Exploring Off the Beaten Path –
Lesser-known New Orleans
by Jill K. Robinson
+ 5 tips to make the most of your trip
Offbeat Treasures of New Orleans
The party-hearty city of New Orleans seduces its visitors. From romantics who admire the delicate architecture and river mists, to celebrants who are lured to Mardi Gras and the Jazz and Heritage Festival, to foodies and music fans who dive into the wide variety of restaurants and clubs—New Orleans has won the hearts of many.
While the mainstream tourist spots and festivals are worth the attention they attract, you can easily get off the beaten path and obtain a glimpse of the soul of the city without having to brave the crowds. Just a short distance from the French Quarter lie these New Orleans treasures that count among my favorites.
Mardi Gras Indians
The Backstreet Cultural Museum preserves the cultural heritage of African-American New Orleans. Located in a creole cottage in the Tremé, the nation’s oldest African-American neighborhood, the museum’s displays highlight the history of Mardi Gras Indians, jazz funerals, and Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs.
From Creole Wild West to 9th Ward Hunters, Fi-Yi-Yi to Skull and Bones, the Mardi Gras Indians began “masking” as early as the mid-19th century, in costumes inspired by Native American designs. The suits take the better part of a year to construct—all by hand.
The jewel box sparkle of sequins, faux gemstones, metal, and crystal seem to light the room. But alone, they’d be singing only melody without the harmony of pearls, cowrie shells, and the rainbow of seed beads. Not to be outdone, the fabric is equally attention-grabbing: velvet, satin, silk, yarn, ric rac, and cardboard (to make 3D figures “pop”). And finally, the feathers. No suit is complete without them. Each Indian makes his own costume, sometimes with the help of family or others in the tribe. The suits can weigh up to 150 pounds and cost thousands of dollars to assemble.
Backstreet Cultural Museum. 1116 St. Claude Avenue. Tel. 504-287-5224, www.backstreetmuseum.org. Open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday. Donations are welcome. The museum is involved in many events throughout the year—featuring music, dance, and second line parades.
Audubon Insectarium
Like the Backstreet Cultural Museum, New Orleans has many fascinating specialty museums. Newly opened is the Audubon Insectarium, located in the U.S. Custom House on Canal Street. Kids and adults alike love this museum—filled with live exhibits, beautifully mounted specimens, and hands-on interaction. Entomologists offer live insect encounters, chefs demonstrate culinary bug dishes, galleries show native insects from Louisiana swamps and the streets of New Orleans, and butterflies alight on guests as they walk through an Asian-inspired garden. The Insectarium is the 10th and latest addition to New Orleans’ Audubon Nature Institute, which also includes the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, Audubon Zoo, and Entergy IMAX Theatre.
Audubon Insectarium. 423 Canal Street. Tel. 800-774-7394, www.auduboninstitute.org. [The Insectarium Web site www.auduboninstitute.org is within this larger Audubon institute site, so you may choose to use whichever you prefer.] Open 10 a.m.-6 p.m. (last entry is 5 p.m.) Tuesday-Sunday. Adults, $15; seniors $12; children 2-12 years, $10; children under 2 years old are free.
Southern Food and Beverage Museum
Another new museum in 2008 is the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, dedicated to the understanding and celebration of Southern food and drink culture. The main exhibit features the cuisine of New Orleans, with its mélange of food traditions from different ethnic cultures. Other exhibits cover eating habits at the White House, a collection of postcards of southern street food vendors and farmers, and the Museum of the American Cocktail. Learn about the Sazerac, New Orleans’ most famous cocktail, and then adjourn to a bar to taste the real thing. (The nearby Swizzle Stick Bar in the Loews New Orleans Hotel will do just fine.) What better city for a cocktail shrine?
Southern Food and Beverage Museum. 1 Poydras Street, #169. Tel. 504-569-0405, www.southernfood.org. Open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 12-6 p.m. Sunday. Adults, $10; seniors, $8; students (with ID), $5.
Swizzle Stick Bar/Loews New Orleans Hotel. 300 Poydras Street. Tel. 504-395-3305. www.swizzlestickbar.com. Open daily, 11 a.m.-11 p.m.
Frenchmen Street
The Faubourg Marigny neighborhood, located across Esplanade Avenue from the French Quarter, was once part of a plantation owned by Bernard de Marigny. When he subdivided the plantation, the first suburb downriver from New Orleans’ original settlement was created. Marigny named Frenchmen Street after the leaders of the 1768 rebellion against the city’s Spanish rule.
