Very New Orleans by WDSU

Arts

Dream House Lounge is New Orleans’ first oxygen bar and wellness lounge

The downtown lounge is bringing soul to self-care.

What's New

Reading along the River: A guide to New Orleans independent bookstores

These 12 indie bookstores can help you find your next read and connect you to the greater New Orleans community.

Here are 5 Coolinary New Orleans picks you need to try this summer

Coolinary is running from Aug. 1 to 31 and over 80 restaurants are participating. Here are five of our favorites that are offering something special this year.

Afrodisiac restaurant brings Creole Caribbean fusion to Gentilly

This popular food truck now has a home on Franklin Avenue.

How Buttery Spell’s homemade compound butters went from pandemic project to supermarket shelf

Amanda Ratcliff began making pecan butter because it wasn’t available at the store and she wanted to relieve her pandemic boredom.

Here’s where to go glamping in New Orleans

These trips are less than a day away from New Orleans.

Brunchfaced: The best New Orleans outdoor brunch spots

Yes, I know we’ve already entered the “Two-Showers A Day” part of New Orleans summer, but that shouldn’t stop us from enjoying the outside as much as we can.

Haunted NOLA: The ghostly hands of children at the Gally House

The Yellow Fever epidemic of 1853 ravaged New Orleans, leaving behind something more ghostly than just grief.

Step inside one of the top bead shops in the country on Magazine Street

The Bead Shop caters to everyone from trending hobbyists to Mardi Gras Indians.

Big Easy, Small Budget: the best spots for people-watching in New Orleans

Few places are as perfect for people watching as New Orleans.

Fixing for a swim without breaking the bank? These pools across New Orleans have you covered

Hotels, a university and even a bar; there are plenty of places to get in the swim of things.

Local History

Photographer not credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1890, A New Orleans Police Chief Was Gunned Down by the Mafia

In 1890, New Orleans Chief of Police David Hennessy Jr. was assassinated while walking home on Basin Street. The son of a police officer, his story is marred by politics, crime and the mob.

Yellow Pocahontas Queen Dianne Honore, right, helps Big Chief Darryl Montana put on his suit for Mardi Gras, March 1, 2022 in New Orleans in front of the home of Darryl’s father, Big Chief “Tootie” Montana. Photo by Matthew Hinton

The Return of Big Chief Darryl Montana on Mardi Gras 2022

In the bright light of Mardi Gras mornings, the dancing and colorful beads and feathers from Montana’s suits are so vivid and saturated they leave an afterimage on the retinas. Accompanied by the shaking and thumping tambourine, and the singing and yelling of the traditional chants, the boisterous scene leaves a memory etched on the mind long after.

The contents of the Library of Congress Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase are in the public domain and are free to use and reuse. Courtesy Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division, Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase.

How a Failed Canal Project Created Nola’s Neutral Grounds

Nearly 200 years later, New Orleans’ neutral grounds are no longer the battleground the original Canal Street was. Now they play host to the battle for Mardi Gras throws instead.

Decorative iron pieces atop the two flanking spires on St. Louis Cathedral. (Photo by Michael DeMocker)

Who built New Orleans?: The untold story of Black blacksmiths

French settlers made plans to turn the piece of land on the banks of the Mississippi River into a sprawling community, but they didn’t have the manpower or skills to do it themselves. So they turned to African slaves.

How an English Actor Brought Light to New Orleans

While the days of gas streetlights are mostly a thing of the past, the mark James H. Caldwell made on New Orleans by creating her first gas light company has never faded.

Gov. Miro 1: Esteban Miro, the longest serving governor of the Louisiana colony, implemented numerous policies during his tenure to make New Orleans a thriving port city.

Gov. Esteban Miró: The Man who Remade New Orleans

Esteban Miro, the longest serving governor of the Louisiana colony, implemented numerous policies during his tenure to make New Orleans a thriving port city.

Where to Find Relics from New Orleans’ 1984 World’s Fair

The 1984 World’s Fair provided cherished memories for a generation of New Orleanians, but it also helped transform our city.

The third floor windows of the Old Ursuline Convent on Chartres Street are said to be permanently sealed because of the Casket Girls. (Photo illustration by Michael DeMocker)

My Granny was a Vampire-Smuggling Casket Girl: a (possibly) true story

Our story begins with the Casket Girls of Ursuline Convent – a towering building that still stands in the French Quarter where nuns, ghosts and vampires are said to coexist.

Nazis, Intimidation, and Espionage: How a St. Charles Mansion Became Part of a WWII Conspiracy

It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood summer blockbuster — a vast campaign of espionage and propaganda taking place on U.S. soil that must be stopped before the fabric of America unravels. But this story isn’t fiction. Carried out from a stately St. Charles mansion, Baron Edgar von Spiegel, German Consul to New Orleans, undertook his campaign of intimidation, espionage, and misinformation.

The funeral procession of Captain Andre Cailloux on July 29, 1863 in New Orleans is seen in this sketch by a Louisiana Native Guard soldier published in Harpers Weekly August 29, 1863. The funeral for the black Civil War hero killed at Port Hudson, Louisiana was the largest procession New Orleans had seen and included 37 mural aid societies including a group of free people of color called the Societe dEconomie or Society of Economy that met at Economy Hall. The horse-drawn hearse was provided by Economy Halls president and another member was a pallbearer for Cailloux. The 42nd Massachusetts, a white Union regiment that served at Port Hudson and New Orleans under Major General Banks, played valved brass instruments that were invented a few decades earlier in the 1800s. The Union army controlled New Orleans after the Confederates abandoned the city without a fight in May 1862.

How a Black Civil War Hero’s funeral paved the way for second lines

In an attempt to earn the full freedom and equality of the white caste, Captain André Cailloux fought in the Battle at Port Hudson, Louisiana, in 1863 becoming the first widely publicized Black Civil War hero. His funeral was the largest procession the city had seen at the time, and is considered by many to be the predecessor to modern-day jazz funerals and second lines.

Food & Drink

Dream House Lounge is New Orleans’ first oxygen bar and wellness lounge

The downtown lounge is bringing soul to self-care.

Here are 5 Coolinary New Orleans picks you need to try this summer

Coolinary is running from Aug. 1 to 31 and over 80 restaurants are participating. Here are five of our favorites that are offering something special this year.

Afrodisiac restaurant brings Creole Caribbean fusion to Gentilly

This popular food truck now has a home on Franklin Avenue.

Brunchfaced: The best New Orleans outdoor brunch spots

Yes, I know we’ve already entered the “Two-Showers A Day” part of New Orleans summer, but that shouldn’t stop us from enjoying the outside as much as we can.

black owned brunch spots new orleans 14 parishes

A guide to some of the best Black-owned brunch spots in NOLA

Gather the crew together, make those reservations, and celebrate all things Black at brunch.

Queen Trini Lisa’s Ascension to New Orleans’ Caribbean Soul Food Throne

Lisa Nelson didn’t plan on being a chef. She didn’t anticipate becoming a queen either, but true to the most beloved of royalty, the people made her one.

A grab-and-go food guide to the MSY New Orleans terminal

Time. Most of us don’t have a lot of that. Even less so when we’re rushing to make a flight. There are still plenty of tasty options for the less leisurely travelers among us, though it helps to know where to find them.

Chef Dee Lavigne expands the only Black-owned cooking school in New Orleans

Deelightful Roux School of Cooking is the only African American-owned cooking school taught by a New Orleans native, and her class is a guide to New Orleans’ food culture.