New n e w o r lbhuddle/articles/Afield.pdf · 2018. 8. 31. · R&B pianist Professor Longhair to perform during his later years (the club is named for one of his songs). It regularly

AALL Spectrum May 200728

New Orleans is more than Bourbon Street and theFrench Quarter. The city is made up of many distinctneighborhoods, each one of them full of fun things to see and do, where memorable meals, music, and unique

shopping opportunities can be found with nominal effort. If you

plan to come to the AALL Annual Meeting and Conference in

New Orleans this July, consider coming a day early or staying a

day later. It will be worth your time, and the city can definitely

use the revenue as we continue to recover from Hurricane

Katrina. And, if you want to make this a family vacation, the

region around New Orleans is rich in sights to see.

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Further AfieldVenturing beyond the French Quarter

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by Brian Huddleston

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A Note on Getting around the CityService has resumed on most bus lines in New Orleans, and streetcars are running againalong the Riverfront and on Canal Street.Along the famous St. Charles Avenue route,streetcars only run an abbreviated loop aroundthe Central Business District, but buses runthe entire route, down St. Charles to theRiverbend neighborhood and up Carrolltonto the line’s terminus at Claiborne Avenue.And please, don’t make the touristy mistake of calling them trolleys: they are streetcars.Have you ever heard of a play called “ATrolley Named Desire?” (The Desire streetcarline, alas, was discontinued in 1948, shortlyafter Tennessee Williams wrote his famousplay.) Fares for the buses and streetcars are$1.25, and transfers are an additional quarter.A one-day VisiTour pass costs $5, or you canbuy a three-day pass for $12. Cab fare willalso be reasonable to any of the New Orleansattractions mentioned in this article.

Exploring the Garden District and UptownAfter the city of New Orleans began to grow beyond the historic confines of theFrench Quarter, new areas developed alongthe high ground adjacent to the banks of the Mississippi River. Today, the two mainneighborhoods upriver from the Quarter arethe Garden District and Uptown. Threeprimary thoroughfares extend upriver fromthe Quarter and run parallel to the Mississippiin decreasing echoes of the deep curve theriver takes in its path along the city. Inincreasing distance from the river they areTchoupitoulas (chop-uh-TOO-lus) Street,Magazine Street, and St. Charles Avenue. Any mode of transportation down theseroutes will return you to the Central BusinessDistrict and the Meeting hotels or to theFrench Quarter.

Magazine Street is a series of shoppingand residential areas along its entire corridor.

Walking its full sixmiles in July is a featfor only the stout of heart and theextremely well-hydrated, soconsider splitting acab with friends ortaking the MagazineStreet bus (its routestarts at Canal Streetand runs parallel to the conventioncenter a few blocksaway from theriver). Much ofMagazine Street isfull of great antiquestores, art galleries,and boutique shops, and there are also plentyof restaurants, coffee shops, and bars along theway to help pace your explorations. Some of

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the best sections of Magazine Street forshopping are the four blocks betweenFelicity Street and Jackson Avenue, theneighborhoods close to where Magazine is intersected by both Washington andNapoleon, and the first few blockscontinuing uptown past Jefferson Avenue.

Starting at Jackson Avenue, MagazineStreet is also the river-side boundary of theGarden District, one of the more elegantneighborhoods in New Orleans and a placewhere you can see many of the city’s mostsumptuous mansions. So meander down thenumeric side streets—First, Second, etc.—tothe smaller byways that run parallel betweenMagazine Street and St. Charles Avenue—Camp, Chestnut, Coliseum, andPrytania—and give yourself a walking tourof the Garden District. (You did bring yourfree map from the hotel, didn’t you?)

Notable places for a quick lunch orsandwich along Magazine Street are JoeyK’s (3001 Magazine Street), Winnie’s (3454Magazine Street), and the Magazine Poboyand Sandwich Shop (2368 MagazineStreet). Just about any other of the smallneighborhood-type places you encounterwill also provide a good meal, and ofteneven those run-down corner “quick stop”stores have a counter in the back where youcan get some of the best sandwiches and

plate lunches in town. For a more

elegant diningexperience, considerLa Petite Grocery(4328 MagazineStreet), Lilette (3637Magazine Street), orthe Flaming Torch(737 Octavia Street,one block offMagazine Street). Orplan ahead by makingreservations anddonning proper attirefor what is perhapsNew Orleans’ mostfamous restaurant,Commander’s Palace(1403 WashingtonAvenue, two blockseither way toMagazine Street or St. Charles Avenue).Located in the heartof the GardenDistrict, Command -er’s Palace is well-deserving of itsreputation and its

re-opening more than a year after HurricaneKatrina made news around the country.

