. They are all unique and available in my Shop. These bags take at least 20 hours to make, not including cutting the plastic into strips. I posted a Short on YouTube if you’re interested in the process of turning grocery bags into grocery bags. I’ve also included little charms on the bags. The charms are made of recycled materials or things I found as well and provide an easy place to clip your keys or maybe a wallet.

Right now, these are only available for local pick up/drop off, so please let me know if you want one. I am grateful for your support as we dodge the raindrops and try to stay cool.
Lea Pearl
Lulu White’s Obituary
While working on my research about Storyville for my video series, I found something interesting. I didn’t know much about Lulu White, so I didn’t realize a July 1931 obituary would be strange because the state of Louisiana says she died in August 1931.

There is no biography of Lulu White written in English. The only one I’ve found was written by Al Rose in French in 1991¹. We know she was born in Alabama and came to New Orleans when she was young. She worked in brothels to survive. Lulu seems to have been a marketing genius (I’ll explore my thoughts on that in a future article). She produced a directory for her house, Mahogany Hall, in 1898, which is the earliest known directory for Storyville. The later directories were produced by Tom Anderson and are known as Blue Books.

Lulu was known for her house of “octoroons” or mixed race women. She was also known for extravagance with the first elevator in the District. She wore a red wig and a diamond alligator brooch wrapped around her neck. In Storyville by Al Rose, the Fancy Man recounts his father taking him to Mahogany Hall to lose his virginity. It was where the men who thought of themselves as high society went. Lulu was eventually pardoned by the president of the United States.

But even with all the notoriety she gained, she died penniless by most accounts, and her death is particularly mysterious. According to the state of Louisiana, she died on August 20, 1931. But there is a legend that she was seen withdrawning money at a bank in 1941.

When Did She Die?

I started researching my typical way — searching the newspaper archives for any articles about her. After a few hours of clipping, I decided to see when she died to know how much further I had to go.

Ahhh 1931. I was already at 1929. I got to the article about her death, and I went to Wikipedia to see where to go next.

Death: August 20, 1931. Hmmm….the article I clipped was published in July 1931.

The New Orleans States, July 26, 1931, p6

There is no doubt who this article is referring to. I wish they said who the reports came from as I haven’t found any other newspaper articles about her death.

So When Did She Die?

I flipped to the section about Lulu in Spectacular Wickedness². Emily Landau cites the court case pending against her that had a note about her death dated August 21 to show that she died in August 1931. The citation for her death certificate reads, “Death Certificate of Lulu White, shown to the author by Shelley Johnson Carey, who retains possession of it.” This seems very strange to me because Louisiana death certificates are public record and easily searchable in an online database.

If you search the Secretary of State historical vital statistics, you can see that Lula Hardtner White is recorded as dying on August 20, 1931. Hardtner??? I thought her name was Hendley³…That’s another rabbit hole for another day…as far as I know (and I would love to learn otherwise!) Louisiana has not digitized death certificates yet.

You can request your own uncertified copy for $5. But I didn’t have to do that because I found Lulu’s Alabama death record on Ancestry.com using the familial details in Dr. Landau’s book⁴.

She died on June 23, 1931, and⁵ was buried on June 24, 1931, in Selma, Alabama. Her birthday was August 14, 1886. Her spouse was Philmore White, father was Robert Hendley, and her mother was Amanda Tipton.

Is this Lulu?

Perhaps 1886 is a transposition error. Or perhaps Lulu was 14 when she’s first recorded in the 1900 census in New Orleans. Unfortunately, it wasn’t unusual to have children working in the District. An 1886 birth date would explain why Lulu doesn’t appear in the 1870 census, as noted by Dr. Landau. Dr. Landau doesn’t mention the 1880 census, and I couldn’t find her record there either. Makes sense if she wasn’t born yet. The 1890 census was destroyed in a fire. In 1900, she claims she was born in 1868, which would make her 32 years old. If she was actually born in 1886, she was only 14.

Lulus in the Newspaper

The first I found Lulu White in the newspaper was 1888 at No. 3 Basin Street.

