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10 Reasons New Orleans Is Unique
Situated on a bend of the Mississippi River, New Orleans is a city unlike any other. The historical blend of French, Spanish, African, and Caribbean heritages has given rise to a way of life defined by joyous celebration, deep-rooted traditions, and an indomitable spirit. It’s a place where the past is viscerally felt in the air, heard in the music, and tasted in the food, which makes it a popular location for tourists from around the world.
Whether you’re hopping aboard the historic St. Charles streetcar, indulging in a hot plate of beignets, or dancing along with a spontaneous second-line parade, you’ll discover that New Orleans is full of experiences you won’t find anywhere else. Grab a water bottle, plan your Hop-On, Hop-Off ride, and begin your exploration of 10 things that make New Orleans unique with City Sightseeing New Orleans now!
Jazz Clubs
One of the most famous symbols of New Orleans is undoubtedly the improvisational melodies and syncopated rhythms of jazz. Pioneers like Charles “Buddy” Bolden, often hailed as the “first man of jazz,” laid the groundwork for the genre with performances in the early 20th century. During the “Tango Belt” era of the 1910s and 1920s, the upper French Quarter transformed into a bustling hub of bars, cabarets, and dance halls that provided fertile ground for live jazz performances and the charismatic artists that excelled at them.
Storyville, the city’s notorious red-light district, was a crucial incubator for the music and offered venues where musicians from all walks of life could perform and innovate. Early jazz figures like Jelly Roll Morton and Bolden frequented places like the Little Gem Saloon, which opened in 1903 on South Rampart Street. Preservation Hall, founded in 1961 by Allan and Sandra Jaffe, played a vital role in keeping traditional New Orleans jazz alive during a period when its popularity was declining. Today, visitors can still enjoy classic jazz there as well as other famous venues, including Fritzel’s European Jazz Pub on Bourbon Street, Maison Bourbon Jazz Club, and the many clubs and bars of Frenchmen Street.
Above-Ground Cemeteries
New Orleans’ unique burial style is one of its most striking and often-discussed features. The city’s famous above-ground cemeteries, often referred to as “Cities of the Dead,” represent a practical solution to a significant environmental challenge caused by the region’s high water table. The problem was discovered when St. Peter Street Cemetery, New Orleans’ first official cemetery established around 1724, was built in a flood-prone area and hosted mostly in-ground burials. The site was eventually closed in 1788 for public health reasons, since coffins literally floated to the surface of the porous ground during floods. The shift to above-ground tombs became widespread in the early 19th century, with St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (founded in 1789) being the oldest surviving example.
In response to frequent yellow fever epidemics, New Orleans cemeteries took on their distinctive appearance during the 19th century. The practice of reusing burial vaults became a necessary and common tradition. Another notable development was the rise of society tombs, which are large, multi-vaulted mausoleums built by benevolent societies to provide affordable and respectful burials for their members. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, established in 1833 in what is now the Garden District, was groundbreaking for being one of the city’s first non-segregated cemeteries. If you’re planning a visit to NOLA, be aware that many official burial grounds can only be entered with a licensed tour guide.
St. Charles Streetcar Line
Beginning operation in 1835, New Orleans’ streetcar system holds the distinction of being the oldest continuously operating street railway in the entire world. When it first opened, it served as a suburban railway by linking the city of New Orleans to the separate city of Carrollton, a community that wasn’t annexed into the larger urban region until 1874. Early on, steam locomotives pulled the cars, but public complaints about noise and soot led to their replacement by horses and mules. The line was finally fully electrified in 1893.
Known as the 900 series, the line’s instantly recognizable green streetcars in use today are historic artifacts in and of themselves. Built between 1923 and 1924 by the Perley A. Thomas Car Company, the cars are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In fact, the St. Charles line is one of only two National Historic Landmark street railways in the United States, sharing the honor with the San Francisco cable car system. A contributing factor to the preservation of these historic cars is the line’s unique track gauge of 5 feet, 2 1/2 inches, which differs from the standard U.S. rail gauge. Starting from the Central Business District, passengers today can ride past the Garden District’s magnificent antebellum mansions before continuing on to the Carrollton neighborhood. Keep an eye out for landmarks like Audubon Park and the campuses of Loyola and Tulane universities, which are popular stop-offs along the line.
