Jazz History Walking Tours

Business District/Back O'town Jazz History

History:

This tour takes in an area of Faubourg Ste. Marie (now the Central Business District) composed of the back edge of the business district and the front edge of a residential and small commercial area populated by a variety of ethnic groups including African-Americans, Chinese-Americans, Italian-Americans, and Jewish-Americans. Geographically it was composed of Baronne St., the last totally “respectable” street in the business district; Dryades St., a small alley-like street of innumerable very small businesses; and S. Rampart St., a promenade for African-Americans and an indispensable business street for the inexpensive and hard-to-find in both musical instruments and haberdashery. It included a low end “sporting life” area alternately called “Back O’Town,” “Black Storyville,” and “The Battlefield,” as well as Parish Prison and New Orleans’ own amoeba-shaped Chinatown.

Canal Street Jazz History

Jazz History Walking Tours

History:

Canal Street is reputedly the widest main street in the US. It gets its width and name from a proposed, but never constructed canal that was to extend from the turning basin of the Carondelet Canal and follow a path around the Vieux Carre on a right-of-way that now includes Canal and Basin Streets. It eventually became the physical and symbolic divider between the old Creole 1st Municipality (Vieux Carre) and the new American 2nd Municipality (Faubourg Ste. Marie), now the business district. The large median—even larger then—was called the neutral ground, a name that is now used for medians throughout the city. This area was a grassy promenade and later a right-of-way for street railways, with as many as five tracks at their peak. The street use went from residential to commercial in the middle nineteenth century. He commercial usage has gone through many phases and continues to change.

Central Vieux Carre Jazz History

Jazz History Walking Tours

History

The area in this tour includes the central part of the Vieux-Carre--that part of mid-way between N. Rampart and Decatur Streets. The Vieux Carre is the original city founded by Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville in 1718. The Bourbon St. entertainment district is approximately seventy-five years old. Until the 1920’s, Bourbon St. was the most fashionable residential street in the Vieux Carre. However, during that time it began a transformation into a street of nightclubs and restaurants. When the red light district (although in a new sub-rosa mode) moved from Storyville to the adjacent Tango Belt, the latter began to be considered as unsavory. Therefore, many high-caliber entertainment establishments such as cabarets and nightclubs began to open one block further over to the adjacent and then still respectable Bourbon St.

Decatur St/ Vieux Carre Jazz History

Jazz History Walking Tours

History

The area in this tour includes the river-most part of the Vieux Carre. The Vieux Carre is the original city founded by Jean Baptiste Lemoyne de Bienville in 1718. This tour starts at the lower end of the French Quarter, and proceeds along Decatur St. for almost all its length and includes the remains of the infamous Gallatin St. red-light district, the former jazz nightclub area in the Ursuline Row buildings, and the French Market complex. It ends in the upper section of the French Quarter that became an adjunct to the Central Business District around 1900.

(We encourage you to use good judgment and common sense in taking this tour as it is in an urban area)

Lafayette Square/Business Jazz History

Jazz History Walking Tours

History

The area in this tour starts at Lee Circle, where the Lower Garden District or Coliseum Square area meets the Lafayette Square District. It extends through the Lafayette Square District to Poydras Street and then through the Historic Office Core of the Central Business District to Canal Street.

The Lafayette Square District is New Orleans second oldest residential neighborhood with many row houses dating to the early 1830’s. It is made up predominately of the upper part of Faubourg St. Marie (1788) and a small part of the lower portion of Faubourg Duplantier (1807). It was the residential section of the old Second Municipality, an area dominated by a then recent influx of “Americans” at a time when a culturally fractured New Orleans was divided into three separate cities, or municipalities, with three city councils, but only one mayor.

Treme, Vieux Carre, Storyville Jazz History

Jazz History Walking Tours

History

The area in this tour includes parts of Faubourg Treme, the Vieux Carre, and Storyville. Treme, a relatively low-density residential area with some commercial uses dates from 1810, and is the third oldest faubourg (suburb), with Faubourg Ste. Marie (1788) - now the Central Business District - being the first, and Faubourg Marigny (1805) - below the Vieux Carre - being the second. The Vieux Carre, of course, is the original city founded by Bienville in 1718. Storyville, until it became the famous red-light district, was a small, relatively non-noteworthy residential area bordered by the Vieux Carre, Canal St. and St. Louis Cemeteries Nos. 1 and 2.

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