In my online quests for vintage images, I rarely find enough shots to highlight a specific location or time. Today’s gallery bucks that trend, with a brief series of New Orleans images taken mostly in 1958. For those who have seen or know the city, these should bring some nice memories. And as always, serve as a starting point to ponder the changes that have occurred since.
The original uploader dated these Kodachromes to 1958, with only two assigned to 1955 (the bottom ones). Sharp eyes will notice one of these is doing a rerun, but the repeat is worth it to complete the collection.
Splendid. I’ve never been to NOL; I’m waiting for a time machine to take me there in 1955. Not sure I’d like today’s Disneyland-esque version.
Paul, crime is very high there today. N.O. was the murder capital of the country in recent years. My folks honeymooned there in 2/52, but I would go there on a bet today.
My parents honeymooned there in April, 1962, and it was still a very nice place then, of course. We went again in 1977 and to the World’s Fair I think it was in 1984 there.
Was New Orleans a popular honeymoon destination of back then? My parents honeymooned there as well – also in 1962 (driving down there from Philadelphia in their Peugeot). I always considered that a somewhat unusual honeymoon spot, but I guess not.
We honeymooned there in 1981, Stayed at Maison deVille. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Maison_De_Ville
Of course the restaurant choices in NO have always been fabulous. The food scene has been greatly enriched in recent years by all the Vietnamese, Hispanic, Caribbean, etc. arrivals. The fusion possibilities are endless and NO is just the place where experimentation is celebrated.
Things have changed in NOLA….and not for the better.
The current police force is down by 250 officers compared to a few years ago. Also, there’s a murder almost two to three days.
Just last month, the city District Attorney was carjacked while his Mom was in the car. Fortunately, no one hurt, but image coaxing your elderly Mom out of your car so it can be stollen.
https://www.nola.com/news/crime_police/new-orleans-da-jason-williams-carjacked-with-mother/article_99838e1a-6d37-11ee-8dea-973f974749a2.html
Loverly post.Needs a soundtrack – Nuvell Jolie Blon by Buckwheat Zydeco.
Went there a few years ago and loved it, it’s a true music lover’s paradise. you just have to know where to stay and where to go. We rented an old shotgun Air B’n B away from the center city, a picturesque bargain, and had bikes to pedal into the city/waterfront. Stay away from super touristy Bourbon St, Frenchman Street is where the locals go for great music. Early Spring right after Mardis Gras is a great time to visit. Cafe du Monde is fun but the best beignets we found were the ones at the airport, amazingly. Great seafood places all over the place. Check out the cool graveyards in the historic district. Visit, you won’t regret it, I’d go back in a heartbeat.
Gee – I don’t know if it was such a great place for some even back then….
Certainly not for impaled Piñatas
Loved New Orleans. We went to Pat O’Brien’s one night where we were in a crowded room. I drank Hurricanes that four days instead of Bourbon. We toured the Garden District. One night we were at am antebellum hotel for a gala. WOW! The lights were down low to simulate the days of oil lamp chandeliers. We took the steamboat ride up the Mississippi – not a far ride, saw the sugar refineries and landscape. Flying in, I marveled at the level of Lake Pontchartrain because it is higher than the city. At that time, I surmised that a hurricane can inundate New Orleans, which it did some years later. It is on my bucket list for a return visit. If you think that only women earn bauble necklaces (cheap plastic for fun) for exposing themselves. Well, think again! Nice collection of cars. Did you see the stripper green Ford Tudor vintage 1950?
Again, colour correction, sharpening, etc., make these images magical. Has a early 1900s Europe feel.
City in one of the first early hits, of one of my favourite bands.
The Tragically Hip was the ultimate huge-in-Canada, nearly-unknown-everywhere-else band.
Thank you for the wonderful nostalgic photos. We lived there for 6 years in the 1980’s and found it a fascinating place. I completed a masters degree at Tulane University during the time and found the city is much more cultured than its common image. The good things about it are wonderful, the not-so-good things never change. Enjoy it for what it is.
There is a suspicious black Ford truck in the first 2 pics.
My wife & I drove to New Orleans in 1991. I was too tired to drive the last few miles in, so my wife, fairly inexperienced at driving, drove the home stretch into N.O. It was raining & she was driving at 85 mph in order to not get run into by endless crazies passing us at 100 mph in the rain. Louisiana rain indeed. We had to drive to Beaumont, TX to get out of the rain.
Taking a ride on a paddle-wheel steamboat along the Mississippi, we noticed the river was higher than the surrounding ground. I was thinking how vulnerable they were to flooding, which of course happened during Hurricane Katrina.
The food was great, the architecture unique. One thing I found a little strange was the common presence of a large and beautiful home right beside a ramshackle shack.
While waiting at a traffic light I saw a parked derelict car that was hit hard, bumper on the ground, back end pushed in and a folded trunk lid. How weird just to dump it there. Surprise, surprise, before the light turned green, somebody walked up the the wreck, got in and drove off. I dropped my jaw. It is a crazy place alright. Open liquor was allowed in cars then.
Saw a white Chevy many, many, years ago near “Youngstown OH”; fit the description of the car you thought to be abandoned..
As I recall, it was “exiting a shopping center parking lot”. ((seemingly of it’s own volition)
Quite the city. Really no other one like it in America. The culture is so different. Highly recommend to everyone to visit there at least once. Had the best restaurant meal of my life there. Not in the French Quarter, but at the Commanders Palace in the Garden District. Topped off the evening with beignets and chickory coffee at Cafe du Monde. What a night.
Great photos indeed .
I especially like the old Cornbinder telephone truck ~ those beds came in in the 1940’s and were swapped onto new cab & chassis well into the late 1960’s .
I can only imagine the gustatory delights .
-Nate
Being a banker and a NOLA native, and having started my career there, the opening photo has its charms for me.
You get a clear view of the two rival “skyscrapers” that dominated the skyline for many years: the Hibernia National Bank building, and the American Bank (later National American Bank) building. I was privileged to work in the latter building during the 1990s, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen as much marble as there was in the Art Deco lobby and mezzanine.
Cool pix. Never been to New Orleans though. Its French influence has long been interesting to me, having learned French in the classroom.
Peeking at the lines of parked cars, I see a car that maybe was owned by a French Canadian visiting the city. In the third photo with the IH pickup in the left foreground, the car that is parked behind the Nash in the long line of cars appears to be a ’55 Meteor, the Canadian Ford.
New Orleans is no where near as nice as it use to be. The city is in a constant decline.