Museums

The Great American Alligator Museum emerges on Magazine Street

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Like the Rougarou, it had become a bit of New Orleans legend. 

For years, rumors have swirled about The Great American Alligator Museum, on Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District. While the sign on the front of the building promises that within these walls is “A 70-million-year-old tale waiting to be told,” there was no sign that it was open. 

There was never a sign of life in the building; the door was locked and no hours were posted. I figured any hope of the Alligator Museum ever opening had sunk like an alligator into a mossy bayou. However, I can now say that I have been inside The Great American Alligator Museum. 

I know it’s hard to believe, and I can barely believe it myself. I’ve always been intrigued by the promise of an alligator museum on Magazine Street.

Sidewalk Side

The Sidewalk Side: Chestnut Street in the Touro-Bouligny neighborhood

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It’s a glorious day for a StreetWalk … or a StreetScene … or taking a walk on the Sidewalk Side. I manage to get in right under the wire before this past week or so of brutally hot late May weather, so I can take my time studying the late-19th and early-20th century houses on the even side of the 3900 block of Chestnut Street. Bounded by Austerlitz on the east and Constantinople streets on the west, I’m in the Touro-Bouligny neighborhood just two blocks away from Magazine Street’s restaurants and shops. Starting at the corner of Chestnut and Austerlitz, I’m greeted by a Craftsman double with blue weatherboards and bright red doors. There’s a front-facing gable on the left-hand side of the roof, balanced by a hipped roof on the right.

land use & development

Lower Garden District development promises to transform the riverfront

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A new neighborhood is planned for the a whopping 27 acres of vacant land in the Lower Garden District. The developers’ plans include 1,100 new apartments, a boutique hotel, an “apartment hotel,” a grocery store, bars, restaurants, fitness center, offices, green space, a museum and an entertainment venue. The developers say they could break ground as soon as next year. 

“This development is an opportunity for a one-of-a-kind mixed-use site that will bring everything you want to see in a neighborhood and more,” land-use consultant Nicole Webre announced to the audience of a public meeting via Zoom last month. Webre is part of River District Neighborhood Investor LLC, the team selected in 2021 by the New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center board to develop the site. 

According to the plans that the investors submitted when securing their bid for the development, roughly 40% of the new housing units will be affordable or “workforce” housing, priced below market rate. The River District  would completely remake what is currently a zone of empty lots just upriver from the Crescent City Connection — a rare undeveloped patch of land on even rarer high ground within the city.

food and drink

Where to find a Friday fish fry in Uptown neighborhoods

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It’s Lent, the season of the Friday fish fry. Below are some fish fry opportunities in the Uptown area. See here for the archdiocese’s complete list of church fish fries in the metro area. In addition to the traditional church fish fries, some local restaurants are taking part in the United Way’s Fish Fry Fridays, a fundraising campaign for Hospitality Cares. 

If you know of a fish fry in the Uptown area that’s not on this list, we invite you to leave the information in the comments section. Holy Name of Jesus
6325 Cromwell Place (on the Loyola University campus)
March 11, 25; April 8
5 to 7:30 p.m.
Fried fish or shrimp with sides, $12 ($10 child); fish and shrimp combo with sides, $14
Pick up or dine in.

Mardi Gras

Blindsided by route change, Krewe of Thoth wants to cut parade in half to stay Uptown

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Krewe of Thoth officials say they are willing to sacrifice the downtown half of their parade to keep their traditional route deep in the Uptown neighborhood, where they bring Carnival to patients at Children’s Hospital and other institutions. “Hopefully, we can adjust it,” said Penny Larson, spokesperson for the Krewe of Thoth. “If we have to, we’ll cut the end off.” The historic parade route begins at Tchoupitoulas and State streets, then traverses Henry Clay Avenue before turning right on Magazine Street, where it rolls until turning on Napoleon Avenue. Under the city’s revised 2022 parade routes, the krewe will line up at Napoleon and Prytania Street.

