New Orleans :: Culture
Return To NewOrleans/HurricaneKatrina Homepage
Culture of New Orleans Louisiana
Debauchery . French Opera House . Pelicans . Water Pumps
The city's reputation as a place of debauchery was sealed early at the end of the last century by a place whose one-word name still resonates 100 years later: Storyville. Proposed by Alderman Sidney Story, the district was designed to halt the spread of prostitution throughout the city.
Continue below...
NEW ORLEANS
The city’s reputation as a place of debauchery was sealed early at the end of the last century by a place whose one-word name still resonates 100 years later: Storyville. Proposed by Alderman Sidney Story, the district was designed to halt the spread of prostitution throughout the city. The result was a rollicking red-light district that was a home not only to prostitutes, but also to musicians who would become some of the city’s most famous. It also spawned the famous series of photographic portraits by E.J. Bellocq, and was the birthplace of the song “Pretty Baby,” by pianist Tony Jackson. Its end came in 1917, when the Navy Department decided it was more important to make war, not love sex. At the Navy’s insistence, the district was shut down to avoid spreading sexual venereal diseases among servicemen shipping out of New Or leans to fight in Europe.
On Dec. 4 1919 the French Opera House, which a month before had opened its first session since the end of World War I, was razed by a fire of undetermined origin. Designed by architect James Gallier, the Greek Revival-style structure on the corner of Toulouse and Bourbon streets opened in 1850 in a city that had been one of the earliest homes of grand opera in North America. After the fire, opera in the city was largely relegated to performances by touring companies until the founding of the New Orleans Opera House Association in 1943.
"Play ball" was a familiar refrain in New Orleans for the major portion of the 20th century, when the old Pelicans were a mainstay of the Crescent City's sporting life. Founded in 1887, the Pelicans played in several leagues before joining the newly formed Southern Association in 1901, and between then and 1943, New Orleans won 10 pennants. Larry Gilbert, the first Orleanian to play in the major leagues and in the World Series, guided the Pels to five pennants (1923, 1926, 1927, 1933 and 1934). The Pelicans served as training ground for, at various times, the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Cardinals, Brooklyn Dodgers and Pittsburgh Pirates. By the 1950s, however, television was bringing major league baseball into most homes, and attendance at games started flagging. After the 1959 season, the original Pelicans were gone.
In 1913, Albert Baldwin Wood, A Sewerage and Water Board engineer, developed the screw pump that gave New Orleans a fighting chance in the war against the water that surrounds it. Staying dry is quite a battle for a city below sea level, surrounded by the Mississippi River, Lake Pontchartrain and other bayous and swamps, and with one of the highest rainfall rates in the country. In 1928, Wood designed a 14-foot version of his pump. Almost 50 of Wood's originals are still in use in New Orleans today.
http://gatewayno.com/history/louisiana.html
Culture 1
Culture 2
Culture 3