Creole and Cajun Cuisine
The food of New Orleans represents a tapestry of global influences, with the two most prominent threads being Creole and Cajun cuisine. Creole cuisine is a blend of various cultures including French, Spanish, African, German, Italian, Caribbean, Portuguese, and Native American, to name a few. These cultures benefited from the wide variety of ingredients available through New Orleans’ port, including imported spices and fresh seafood. A particular hallmark of Creole cooking is the use of tomatoes and tomato-based sauces, itself a later influence from Italian immigrants. Enslaved West Africans who worked in the city’s kitchens also left a profound impact on the cuisine style by introducing key ingredients like okra, which remains a staple in many gumbos. For a taste of classic Creole dining, historic restaurants like Antoine’s, Arnaud’s, Dooky Chase, or Lil Dizzy’s.
In contrast, Cajun cuisine is known as New Orleans’ “country food.” The Cajun style was largely created by the Acadians, French-speaking exiles who were expelled from what is now Nova Scotia and settled in the rural, isolated bayous of southwestern Louisiana. The foundational aromatic base in the Cajun style is known as the “Holy Trinity” of onion, celery, and green bell pepper – and don’t forget The Pope: lots of garlic. To taste test traditional Cajun dishes, head to restaurants like Cochon, Jacques-Imo’s, Galliano, and so much more.
Second-Line Parades
The second line parade tradition has its roots in late 19th-century Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs (SAPCs), which were neighborhood organizations created by African Americans to provide a crucial network of social support and funeral services. In general, a second line parade is a procession with two distinct parts. The “first line” consists of the brass band and members of the SAPC. The “second line” consists of a larger crowd of people – both locals and visitors – who fall in behind the band while dancing with infectious energy. The tradition itself has roots in West African ring dances brought to New Orleans by enslaved people.
Second lines are a year-round tradition, but you’ll most often find them on Sunday afternoons from late summer through early spring. Traditionally, a different SAPC will host a parade each week. These parades are led by a “Grand Marshal,” a respected member of the community who guides the procession with unmistakable style and swagger. While the second line tradition is most strongly associated with historic, predominantly African-American neighborhoods like Tremé, Central City, and the Seventh Ward, second line parades can pop up in various parts of the city and for events like weddings or celebrations of life. The high-energy, syncopated music is the unchallenged heart of the parade. If you’re a visitor looking to experience this tradition, one of the best ways to find out about upcoming parades is by checking the “Takin’ It To The Streets” schedule on WWOZ, New Orleans’ iconic radio station.
Mardi Gras
Mardi Gras refers to a season of lively parades, elaborate costumes, and joyful revelry that is about as quintessentially New Orleans as it gets. The tradition began in the 1740s with open-air street festivities and elegant society balls, but it was the Mistick Krewe of Comus that formalized the modern parade tradition in 1857. This secret society introduced the concept of organized parades with floats and masked balls, which set the stage for what we recognize as Mardi Gras celebrations today. The season culminates in a massive two-week festival, with the main parades rolling down St. Charles Avenue and Canal Street.
A defining feature of any New Orleans Mardi Gras parade is the “throws,” trinkets tossed from the floats to the watching crowd. This tradition began in the late 19th century, with the Twelfth Night Revelers credited as making the first throws in 1871. In 1872, the Krewe of Rex established the official Mardi Gras colors of purple, green, and gold that represent justice, faith, and power, respectively. While the most famous seasonal parades draw the largest crowds, other traditions are just as central to the spirit of Mardi Gras. For example, the Mardi Gras Indians, also known as Black Masking Indians, are a historic subculture that emerged from encounters between enslaved Africans and local Indigenous tribes. These groups create elaborate, hand-sewn suits of intricate beadwork and dramatic plumes.