If you continue all the way up Magazine

Street, you will find yourself at AudubonPark. Originally the site of the 1884 WorldCotton Centennial—an early World’s Fair—this 400-acre park has a golf course, awalking/biking path, and a lagoon full ofwildlife, such as turtles and birds and theoccasional alligator. Also located at the parkis the Audubon Zoo, one of the best in thecountry and well known for its white tigersand the Louisiana Swamp exhibit. TheAudubon Institute also runs a riverboatbetween the zoo and its sister institution,the Aquarium of the Americas, back onthe edge of the French Quarter. So if youhave the whole day, for a bargain you can get a package deal that includes theaquarium, the zoo, and a round-trip ride on the riverboat.

St. Charles Avenue will also take you“up town,” the direction, as well as through“Uptown,” the neighborhood. St. Charles isprimarily a commercial district until JacksonAvenue. It has some fine antique stores andseveral great restaurants, including the casualSt. Charles Tavern (1433 St. CharlesAvenue) and the upscale Delmonico (1300St. Charles Avenue), one of chef EmerilLagasse’s several restaurants in New Orleans.

Farther up St. Charles are some of thelargest and most elaborate mansions in the

city. One of them, The Columns (3811 St. Charles Avenue), is now a hotel, bar, andrestaurant. Originally the home of a 19thcentury cigar magnate, it was used for theinterior scenes of the bordello in LouisMalle’s Pretty Baby, and much of the presentfurniture and decor is recognizable fromthat movie.

Finding Some Great MusicIf you are uptown late in the evening, youhave plenty of options for good, live music.Le Bon Temps Roule (4801 Magazine) is a great neighborhood bar and music club. It has live music most nights of the week,usually with no cover charge. Another topNew Orleans’ venue is Tipitina’s (501Napoleon Avenue, on the corner ofTchoupitoulas Street). Tipitina’s wasoriginally organized as a place for influentialR&B pianist Professor Longhair to performduring his later years (the club is named forone of his songs). It regularly features NewOrleans’ best musical acts, such as Dr. John,Anders Osbourne, and The Radiators, andthrough the years it has hosted a diverserange of groups, such as ParliamentFunkadelic, Nine Inch Nails, and Wilco.

Other good places to catch musicuptown include Jin Jean’s Restaurant andLounge (1700 Louisiana Avenue, one blockoff St. Charles Avenue), Carrollton Station(8140 Willow Street), and the Maple Leaf Bar (8316 Oak Street). A finalrecommendation for music is the Mid-CityLanes Rock ‘N’ Bowl (4133 S. CarrolltonAvenue). Yes, it’s both a bowling alley and amusic club; the bowling facilities have kepttheir 1950s-era styling along with the rest of the decor. Live music most nights of theweek presents an assortment of the city’sbest acts, including a weekly Zydeco nightthat offers premiere examples of that style of music from all over Louisiana. (Rock ‘N’Bowl is a bit more off the beaten path thanthe other venues mentioned above—best totake a taxi there and back.)

An Excursion into Mid-CityIf you take the Canal Street streetcar line to its end, you will be at City Park and the New Orleans Museum of Art. Themuseum is noted for its French andAmerican art, a strong collection of Africanand Japanese pieces, and a significantassemblage of Fabergé eggs. Two otherworthwhile attractions are adjacent to themuseum. The first is the Sydney andWalda Besthoff Sculpture Garden, with55 works of contemporary and 20thcentury sculptors from throughout theworld set around landscaped paths andfountains. The second is the New OrleansBotanical Garden, a lovely Art Deco public

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garden with plants from around the worldarranged into several theme gardens, aconservatory, and a study center.