Rather than the bustle of the Quarter’s Bourbon Street, you’ll see more locals and leisurely activity on Frenchmen Street. On the club-packed two block stretch which begins at Esplanade Avenue, you can catch some of the best music in the city. Duck in at the Dragon’s Den, then meander down the street to sample bands at the Blue Nile, the Spotted Cat, Snug Harbor, and d.b.a. Stop in for a bite to eat at Mona’s Café, the Praline Connection, or the Marigny Brasserie. End your club strut at picturesque Washington Square Park and try to find the local flock of Quaker parrots.
The bulk of Frenchmen Street clubs and restaurants are located in the 500 and 600 blocks.
St. Roch Cemetery and Chapel
New Orleans is known for its “Cities of the Dead”—the above-ground cemeteries that keep bodies out of the way of the rising water table. St. Roch (pronounced like “rock”) is one of the most beautiful of these cemeteries, and includes a small chapel.
In 1867, New Orleans was the center of a yellow fever epidemic. A German priest, Peter Leonard Thevis, encouraged his congregation to pray to St. Roch, whose domain was miraculous healing (especially in times of plague). In return for the saint’s favor, he promised to build a chapel in St. Roch’s honor. That year, not one parishioner died of yellow fever.
Father Thevis built the chapel in the cemetery—modeled after Rome’s Campo Santo dei Tedeschi. Inside is a small shrine with a statue of St. Roch and a side chamber filled with cast-off prosthetics, crutches, and ceramic objects representing afflicted hands, feet, hearts, and heads. People who believe that their prayers to St. Roch have sped their healing have left such symbols behind—along with floor tiles carrying messages of thanks.
St. Roch Cemetery. 1725 St. Roch Avenue. Cemetery open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. daily. Chapel open 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Saturday.
5 Tips for a New Orleans Escape
Julie Schwietert Collazo
New Orleans has long been one of the most popular travel destinations in the U.S., loved by Americans and foreigners alike for the unique cultural traditions that are only celebrated in the Crescent City. From Mardi Gras to muffulettas, New Orleans offers one-of-a-kind experiences that create lasting travel memories.
But New Orleans is much more than party beads, chicory coffee, beignets, and the French Quarter. Get off the path beaten by tourists before you by following these 5 tips, recommended by NOLA locals:
5. Know NOLA before you go. New Orleans is a history with a fascinating, complex history, a true cultural melting pot. You'll love New Orleans more if you know a bit about the city and its history before your trip. To learn more about New Orleans's food traditions, read Sara Roahen's book, Gumbo Tales: Finding My Place at the New Orleans Table. For more about the city since Hurricane Katrina, Billy Sothern's Down in New Orleans is a disturbing but important read. And Tom Piazza's Why New Orleans Matters helps you understand some of the sites, traditions, and relationships you'll be seeing in the Crescent City.
4. Support local commerce. The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is still being felt, particularly in the local economy. Support independent NOLA businesses as much as possible. One local favorite is Dirty Coast, which designs and produces t-shirts, bumper stickers, and other hip gear that make great souvenirs.
3. Eat off the beaten path. Many New Orleans restaurants are culinary institutions, revered by locals and travelers alike for the spicy blends that reflect the cultural gumbo that is New Orleans's people and history. While restaurants inscribed in guidebooks are there for a reason, there are plenty of places off the beaten path where the food is just good and the stories are just as compelling. One favorites is Cafe Reconcile, a restaurant that provides job training to at-risk teens and is always packed at lunch with loyal locals hungry for a meal that makes a difference.
2. Sleep like a local. New Orleans is a favorite destination for architecture aficionados, who marvel at design details in the Garden District. Few tourists, however, get to see the inside these beautiful houses. If you stay at the House on Bayou Road, a bed and breakfast, you'll not only have the opportunity to see a petite Creole plantation from the inside out; you'll also get the opportunity to meet local culinary legend, Poppy Tooker, who offers cooking classes in her ample kitchen and doubles as the hostess at the House on Bayou Road.
1. Travel like a different kind of tourist. With the rise of voluntourism--travel combined with volunteering--there are more options than ever for the traveler who wants to see a different side of New Orleans while also making a positive difference. A trip with the Culinary Corps will help you see New Orleans in a new light, introducing you to behind the scenes people, places, and experiences that you'd be unlikely to find on your own.
Julie Schwietert Collazo is a writer and editor specializing in place-based work about overlooked places and people. Her most recent visit to New Orleans was in June 2008, during which time she documented the work of the Culinary Corps.
