24 Hours in New Orleans

One of the great luxuries in life is to travel. It helps expand your world view through experience, offering insight into the lives of others, and offers an education that is unavailable through books alone. It is also, sadly, something that is unattainable for many who are struggling to make ends meet. For every town I visit, every country I have traveled, I am very aware that it is an extreme privilege to be able to do so. It is with that in mind that I try and make the most of every travel opportunity, even if it is only a day-long stopover.

It was one such occasion that I found myself in New Orleans for just over one day as a stopover on the way to visit family in Florida. A town as steeped in history and culture as New Orleans is difficult to take in during such a short burst, but I was determined to make the most of it. With adventure on the mind, and little in regards of an itinerary I made my way to my hotel for the evening, the relatively new Ace Hotel New Orleans.

Opened in March 2016, the New Orleans Ace Hotel is centrally located, offers an amazing suite, and has great dining at their Jospehine Estelle restaurant. The dark art deco décor is a marvel, and you instantly are transported to another place when you are in your room. The Ace Hotel New Orleans is a step above the properties in Seattle, Portland, LA, or Palm Springs in terms of its amenities and styling.

Unfortunately, the clientele of the New Orleans Ace are the late-for-the-game individuals inspiring to be the stereotypical hipster of a half decade or more ago. In less words, they are entitled, trying very hard to act cool, and beyond rude to the hotel staff. It was disappointing, but not that unexpected. In my New York years I would have called the clientele very bridge and tunnel. That aside, their miserable demeanor just pushed me to get out of the hotel and into the city as fast as possible; my first stop was a bite to eat.

Located in the Central Business District (CBD) the Pythian Market is similar to Los Angeles’ Grand Central Market, though on a much smaller foot print. The market offers a variety of food vendors from Jamaican, Creole, Venezuelan, BBQ, and more. In addition, the market offers spots for pop-up one off vendors. The market is quite quaint, and it was fascinating to observe every walk of life stroll through to grab a bite to eat.

Of course I didn’t come to New Orleans for food alone, but to explore the unique port city that is at the crossroads of the past and present. Nothing exemplifies this like the French Quarter - an area that still holds the charm of past centuries, but is being encroached by the same gentrifying forces that face most major cities.

The French Quarter is the major tourist destination of New Orleans. To be honest, I hate large crowds, and tourist traps typically bother me. But the history of the location, and the architecture has always fascinated me. To forgo much of the crowds I decided to hit the Quarter on a decidedly non-drink friendly Monday morning hour. This provided me with ample time to visit the shops of interest and stock up on some of the food that I had been wanting to grab such as the famed muffuletta.

The French Quarter’s Central Market is a New Orleans institution, and the locale responsible for creating the famous muffuletta sandwich in 1906. Located on Decatur Street, just down the block from another famous New Orleans haunt, Café Du Monde, Central Market instantly gave me nostalgia for both the Italian delis of New York, and the small Sicilian shops that made the muffuletta bread famous to begin with. My only regret is that I did not buy an extra half sandwich for the road as I headed out of the Quarter and into neighboring neighborhoods such as the 7th Ward.

New Orleans’ 7th Ward is the second largest of the city’s 17 wards stretching from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain. The 7th Ward is in the midst of a slow revival after the disastrous effects of Hurricane Katrina – which breached the London Avenue Canal flooding the majority of the Ward and its surrounding area. The area along Bayou is decidedly Caribbean in influence, which at times reminded me of another Caribbean ex-pat community Jamaica Queens. As an avid reggae 45 collector I was in for a treat when exploring the neighborhood.

Since 2007 Domino Sound Record shack has been one of the nation’s best purveyors of reggae 45s and LPs. With deep crates, and fair prices, the shop is a must visit for anyone who is a fan of pan-Caribbean music, punk, blues, jazz, and soul. The curation is key to its charm, and it is no surprise that the store’s founders hail from the Pacific Northwest with some obvious shared ideas as Portland’s Mississippi Records. Domino could easily sell records at tourist prices, yet their prices are decidedly cheap for the selection they provide. Despite this I left with an empty wallet, a fine homage to a great store.

Next to Domino Sound Record Shack sits Cupcake Fairies, who have been catapulted into the homes of millions through the hit Food Network show Cupcake Wars. Cupcake Fairies is a quaint and homespun cupcake shop. The family run shop is inviting and provided us with so much amazing information about the neighborhood and the surrounding areas. In the short time we were there we were introduced to local residents who worked as tour guides, actors in hit films, and given a local’s view of the changes to the neighborhood over the past decade.

Since I was without a motorcycle, and of course The Ton is a motorcycle magazine, I wanted to explore some of the elements of New Orleans that had left a mark on motorcycle culture - and that of course is how it relates to Easy Rider.

1969’s landmark film Easy Rider famously culminates in New Orleans where Wyatt and Billy drop acid and wonder the French Quarter and a cemetery only to be met with a bad trip. The cemetery scenes were shot in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 1 – a Catholic cemetery dating back to 1789 and famous among other reasons for housing the tomb of the “Voodoo Queen” Marie Laveau and Nicholas Cages’ lavish pyramid tomb.

The cemetery, which is on the National Register for Historic Places, is now only available to visit through paid tours or with a paid tour guide. Not willing to pay $20 to visit the site, I opted to visit another historic cemetery. The Metairie Cemetery to get the same feeling I would have at the Saint Louis No. 1 cemetery.

Located on the site of a former horse racing track, the Metairie Cemetery is known for its famous weeping angels, as well as the final resting place for Louis Prima and author Anne Rice’s tomb. Like most of New Orleans cemeteries, Metairie features above ground burial tombs. Due to this, there is a certain sense of age that I have only experienced when visiting European burial sites. The damp swampy ground mix of renovated and decaying tombs reminded me at times of the Blind Dead films. The late afternoon stroll was a fitting culmination of my 24 hours in New Orleans - a town which I am inspired to invest significantly more time exploring in the near future.