If you enjoy touring classic Americanhomes, Southern Living has called the LongVue House and Gardens “one of thecountry’s finest city estates.” This nationalhistoric landmark is open for tours of itsthree-story, 20-room Classical Revivalmansion and its large collection ofAmerican and European antiques and artpieces. The eight-acre gardens have a varietyof flowers with something blooming nearlyall year; the canna lilies and plumeriashould be at their peak in mid-July. (LongVue is also off the beaten path; a taxi ortour bus may be the best way to get there—check with your hotel.)

Venturing outside New OrleansInterested in taking a short trip outside thecity and learning about American history?The site of the Battle of New Orleans(immortalized by the Johnny Horton song:In 1814 we took a little trip/Along withColonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip) islocated just a few miles downriver fromNew Orleans at the Chalmette Battlefield.It was here that the Americans, under thecommand of Andrew Jackson and with theaid of pirate Jean Lafitte’s privateers,repulsed the British advance and inflicted2,000 enemy casualties while suffering only

a few dozen among their own forces.Though it is correct that the treaty endingthe War of 1812 had already been signed, it had not yet been ratified by the UnitedStates, so technically the war was not overwhen the battle was fought.

Adjacent to the battlefield is theChalmette National Cemetery, establishedduring the Civil War and the final restingplace of veterans from then through theVietnam era (including four veterans of theWar of 1812 who were disinterred andmoved here, but only one of whom actuallyfought at the Battle of New Orleans).

The more peaceful aspects of life inLouisiana during the 19th century can befound by touring any of the manyplantations upriver from New Orleans.Whitney, Oak Alley, San Francisco, andLaura plantations are all within an hour’s

drive of New Orleans. Several companiesoffer bus rides to and tours of these andother plantations: ask for more information

at your hotel. You can also tour

the swamps aroundNew Orleans, severalof which are onlyminutes out of thecity (your hotel canalso help you with aswamp tour). One oflocal residents’ favoriteswamp tourcompanies is JeanLafitte Swamp andAirboat Tours.Airboats are loud andecologicallydisruptive, so opt forthe swamp boat to get

a scenic, leisurely, up-close view of thewilderness at hand. If your tour takes youthrough his corner of the swamp, be sure tosay hello to “Old Joe,” the 13-foot, half-tonalligator who is easily more than 100 yearsold and who is a regular on the Jean Lafitteswamp tour routes. (Gators are truehomebodies and don’t travel much, usuallyspending their entire life within a mile ofwhere they were hatched. And when youweigh more than 1,000 pounds, a littlething like a hurricane isn’t going to domuch to convince you to move.)

If you’re driving in from the north and

want to take a detour before you get intothe city, consider visiting Abita Springs, atypical small Louisiana town with twoatypical attractions. The first thing to seethere is the Unusual Collections and Mini-Town Museum, or, for short, UCM

Museum (“you-see-‘em,” get it?), whichaccurately bills itself as “Louisiana’s MostEccentric Museum.” A huge collection of odd folk art and displays of eclecticsouthern miscellany make this worth a stop.And while in town, you can also visit theAbita Brewing Company, makers ofsoutheast Louisiana’s best local beer; youcan tour the brewery on the weekend, orstop by the brew-pub any day of the weekto sample its different formulations.

Touring the Mississippi Gulf CoastJust 90 miles east of New Orleans onInterstate 10 in Mississippi is Biloxi.Founded in 1699, Biloxi was the originalcapital of colonial French Louisiana. TheFrench moved their headquarters to therecently settled and more strategicallysituated New Orleans in 1723. Today,Biloxi it is the epicenter of Mississippi’sCasino Gambling industry.

Though the Gulf Coast took a directhit from Hurricane Katrina and thedevastation was immense, Biloxi, Gulfport,and surrounding environs offer 11 casinos,all of which have rebuilt or relocated andreopened since Katrina. Even if gambling isnot your passion, the casinos are also wellknown for the musical stars touring on thenostalgia circuit. To see who is playingwhere, your best bet is to run a restrictedsearch by date and zip code (39533) atTicketmaster.com. The Steve Miller Band,Willie Nelson, and Tony Bennett have allperformed at Gulf Coast casinos recently.


