The Big Easy

New Orleans is known as the “Big Easy” because of its laid-back inhabitants. It refers to itself more frequently as the “Crescent City” from the way the Mississippi curves around the city.

Everyone initially heads for the old town, the French Quarter, established in 1718. First impressions are of a tourist town: masses of souvenir shops, restaurants and bars, street vendors and performers, horse-drawn carriages and tours. A splendid example of tacky trinketry is this voodoo gift shop (voodoo has a history here), with nodding zombie figure at the entrance. Remind you of anyone you know?

 

The right attitude is to treat it all as fun; above all N.O. is a place of party. Some excellent street bands add to this impression, and here’s one motley crew performing in the square in front of the cathedral with a great sound.

The densest nightclub concentration is in Bourbon Street. The most readable sign is for Chris Owens’ Night Club. It’s the most famous one here. Chris Owens is a female entertainer who seemingly hosts a stunning cabaret show- not, as I first thought, a drag artist.

There is a more classy side to the old town. Jackson Square with the cathedral behind is quite scenic, even though my “Rough Guide” says it looks like a two dimensional façade from a film set.

Many of the buildings have wrought iron balconies that look really lovely when decked out with ferns and flowers. You can happily wander the quieter streets looking at the different styles of picturesque old buildings.The next photo is a good example, with the carriage thrown in for extra olde worlde atmosphere. Just ignore the two cars in the background!

 

New Orleans has figured in many songs, with particular streets or buildings mentioned. We decided to trace two of these:

Basin Street

Basin Street Blues is a Dixieland Jazz Band classic, written in 1926 and a hit for Louis Armstrong in 1928, performed since by countless others. So where’s Basin Street? The hop-on hop-off bus supplied us with the answer when we alighted at the old railway terminus, now a museum.

“There is a house in New Orleans, they call the Rising Sun” etc.

Anyone who lived through the 60’s will be familiar with the Animal’s hit record, but there are many other recordings too. Surprisingly, its location doesn’t appear in any of the tourist publicity or on any walking tours’ agendas. Some research on the internet reveals that its identity was indeed uncertain for many years, until the late 1980’s when semi-derelict premises was being renovated: 

Workmen at the site discovered risque postcards of half-dressed women from the 1800s behind a wall and uncovered fancy fluted columns and a ceiling mural of a golden rising sun surrounded by three cherubs. Levy says the house was a bordello operated by a succession of different madams for many years before her husband bought the building. 

This is now generally accepted as the true House of the Rising Sun. Oddly, no attempt has been made to capitalise on its past and the building is today an estate agent. But perhaps that’s an appropriate change, from one notorious commercial operation to another!

Keeping with the party atmosphere, there were three parades on Easter Sunday. The theme of all three was Easter Bonnets, so here’s a few photos just to give a flavour. It was crowded and hectic, so almost impossible to take a decent snap. The gay parade was the best. Here’s a fairy coach, which is entirely appropriate.

 

 

Now some gay hats.

And here’s the tooth fairy, as he told us, with his gold teeth!

 

The floats in all parades threw huge quantities of beads into the crowd which we all wore and gave us a feeling of participating in the merriment. Bands, too, and majorettes, but how many more photos can you take? It was all party, what New Orleans seems to do best.