New Orleans: Favourite Fun Flaneur Finds
Yes, I do like alliterations and yes, I do like fun things and of course I like flaneuring. New Orleans is a great place to flaneur as it is an old city (founded in1718) so there are layers of history each with their own lure.
This is Willie’s Chicken Shack on Frenchmen Street. It has to be one of the most colourful places I have ever seen.
It is also a music and party city which creates a fun sense of place. It is a city with deep roots in religions including voodoo beliefs which brings its own character and charm. Yes, I did buy a voodoo doll and a Mardi Gras doll for my collection.
For me the streets of any city are its museum and contemporary art gallery, but this was especially so in New Orleans. I enjoyed how neighbourhood homes have been converted into boutiques, cafes, galleries and neighbourhood pubs. I liked how the homes were decorated for Mardi Gras - from beads to toilets. I loved the neon signs and the street art.
Because we were there for Mardi Gras I loved the pageantry of the parades and the cast of characters along Bourbon Street at night. Because we stayed at an Airbnb on Frenchmen Street I was able to enjoy the city’s Jazz culture every night and some afternoons.
In this photo essay I will share with you some of my favourite fun flaneur finds and the stories associated with some of them. Have a look and let me know which ones you like the most.
We were headed to the Mardi Gras World, where they make the parade floats when I notice what looked like fun mural, then I noticed it was moving. It was all of the parade floats being positioned on an empty lot next to the Interstate highway just west of downtown. I notice an above ground parkade nearby and was able to get this photograph of all the float lined up ready for the parades later in the day. It was quite a site.
Almost every night these guys showed up in front of Willie’s Chicken Shack and gave a live concert on the street. Probably the best busker show I have ever seen.
We met this guy on our first day…he lived just up street and hung out at the Ayu cafe and wandered Frenchmen Street regularly taking to strangers.
Found this fun couch in a run-down pocket park.
Sally Heller’s “Scrap House” can be found outside the Convention Centre
While wandering the Marigny district we just happened upon a fun vintage pop up market. It doesn’t get more colourful than this.
Dr. Bob Art is off the beaten path but worth a visit, it is scrap yard with an art gallery inside of Dr. Bob’s art.
I’m a sucker for good neon sign.
I promised you toilets…how fun are they as planters.
Yes, this is an old Woolworth’s lunchonette counter. It is located in Peaches Records on Magazine Street a mega record/music shop. What makes it even more interesting is that this is where “sit-ins” were held in the 1960s to protest the Jim Crow law that allowed lunch counters to refuse service to African-Americans.
Just happened up this gallery with some large scale assemblage art. Unfortunately they wouldn’t fit in my suitcase.
This collection of whimsical sculptures are located along the River Walk at the Aquarium. They look like they could be whirly-gigs but they are not.
Miro is one of my favourite artists. This mural and bench was so inviting I had to sit and enjoy it for a moment. I am thinking it would be nicer if the bench was on the other side of the sidewalk so you could look at the mural.
Note the Voodoo Dolls in this window. Not sure what the other artifacts mean or are used for and perhaps I don’t want to know.
This was an amazing find. We were just walking along Magazine Street and I notice this strange square. A closer look determined that they were keys. As I bent over to take the photo, a passerby said “you must go inside it is like a museum.” Indeed, it was. More on this fun flaneur find in a future blog.
Found this book some left ironically in the Garden District.
One of the more elaborate Mardi Gras home decorations.
Bubble machine on Bourbon Street creates a fun experience.
Spotted this shoe on a fence and wondered if it was one of the Krewe Of Muses shoes. I think not. The Krewe of Muses shoe is one of the most coveted, handmade, and highly decorated signature throws in New Orleans Mardi Gras, typically thrown by the all-female Krewe of Muses on the Thursday before Fat Tuesday. Riders decorate shoes—ranging from glittered heels to tennis shoes—with themes, glitter, and trinkets, making each a unique piece of art that takes months to craft.
We just happened to be on the block where the participants in the Kreew of Cork Parade was forming. It was fun to be in the middle of participants, but we felt a little under dressed.
Two Mardi Gras parade hats end up in the garbage. It is estimated that $50 million is spent each year on trinkets, beads and toys to give way at parades mostly. It is amazing how happy people get when they catch some beads from a float or balcony and how proudly they wear them at night on Bourbon Street.
Decorated cars seem to be a thing in New Orleans.
Head out on the highway…..
We first encountered buskers with typewriters in Austin, Texas. In New Orleans they are everywhere. I thought this one was particularly fun with the baby buggy as the desk and a clever way to transport it.
This was a new one for me, I’ve seen little free libraries, fridges and pantries but not a closet.
Here are just a few of the charming old homes that have been converted to shops along Magazine Street.
I wonder why there is a huge statue of Joan of Arc in New Orleans, turn out New Orleans was named after Philippe II, Duke of Orleans, the site of Joan’s most famous victory in 1429, at the age of 17.
As we were watching the parade floats pass by heading to the empty field, each on pulled by a tractor, this driver smiled as I took my photo. He then waved to me, got off the tractor and gave me his card. He was proud to be the “Ugliest Man In The Universe." Too funny.
Last Word
These are just a faction of the 100s of fun flaneur finds I found during our one week in New Orleans. I hope you enjoyed this virtual flaneur of the streets of NOLA (New Orleans, LouisAna).
