Posts - Page 17 of 18 - From the Deep

The Tour Guide License
If you are trying to figure out the process for a tour guide license in New Orleans, like I was, you’ve probably found it to be as clear as that Mississippi River that they want you to know is 200 feet deep at Algiers Point. I wrote up my experience but I doubt it will provide any more clarity. This seems to be one of those initiation rituals that you must go through in order to be an official tour guide. Complaining about the process is required knowledge.
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Lea Pearl
Cistern Sisters
Time to wash down the muffuletta. Look to the wishing well in the center of the courtyard. Wait a minute…aren’t we below sea level? How is there a well in the French Quarter?

Apparently, there were once wells in the French Quarter.
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Lea Pearl
Little Italy Piccolo Palermo
Image courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection, via Country Roads Magazine.

At the end of the 19th century, many immigrants to New Orleans were from Sicily, and parts of the French Quarter became known as Little Italy or Piccolo Palermo. The changing demographics changed the culture of the Crescent City again, adding another layer to the sediment. The primary Italian immigration occurred between 1870-1930, after the Civil War and the unification of Italy, as Sicilians were considered a replacement for cheap labor after slavery was abolished and were fleeing political unrest.
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Lea Pearl

The Tour Guide License