New Orleans: Having a Big Time

A long weekend in the Crescent City, especially now, is both festive and fortifying.

By Pamela Fiori

SIGHTS

Tour the early-18th-century French Quarter (a.k.a. Vieux Carré), the seventy-eight-square-block section that is at once the most touristy and the most colorful in the city in terms of Creole architecture, shops, restaurants, bars, landmarks and street life. Its centerpiece is Jackson Square, where most of the outdoor musicians gather. They are slowly coming back. Walk from Jackson Square to the French Market, formerly (it is said) a Native American trading area, which overlooks the Mississippi River. The Garden District and Uptown are two of the loveliest residential areas; although both experienced damage, they are still worth seeing. The Audubon Zoo, across the street from Audubon Park, is one of the happiest places in New Orleans for families to see right now. The animals are safe in their habitats and delight the visitors, many of whom were victims of Katrina. The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas should be open soon, if it isn't already. As lugubrious as it sounds, touring any of the several above-ground cemeteries is actually fun to do. One of the oldest (built in 1789) is St. Louis No. 1, where voodoo queen Marie Laveau is buried and where scenes from Easy Rider were filmed.

EVENTS

Next year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will take place at the Fair Grounds over the last weekend in April and the first in May. There is food aplenty and constant music, from Cajun to zydeco (nojazzfest.com). And don't forget Mardi Gras. Nobody else will.

BACKGROUND READING

I found the following books to be particularly helpful: Feet on the Street, by Roy Blount Jr. (Crown Journeys); My New Orleans, edited by Rosemary James (Touchstone); and Why New Orleans Matters, by Tom Piazza (Regan Books/HarperCollins).

MOVIES Start with A Streetcar Named Desire, then move on to Jezebel, Wild at Heart, Easy Rider and The Big Easy. If these don't get your heart pumping for New Orleans, nothing will. A new version of All the King's Men (the first was made in 1949) is due out in late 2006, starring Sean Penn and Patricia Clarkson, a native New Orleanian.

MUSIC

There's so much of it that I hardly know where to begin. Seek out CDs by the following artists or groups: Louis Armstrong, Dr. John, Fats Domino, the Neville Brothers, Professor Longhair, James Booker, Jelly Roll Morton, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Irvin Mayfield, Harry Connick Jr. and all the members of the Marsalis family. The movie soundtrack from The Big Easy, by the way, is terrific.