New Orleans is a culturally diverse city with unique neighborhoods. The French Quarter is the cultural hub, the Garden District is popular with tourists, Uptown has stately homes, the CBD and Warehouse District have cultural attractions, Marigny/Bywater has jazz clubs, Algiers Point is relaxed, Mid-City has cemeteries and City Park, and Tremé is the oldest African American neighborhood. New Orleans East includes Gentilly and the Ninth Ward, which were heavily damaged by Hurricane Katrina.
New Orleans, Louisiana, known as the Crescent City, is one of the most culturally diverse cities in North America. All neighborhoods in New Orleans have particularities that distinguish them from one another and play an invaluable role in the city’s multiculturalism.
New Orleans’ most famous neighborhood, and home to Bourbon Street, is the French Quarter. Originally called Vieux Carré (Old Square) because the city was built around a square, the French Quarter is the city’s cultural hub. With its fervent Spanish and French influence, it can be recognized by its narrow streets and unique architecture, very reminiscent of European cities.
The Garden District, named for its park system that contains beautiful gardens, ponds, fountains, and canals, this New Orleans neighborhood is home to some of the oldest homes in the city. With beautiful gardens all around and antique shops on Magazine Street, the Garden District is one of New Orleans’ most popular neighborhoods for visiting tourists.
Uptown is one of the New Orleans neighborhoods where you can find the stately plantation homes built on St. Charles Avenue in the late 1800’s. Shopaholics and restaurant lovers will appreciate the small trendy shops and restaurants. The St. Charles Streetcar can also be seen traveling throughout Uptown.
Adjacent to Uptown is the Carrolton neighborhood of New Orleans. Formally a resort area, Carrolton feels a bit like a college town. With Tulane and Loyola universities nearby and the Oak Street shopping area filled with cafes, most won’t feel like they’re in an urban area.
For a more urban feel, the Central Business District (CBD) and nearby New Orleans Arts District (Warehouse District) are New Orleans neighborhoods that are home to a good portion of the city’s art galleries, world-class museums, theaters , dance performances , musical performances and fine dining. The CBD and Warehouse District are busy cultural areas, especially for locals, who avoid the tourist crowds of the French Quarter.
One of the most cosmopolitan neighborhoods in New Orleans is the Faubourg Marigny/Bywater area, which is right next to the French Quarter. Marigny was originally a plantation whose Creole owner was responsible for the popularity of the casino game of craps. When strolling the streets of the Marigny, you can hear music pouring out of some of the best jazz clubs in the United States on Frenchman Street.
When looking for a relaxed atmosphere, visitors and locals alike take the short ferry ride to Algiers Point. The beautiful views of the Mississippi River and the Crescent City skyline, along with the huge oak trees and Victorian cottages, have a special appeal to the artists and musicians who usually live there. Visitors who want to learn how the magnificent Margi Gras parade floats are made can visit Mardi Gras World.
Mid-City, literally in the middle of New Orleans, is home to many of the above-ground cemeteries famous from television and film because the entire area is built below sea level. It is also home to City Park, similar to Central Park in New York City, which is the site of the famous New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Jazz Fest). Every spring people from all over the world come to celebrate New Orleans’ musical heritage.
The famous brass bands hail from an area of Mid-City called Tremé. Tremé is the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States and is still of great importance to the African American population. Claude Tremé, a black immigrant from France, owned the plantation that once occupied the Tremé area. This was the only area of the country that regularly allowed free people of color and freed slaves to purchase their own property.
The last of the New Orleans neighborhoods is New Orleans East. New Orleans East is a broad classification that includes Gentilly and the Ninth Ward. Gentilly, originally a swamp that was built up of earth and equipped with drainage pumps so settlers could build homes, Dillard University proudly states, and was one of the most damaged areas after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Hurricane Katrina sadly shone the world’s spotlight on the Lower Ninth Ward, which was the hardest hit area by the hurricane.
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