The Times-Democrat, Thu, May 24, 1888, Page 3

The Times-Democrat, Fri, May 08, 1891, Page 3

Then, in 1891 she has the 166 Customhouse address. The first she appears in the city directory is 1893, that I can find. She would have been five and eight in these instances if she was born in 1886. This is what makes me think 1886 is some kind of error or the wrong person.

There are two people with similar names in the 1893 directory, Lula and Lulu. In addition, Lulu/Lula White appears in the newspaper and census records across the country during the span of Lulu’s life. It was a common name. Maybe I found the death record for another beloved Lulu in Alabama.

Either way that obituary is definitely talking about the Diamond Queen of the Demimonde. It provides another document to give us a glimpse into her life. Perhaps her sister was trying to hide her real age on her death certificate. Perhaps she was so forgotten that no one cared enough to get it right. Perhaps Lulu was actually a child when she entered the underworld in New Orleans. All are equally likely, but I’m glad someone felt moved to document her passing.

1900 Federal Census entry for Lulu White at 235 N. Basin St

Screenshot

Sources

Al Rose. Miss Lulu White de Basin Street, Nouvelle Orléans. Paris: Gaston Lachurie, 1991. ↩︎
Landau, Emily. Spectacular Wickedness: Sex, Race, and Memory in Storyville, New Orleans, LSU Press © 2013. ↩︎
Landau, Emily. “Lulu White,” 64 Parishes, March 15, 2011, updated September 26, 2023, accessed December 28, 2024. https://64parishes.org/entry/lulu-white ↩︎
“Lulu Hendley,” FHL Film Number 1908489. Ancestry.com Alabama, U.S. Deaths and Burials Index, 1881-1974. ↩︎
Does it mean anything that Lulu died on St. John’s Eve? ↩︎
Lea Pearl
Mardi Gras Memoirs: The Secret Parade
Mardi Gras has been a part of my life from the very beginning. I have always celebrated it as a spiritual holiday as I was raised Catholic in Louisiana. I have experienced Mardi Gras many different ways, including marching as a majorette in high school, going to Mardi Gras balls, and throwing ashes in the river. There is still so much Mardi Gras left to experience, but here I share my experience of a tradition that goes back to the beginning of Mardi Gras — street masquerades. May my memories give color to your perception of the spirit of Carnival.

Mirth and Discord and Fantasy

A lot of nonsense happens during Mardi Gras. Scammers descend on the city for the influx of tourists. Underground parties attract like minds. Rivers of drugs and money and liquor flow alongside the Mississippi for the two weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday.

Among the illegal activities happening around town are unauthorized, secret parades. Parades designed and executed without any city approval, planned or approved route, or prior mention that it will be happening. These parades are unadvertised. You’re lucky if you get a glimpse because they pass by your house.

Or maybe you’re lucky enough to find yourself in the orbit of the very talented artists who make Mardi Gras. They have the secret recipes for rain defying papier mâché used on floats. They have the skilled hands that sculpt paint and plaster into Bœuf Gras (the fattened calf), jesters, and the current mayor.

They become the people who extend these skills to secret and brilliant parades and parties during Carnival season. These motley krewes guard their secrets closely because they lack permits. One year, I managed to piece together clues with a friend to join one of those secret parades.

The History

The first articles that we find in the newspaper about Carnival celebrations in New Orleans are about fancy dress (or costume) balls.

Getting to the balls quickly becomes part of the custom. Parading through the streets in costumes without any planned route, sometimes in groups, became the Carnival tradition.

The Picayune, February 8, 1837, page 2

In the late 1830s, informal parades were organized, according to the Mardi Gras display at The Cabildo. This is, however, also when The Picayune was established, the most thoroughly archived newspaper…When something seems to appear in the late 1830s in New Orleans, I’m skeptical that this is actually when we have the first documentation of it in our newspaper archive.

The 1847 write up discusses violent occurrences including throwing flour and mud at maskers, but that the balls were quote “a redeeming and agreeable feature in the celebrations of the day” unquote.