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An attraction in Biloxi of a “higherbrow” is the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art.George Ohr, the “Mad Potter of Biloxi,” isthe father of modern pottery and was theprimary force in transforming work in this media from craft to art. An innovatorwithout peer, his pottery is known especiallyfor its warped shapes, thin vessel walls, andvivid, multi-hued glazes. Only appreciateddecades after his death, his work in nowdisplayed in museums such as the New YorkMetropolitan and the Smithsonian Museumof American History. The local museum, co-named for Ohr and a former Biloxi mayorand his wife who are leading benefactors, isthe first museum in the United Statesorganized around the work of a single potterand will soon have a new building designedby Frank Gehry.

Another notable art museum is downthe coast in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. The Walter Anderson Museum of Artshowcases the paintings, drawings, andpottery of three brothers from New Orleans.It focuses on the work of Walter Anderson,who sought to evoke in his art the plants,animals, and scenery he saw on theMississippi barrier islands while immersinghimself there in solitude for weeks at a time.

Out to AcadianaRural south and central Louisiana is Cajuncountry, more formally known as Acadiana.Cajuns are descendants of French colonistsforcibly expelled from present-day NovaScotia by the British in the mid-18thcentury during what is known as le GrandDérangement. Many towns in south-centralLouisiana, such as Lafayette, Breax Bridge,Opelousas, and New Iberia offer a variety ofways to sample the music, food, and art ofCajun culture. Lafayette’s Vermillionville, arecreated 18th century Acadian village, is

just one of many options. Outside NewIberia is the Longfellow-Evangeline StateHistoric Site, which commemorates Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s epic poem“Evangeline,” the story of lovers tragicallyseparated by the Acadian diaspora.

One of Acadiana’s must-see sights isAvery Island, home to the McIlhennyCompany, maker of Tabasco sauce. AveryIsland rests on one of five major salt domesspread in a 30-mile line along the centralcoast of Louisiana. The origin of theseunique geological formations began when saltwas deposited as an ancient ocean withdrewfrom present-day central Louisiana. The saltwas less dense than the decaying vegetablematter and soil. As millennia of pressure fromsubsequent layers of sediment and rotting

plants formed the salt into subterraneancolumns, the pressure at points was strongenough to force the columns intoprotuberances that lifted the topsoil above itinto islands around the otherwise flat and

New Orleans Needs You

The Annual Meeting Local AdvisoryCommittee needs volunteers for avariety of activities at the AnnualMeeting. Won’t you join the wonderfulgroup of dedicated peoplevolunteering their time to help makethe 2007 AALL Annual Meeting in New Orleans a success?

Meet new people and reconnect with old friends while working at theregistration desk. Write articles for theSecond Line, the daily Conferencenewspaper. Collect tickets and seat

people at the ClosingBanquet. Or, if you will bein New Orleans early, helpstuff the Conference totebags on Friday, July 13,or visit with attendees’children during the FamilySocial Hour on Saturday,July 14. You could alsoshow attendees someNew Orleans hospitalityby organizing a dine-around on Saturdayevening.

Volunteers make theConference run smoothly,and they have fun. Forvolunteer opportunities

at the New Orleans AALL AnnualMeeting, complete the volunteer formavailable on the AALL Web site atwww.aallnet.org/events/07_volunteers.asp. Or fax or mail the completedvolunteer opportunities registrationform from the Conference PreliminaryProgram by June 8 to:

Miriam Childs, Volunteer ChairLaw Library of LouisianaLouisiana Supreme Court400 Royal StreetNew Orleans, LA 70130-2104504/310-2403Fax: 504/310-2419 E-mail: [email protected].

(continued on page 36)

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General Tourism ResourcesLouisiana Office of Tourismwww.louisianatravel.com

Mississippi Gulf Coast Informationwww.gulfcoast.org

Acadiana Informationwww.centralacadianatourism.com

New OrleansThe New Orleans Museum of ArtOne Collins C. Diboll Circle504/488-2631Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.www.noma.org

Longue Vue House and Gardens#7 Bamboo Road504/488-5488 Monday-Saturday 10 a.m.-4:30; Sunday 1-5 p.m. ($10 adults/$5 children)www.longuevue.com

Tours by Isabelle877/665-8687; 504/391-3544www.toursbyisabelle.com

Gray Line Tours 800/535-7786; 504/569-1401www.graylineneworleans.com

Outside the CityUCM Museum22275 Highway 36Abita Springs, Louisiana 985/892-2624Daily, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. ($3 per person)www.ucmmuseum.com