historic preservation

Endangered places: As the Buddy Bolden house continues to deteriorate, PJ Morton ‘has a plan for it’

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Graffiti is scrawled across the side of the Central City shotgun that was once the home of jazz legend Buddy Bolden, and siding that received a fresh coat of paint a few years ago has begun falling off. In front of the house at 2309-11 First Street, near Simon Bolivar Avenue, trash has been piling up around the abandoned remains of past roadwork. Like many plans, those for the home of the musical innovator have been frozen in time for the past two years as Covid-19 disrupted every aspect of life here and abroad. But now that the coronavirus numbers are declining and people are starting to awaken from their forced slumber, questions have arisen about what exactly is going on in the 2300 block of First Street and when might work may be proceeding with the rehabilitation of Bolden’s former residence at 2309 First St. 

No apparent progress has been made since the house appeared on the Louisiana Landmarks Society’s list of New Orleans Nine Most Endangered Sites for the second time in November 2020. The society said that, despite celebrated restoration plans, the building owned by the Greater St.

schools

Lusher board puts off name change, rejects naming school after Jeanne Marie Lusher 

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After years of controversy and debate, the board governing Lusher Charter School officially voted on Thursday to change the school’s name to … something to be decided. 

At an emotional meeting that lasted almost four hours with 90 public comments, the Lusher board voted against renaming the school after pediatric oncologist Jeanne Marie Lusher. The four board members who opposed keeping “Lusher” in the name were Alysia Loshbaugh, Rachel Wisdom, Kiki Huston and George Wilson, while the two members willing to consider it were Brenda Bourne and Gary Solomon.  

“We are not the name. We are the community. We are the students. We are the faculty,” Wisdom said.

Lafayette Cemetery No. 1

Lafayette No. 1 has been padlocked for two years. What are its chances of opening soon?

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Let’s say you plan an outing for a Friday or Saturday afternoon with a friend from out of town. You decide to visit the Garden District and have lunch at Commander’s Palace. As you exit, you remember what an experience it is to visit one of New Orleans’ most famous cities of the dead: Lafayette Cemetery No. 1, directly across the street from the restaurant. So you amble across Washington Avenue to its imposing wrought-iron gates.

food and drink

Lengua Madre to offer a personal, contemporary take on Mexican cuisine at Thalia and Constance

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Big changes are coming to the corner of Thalia and Constance Streets where Lengua Madre, a restaurant that offers a contemporary, personal approach to Mexican cuisine, will open at 1245 Constance St. on Wednesday (Aug. 4). It will be the first solo endeavor of chef Ana Castro, who previously worked as sous chef at Coquette on Magazine Street and as co-sous chef at Thalia, which operated in the same location as Lengua Madre. Castro was also the head of the kitchen at the brief pop-up Here Today in the spring. 

Castro was born in South Texas and raised in Mexico City by her paternal grandmother.

business

Tipitina’s to open coffee shop and bar with live music next door on Tchoupitoulas

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Legendary local music venue Tipitina’s plans to expand by opening up a coffee shop next door that will also serve as a bar and live entertainment venue at night. 

The City Planning Commission approved the plans in a unanimous vote on Tuesday (July 27), with the provision that all music must be indoors with windows and doors closed. The coffee shop will be on 4331 Tchoupitoulas St., in a building previously used as a commercial short-term rental space known as Tchoup House. The venue has a rear patio and upstairs deck. 

In comparison to the bopping music club next door, the new entertainment venue will be low-key, focusing more on piano and acoustic performances. 

“The live music that we are envisioning would be akin to a piano bar: small scale, a piano man, or perhaps a jazz or funk trio,” according to a project description the club submitted. “An intimate vibe, nowhere on the level of size or production that the artists who play inside Tipitina’s require.” This expansion represents a hopeful new chapter for Tipitina’s, which like all music venues has struggled mightily to survive the pandemic.