“America has only three cities: New York, San Francisco, and New Orleans. Everywhere else is Cleveland.” -Tennessee Williams, Author
From the land of Creole, Crayfish, and Catholicism to Beignets, Beads and Brass Bands…..we proudly present our images of “The Crescent City”. Nicknamed for the “crescent” shape the banks of the Mississippi River form as the Big Muddy flows past the distinct neighborhoods and unique inhabitants that define New Orleans until its waters reach the Gulf of Mexico….
From the bars that are open 24 hours a day and never-ending booze that flows freely on legendary Bourbon Street, the quaint Ginger Bread cottages lining St. Anne Street, funky shops and avant-garde lifestyle found on Magazine Street, above ground Saint Louis cemeteries that are spooky even in broad daylight, riding the St. Charles trolley car, the quiet and serene of mansions and magnolia trees that line the Garden District, to the loud and boisterous nightlife on Canal Street. Cajuns, ghosts, musicians, pirates, missionary priests, voodoo queens and corrupt politicians have all left their legacy ‘mark’ on The Big Easy.
It’s rumored that this nickname is in response to the “state of mind” that exists in “Nawlins”. It is a spirited existence.....of not merely existing but living and enjoying life in the most carefree, rebellious and happy-go-lucky manner possible. Passions the locals exhibit daily in the form of exotic food, liquor and music all in excess, all the time…it’s nearly impossible not to get caught up in the magic, mystery and mayhem that is (and will always be) The Big Easy!
“In New Orleans…..You can’t separate nothing from nothing. Everything mingles each into the other…until nothing is purely itself but becomes part of one funky gumbo.” – Mac Rebennack (aka Dr. John, Musician)
“….these elements of New Orleans possess an astonishing vitality that has spoken to people around the world and shaped much of the best of what we think of still as American culture. Jazz music, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, Creole cooking, Mardi Gras, the architecture of the French Quarter, the literary traditions of Williams and Faulkner and Percy and Kate Chopin, the Mardi Gras Indians….It is not something that you find only in a tourist guide; it is a reality lived by its inhabitants every day, and as often as possible by those who love visiting.” – Tom Piazza, Why New Orleans Matters, 2008