Formal parades were first planned in 1857 with Comus, but there was no planned route. The the story goes, six men from Mobile, Alabama, invited their friends to meet at the Gem Coffeehouse on Royal Street to form the Mistick Krewe of Comus, coining the word Krewe and modern Mardi Gras secret societies. In Greek mythology, Comus, the god of festivity, is the cup bearer of Dionysus. Bacchus is another name for Dionysus, the god of wine and theater.

In 1857, they pulled off a parade with a theme of Paradise Lost. The Library of Congress has a Mardi Gras handbook printed in 1874 that explains each of the parades from the beginning until it was printed¹. Comus pursued elaborate themes for their parades. They did not plan or announce the routes, so the crowds were out looking for Comus to appear.

The New Orleans Republican, May 3, 1872, page 7

Rex first paraded in 1872. They envisioned the new krewe as a daytime tourist spectacle. Rex was an attempt to establish order around the chaos that led to violence on previous Mardi Gras celebrations. They also decided on the traditional colors — purple for justice, gold for power and green for faith — although we didn’t get the meanings until 1892, according to Arthur Hardy². The governor signed the Mardi Gras Act in 1872 also, making Mardi Gras a legal holiday in Louisiana.

1904 was the first mention I could find about the Zulu parade. Zulu is clearly mocking the fake royalty of the old line Mardi Gras krewes, which is a large part of the Mardi Gras tradition. Today, some of the most popular parades are satirical krewes that harshly mock the city’s leadership.

The Weekly Times-Picayune, Fri, Feb 19, 1904 ·Page 3

The Gathering

I knew what day but nothing else. My friend found where they were meeting using Adderall-induced focus, multiple social media platforms, and an extended network of New Orleanians. We got dressed even though we still didn’t know the theme and found exactly what we expected — hundreds of costumed revelers ready to celebrate the themed parade. The theme was not readily apparent.

A man had a cart loaded with candles shaped like hands that burned the whole parade. It was my friend’s birthday, so she pinned money to her costume, as you do. She was gifted a poster commemorating the event. She didn’t have a bag, honestly didn’t seem to care about the poster, and asked me to hold it for her. I framed it to give to her as a birthday gift. But I still have the poster.

We started somewhere under the interstate. I’m not sure where it ended and I can’t remember if that’s because we didn’t finish the parade or the location was too obscure to identify.

The next morning, my friend sent me a video she saw on Instagram of us walking in the parade. Someone who lived on the route had filmed us going by with an “only in New Orleans” type caption.

Part II

The next year I had more intel on where and when and went with another friend. We even managed to find the ball a few weeks before the parade, where I learned one of the best lessons of throwing a party.

The decorations for the event were, of course, amazing. But I was most impressed by a woman stationed at the door who greeted every guest and complimented them. She gushed sincere praise for costumes, outfits, wigs, and makeup for every single person who entered. It was the most generous good vibes, and I’ve never forgotten how she made everyone feel that night.

We knew the parade theme this time — Sports.

I dressed as a cheerleader — spandex, sparkles, and enthusiasm. Many groups had planned performances to correlate with their costumes. There was another group of cheerleaders with a whole routine, including stunts.

The Trophy from the sports themed secret Mardi Gras parade

The most creative costume ensemble I saw was curlers who curled across the street (while the light was green and cars were waiting) with a stone made from a rotisserie chicken container. No horns were honked and much laughter ensued.

The parade ended in a neighborhood park where any sport you could imagine was played in acid-soaked extreme.

IYKYK

So many revelers will brag about riding on huge floats in the big parades, indicating that they spent thousands of dollars to reign above the crowds.

I prefer to be down on the street but still behind a mask like the original revelers, celebrating in experiences ignored by the masses and cherished by those who know. Even if it takes days to piece together clues to join the party. Because, ultimately, figuring it out, admiring the creativity, and indulging in ancient myths is part of the party.

What’s your favorite Mardi Gras memory?

Sources

Madden, John W., Pub. Hand book of the carnival, containing Mardi-Gras, its ancient and modern observance
. New Orleans, J. W. Madden, printer, 1874. Pdf. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/13018464/>. ↩︎
Hardy, Arthur. Mardi Gras in New Orleans: An Illustrated History. ↩︎
Lea Pearl