Beignets
No trip to New Orleans is complete without indulging in a plate of hot, sugar-dusted beignets. These iconic pastries were brought to the city in the 18th century by French colonists and Acadians. They quickly became a staple of Creole cuisine. The word “beignet” itself is simply the French term for “fritter,” and the pastry’s heritage can be traced back to ancient Roman fried dough. Distinct from the American doughnut, a traditional beignet consists of a square of yeasted dough that is deep-fried to a golden brown color and buried under a generous cloud of powdered sugar.
While beignets were originally a common home-cooked item, they gained widespread popularity as a café-style breakfast food in the 19th century. The most famous purveyor of this sweet treat, Café du Monde, was established in 1862 during the American Civil War in the historic French Market. It has been serving beignets ever since. The café is also renowned for its café au lait, a coffee blended with hot milk. Beignets are traditionally served in orders of three, a practice that has been adopted by most cafés across New Orleans. Pro tip: don’t wear anything black while eating beignets!
Go-Cups
In New Orleans, the freedom to carry a drink with you as you walk down the street is one of the city’s most cherished cultural practices. While most of the United States adopted widespread alcohol open-container laws in the 1960s and 1970s, New Orleans remained an anomaly, and the go-cup was born. The modern go-cup culture gained momentum in the 1960s when a clever Bourbon Street bartender who, looking to boost business, began serving drinks directly from a window to people on the street. The go-cup is especially essential to traditions like Mardi Gras, where people walk the parade routes with drinks in hand. The go-cup also serves a practical purpose by allowing people to take a refreshing drink “to-go” with them without having to finish it inside a bar.
The go-cup facilitates a communal, celebratory atmosphere and ensures that the good times, or “laissez les bon temps rouler,” can truly roll in New Orleans. It’s not uncommon to see every person walking down Bourbon Street with a go-cup, typically filled with a famous Pat O’Brien’s Hurricane. For safety reasons, it’s important to know that the city’s laws require that any alcoholic beverages carried in public must be in plastic cups rather than glass or metal containers.
Gambling
Beyond its music and food, New Orleans has a rich, albeit lesser-known, history as a gambling hub. In fact, it is said to be the birthplace of one of the world’s most popular dice games: craps. Bernard Xavier Philippe de Marigny de Mandeville, a wealthy Creole gambler, introduced a modified version of a game called “hazards” that he learned in London to New Orleans. His new version was adopted by Americans, who called Creoles “crapaud,” or “toad,” in French. This name eventually evolved into “craps.”
In the 19th century, New Orleans was a mecca for gamblers, with an estimated 500 gambling houses operating between 1830 and 1850. The city’s modern gambling scene was revitalized in 1991 when Louisiana passed legislation to legalize up to 15 riverboat casinos to boost the state’s economy. The law also permitted a single land-based casino in New Orleans, a monopoly that was granted to Harrah’s and opened in 1999. Today, guests can visit Caesars New Orleans, the only land-based casino in the state, filled with a wide variety of table games. For a more historic betting experience, you can head to the Fair Grounds Race Course to wager on live horse races.
Voodoo Culture
One of the most mystical and misunderstood aspects of New Orleans culture is Voodoo. This spiritual tradition arrived in the early 1700s with enslaved people from West Africa, who blended their traditional beliefs, which centered on a network of spirits, with the Catholicism of the French colonizers. The religion was further influenced in the early 19th century by the arrival of free people of color and enslaved people fleeing the Haitian Revolution, who brought with them the practices of Haitian Vodou.
For a time, the public face of New Orleans Voodoo was Congo Square, located in what is now Louis Armstrong Park. This was a designated gathering place for enslaved and free people of color on Sundays, and it was here that Voodoo ceremonies featuring drumming, dancing, and music were openly held. In general, followers believe in a single, remote God, but they commune with intermediary spirits known as lwa or loa to address daily needs. To learn more about this spiritual practice, you can visit the Historic Voodoo Museum in the French Quarter or the historical site of Congo Square.
With City Sightseeing New Orleans, you can easily explore all the reasons that the city is a one-of-a-kind destination. Experience NOLA’s sights, sounds, and flavors at your own pace with a Hop-On, Hop-Off tour today!