Abita Brewing Company 72011 Holly StreetAbita Springs, Louisiana800/737-2311; 985/892-5837www.abita.com

Chalmette Battlefield8606 West St. Bernard HighwayChalmette, Louisiana504/589-2636www.nps.gov/jela/chalmette-battlefield.htm

MississippiOhr-O’Keefe Museum of Art1596 Glenn Swetman StreetBiloxi, Mississippi228/374-5547Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m.www.georgeohr.org

Walter Anderson Museum of Art510 Washington AvenueOcean Springs, Mississippi 228/872-3164Tuesday-Saturday, 9:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.www.walterandersonmuseum.org

AcadianaAvery Island/Tabasco Bottling PlantLouisiana Highway 329(Nine Miles South of New Iberia)www.tabasco.com/tabasco_history

Jefferson Island, Rip Van Winkle Gardens5505 Rip Van Winkle RoadNew Iberia, Louisiana 337/359-8525www.ripvanwinklegardens.com


marshy swamps. These salt domes rise morethan 150 feet in elevation and are two tothree miles in diameter.

Because the easily-mined salt was avaluable commodity, Avery Island wasoriginally a vital source of the mineral forthe Confederacy during the Civil War. Salt is one of the two ingredients that theMcIlhenny family needed to produce its hotsauce, the other being the hot peppers thatwere well suited for the climate and soilhere. Most of the peppers are now grownelsewhere, but it is still on Avery Island thatTabasco is produced in much the same wayit was 140 years ago. The combinationvisitor center and bottling plant is open fortours, and the gift shop offers numerousTabasco-related products, even Tabasco icecream!

Edward McIlhenny, one of the sons ofthe original McIlhenny Company founder,was an ardent conservationist and set aside a large part of Avery Island as a naturepreserve. When oil was discovered anddrilling began in the 1940s, on his order the impact on the island was kept to aminimum, even to the extent of requiringthat any of the visible pipes that couldn’t be buried had to be painted dark green to blend in with the gardens and woods.Today, the Avery Island Jungle Gardens islushly landscaped with many varieties of

azaleas, camellias, and other flowers; it alsohas dozens of alligators in its lagoons andserves as a spring home for thousands ofsnowy white egrets that migrate up fromMexico each year.

A few miles west of Avery Island andalso situated upon a salt dome are Rip VanWinkle Gardens. The gardens are part ofJefferson Island, the winter home of one ofthe most famous actors of the 19th century,Joseph Jefferson, who performed his own stageadaptation of Washington Irving’s Rip VanWinkle more than 4,500 times during his life.The rolling beds of camellias, roses, lilies, andother flowers meander through the massiveoaks and are populated by geese, pelicans, and peacocks. At the center of the gardens and atop the island’s high point is the JosephJefferson Mansion, a 22-room plantation-style mansion furnished with period antiquesand artwork. Both the gardens and themansion are open to the public.

Something for EveryoneWhether you have only a couple of freehours at the Annual Meeting, or a few extradays to do some serious sightseeing, there is plenty to see and do in and around NewOrleans. It may be a quick walk through the historic French Quarter (see last month’sSpectrum) or a meal in one of the manygreat restaurants New Orleans has to offer.

Maybe it’s a day trip to any of the excur -sions described in this article, or the manyother things you can find through the Websites mentioned in “Sight-Seeing Specifics”on this page below. Either way, startplanning your trip to the Annual Meetingtoday and enjoy everything that NewOrleans and the surrounding region has tooffer. ■

Brian Huddleston ([email protected])is senior reference librarian at LoyolaUniversity New Orleans Law Library.

Captions:

1. Oak Alley plantation in Louisiana.

2. Courtyard Fountain.

3. Audubon Park Fountain.

4. San Francisco plantation, PlantationCountry.

5. Commander’s Palace jazz lunch.

6. Aquarium of the Americas, New Orleans.

7. Biloxi Lighthouse at night.

Sight-Seeing Specifics

new orleans— continued from page 33

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Documents

New n e w o r lbhuddle/articles/Afield.pdf · 2018. 8. 31. · R&B pianist Professor Longhair to perform during his later years (the club is named for one of his songs). It regularly