French Quarter

French Quarter, New Orleans, LA, USA

You don’t need to work hard to explore New Orleans’ diverse architecture. Take a walk around the French Quarter and you’ll see Creole cottages and pre-Civil War townhouses with wrought-iron balconies. Hop on a street car and take in the antebellum mansions that line St. Charles Avenue, then wander along the side streets to catch examples of shotgun homes that can be found throughout the city. In the Garden District, you can find urban versions of French Colonial plantations (known as Centerhall houses) and double gallery homes (similar to townhouses, but with deeper porches and more space between the house and the sidewalk). Lace up your most comfortable shoes and get walking...

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See Creole Cottages and Greek Revivals

You don’t need to work hard to explore New Orleans’ diverse architecture. Take a walk around the French Quarter and you’ll see Creole cottages and pre-Civil War townhouses with wrought-iron balconies. Hop on a street car and take in the antebellum mansions that line St. Charles Avenue, then wander along the side streets to catch examples of shotgun homes that can be found throughout the city. In the Garden District, you can find urban versions of French Colonial plantations (known as Centerhall houses) and double gallery homes (similar to townhouses, but with deeper porches and more space between the house and the sidewalk). Lace up your most comfortable shoes and get walking...

Find the Ghosts of New Orleans' Past

Stories of ghosts, vampires, and voodoo queens in the French Quarter of New Orleans abound, and many tour operators in the Crescent City offer walking tours of the haunted places. The stories stem from New Orleans’ very real horrific past (the slave trade, floods, disease epidemics, the Civil War, barbaric medical practices) and the sometimes creepy buildings that bore witness to this history. You may not see any signs of paranormal activity on your tour, but it’s easy to let your imagination run wild while you explore the centuries-old back streets on the banks of the Mississippi River.

A muffaletta

@ Central Grocery. Delicious!

Refined Architecture

Getting lost in the French Quarters of New Orleans, I came across this beautiful building. It was interesting to me because it looks very much like I could have been in France, when in fact I’m in the Big Easy.

Mardi Gras 2012

New Orleans knows how to put on a party! It is fun any time of the year, but no time is more special than the annual Mardi Gras celebration. At this time of the year, the wonderful wrought iron balconies of the French Quarter are creatively decorated with the colors of Mardi Gras...purple, green and gold. Purple stands for justice, green for faith, and gold for power. There are many terrific parades in the weeks leading up to Mardi Gras day, and it is truly a party for all ages. You can spend days taking in all of the city’s traditions. 2013 promises to be even more festive as New Orleans hosts the SuperBowl during the Mardi Gras celebration.

Mardi Gras Parade Fun

In the days leading up to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) in New Orleans, there are many wonderful parades. The floats are very colorful and elaborate, and the Krewes that stage the parades work hard to create their own unique identity in the celebration of Mardi Gras. The trinkets known as “throws” fly fast and furious from the parade floats. Here two Krewe members get ready to toss their “throws” to the anxious crowd.

Mardi Gras Bead Man

One of the great traditions of Mardi Gras is the parade, and with parades come the famous “throws.” Here a colorful Krewe members gets ready to toss some traditional beads to the screaming crowd! Catching the beads is a competitive sport!

Fat Tuesday in the French Quarter

This is what 7pm in the French Quarter looks like on the night of Fat Tuesday. Actually, this is about 200% less interesting than the reality.

Drinking in the Wild

Celebrating in NOLA? The best part is drinking on the street. Come prepared with plastic cups and water bottles to tote drinks around the Quarter for the times when the mood strikes and you need, you really neeed, to be drinking and dancing to a brass band in St. Joseph’s Square. No really, though—it’s allowed.

Forget the evils and just smoke a cigar.

New Orleans was a great, surreal experience! I would love to go back!!

The G-String Orchestra

Jazz musicians aren’t the only ones you’ll find playing on the streets of New Orleans. This folk/gypsy/klezmer group serenaded food and wine lovers at the Royal Street Stroll, the opening night event of the New Orleans Wine and Food Experience.

Halloween to the nth degree!

Though we would argue there is no bad time to visit New Orleans, the city comes to life (or rather death) quite perfectly during the month of October. A trip together some years ago culminated in an Oktoberfest celebration at the beginning of the month when temps were still cozy enough for shorts and a T-shirt. Back in 2012, we returned to experience Halloween week. And what a week it was! While other cities (Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York) offer large costumed street fairs, none of them do it with as much piquancy as New Orleans. Sure, you’re bound to see a bunch of guys walking around sans pants, but you can see that anywhere! What makes Halloween in New Orleans so special are the impromptu big band parades and cumulative drumming circles that erupt at street intersections when you least expect them! (Set of Drifters tip: NOLA residents go all out with their holiday displays. Make sure to spend one evening simply walking the Quarter to photograph the inventive hauntings.) We loved the rowdy dance stomping over in the Marigny after midnight, though still cite the poignant memorial service over at Voodoo Authentica as our favorite memory from the trip. Where else but in New Orleans can you so effortlessly touch down on, and be welcomed into, a world that you never thought you’d cross paths with? In New Orleans, October also plays host to the increasingly-popular Voodoo Music + Arts Experience and the annual New Orleans Witches Ball! Don’t forget your broom!

From the mouth of babes

Love live music? So does New Orleans. Follow the sounds of big brass as parades (both big and small) wind their way through the architecture-rich French Quarter.

New Orleans' French Quarter

This photo was taken somewhere near Bourbon Street. I learned that in this neighborhood, it is a luxury to find a quiet moment to admire the architecture. If you are lucky enough, you’ll feel as if you were in the South of France or Spain once again. But quickly snap out of it because being in New Orleans is the essence of savoir-vivre. You are in the mixed in with the fusion of the world’s most fascinating and unique cultures.

French Quarter by Bicycle

Ben suggests that visitors who want to explore the neighborhood he calls home begin by hopping on a bike. “One of my favorite things to do in New Orleans is ride through the French Quarter. You can take in all the sights, and sounds too, of course, in a way you don’t experience the city when you are inside a car. Chartres is one of my favorite streets. As you pedal through the French Quarter, the music from the bars spills into the streets as does the smell of New Orleans cuisine. You can follow it the whole way through Marigny and Bywater.” Here, there are several bike rental shops ready to set you on your way—laissez les bon temps roulez will take on a whole new meaning as you pedal your way through the neighborhood. —Ben Jaffe

Where to Drink (and Stay) in the French Quarter

The 97 recently redesigned rooms pay homage to the city’s jazz scene and its voodoo queen, Marie Laveau. The new bar and restaurant, SoBou, is decorated with ephemera from the Museum of the American Cocktail. Bar chef Abigail Gullo puts her twist on classic cocktails. She suggests ordering the cherry jubilee white bread pudding with her Sicilian negroni. The W hosts free cocktail seminars the first Monday of every month. And when Gullo gets away from the bar, she heads around the corner to the French 75 Bar at Arnaud’s. From $269. 316 Chartres St., (504) 581-1200. This appeared in the May 2013 issue.

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