Everybody has opinion about New Orleans – the laissez - faire attitude , the architecture , the food , the euphony , the colorful houses , and the characters that live the Crescent City . New Orleans , on its own merits , is a metropolis that people get irrationally excited about . about 10 million tourists visit every year . And for the million - and - modification of us who endure here full - clock time , can you blame us for clinging to a few strong opinions ?
Where to get the absolute best food – or best anything
New Orleanians are natural expert , and most of us unconsciously slip into the role of concierge when we take in someone say , “ Do you know where we can get … ” Ask us for recommendation on where to get oyster , crawfish , king cake , sno - balls , Po River - boys , pho , Bloody Marys , or a Sazerac , and you ’ll get an exceedingly enthusiastic solution . We can also order you where to find a great wig , a opinion of the lake at sunset , a spot on the parade route , and a heap on essentially anything you ’re depend for . Just need , y’ all !
Where you (and everyone else) went to high school
Anyone who moves to New Orleans finally discover that when someone demand “ Where ’d you go to school ? ” they do n’t mean college . High school day is the affair here , and local playwright Jim Fitzmorris ( who go bad to Jesuit ) even enshrine it as one of his seven wind to Crescent City citizenship in his one - man showBe A Modern Orleanian : A Swearing - In Ceremony . Our high schoolhouse are a braggy deal . If you ’re feeling lost , check out the local media ’s extensive eminent school sports insurance coverage , or ask a neighbor at the parade which school has the best marching banding .
Celebrating everything, from festivals to Feast Days
New Orleans is thefestival capital of the world : you have Jazz Fest , French Quarter Fest , Voodoo Fest , festivals for creole Lycopersicon esculentum and gumbo , solemnisation of oysters . po - boys , king cakes , andfried volaille . Not to mention festivals of comedy , dramaturgy , Holy Scripture , burlesque , and sideshow . At the same prison term , the Crescent City is pious , and many residents still mark the Twelfth Night and Epiphany . People here – even non - Catholics – incline to go get ash tree the day after Mardi Gras ; they might give something up for Lent or see forward to St. Joseph ’s Day . We lionise here , turn out for the unconvincing festival and religiously bound tradition .
Costumes
You already fuck thatNew Orleanians do n’t playwhen it get along to dressing up . You could spend all twenty-four hour period look at pic of the outrageously intricate costume we break on Mardi Gras – start with the Society of St. Ann and theBourbon Street costume contestfor amazing drag getups . The best costume are , like Mardi Gras Indians ’ handiwork , sew together by hand . But everyone can make just a little moment of magical realness with a hot gum hired gun , face paint , and glitter . The most important baksheesh : save what you’re able to and put it in the costume loo for another year , when you have less time or inspiration . It gets gentle the longer you survive here .
Judging you based on which grocery store you shop at
Grocery store commitment binds people in locality throughout the city . There are the Rouses people who are devotees of the in - house delicatessen sum and seasonal crawfish furuncle . There are Winn - Dixiens , who like to say to the Rouses citizenry , “ Oh , so you ’re a millionaire , huh ? ” There are those tipplers who love a well - stocked bar , and stumble up the Dorignac ’s for the unspoiled deals . We ’ve catch hoi polloi who shop at Whole Foods or Canseco ’s , or Robert Fresh Market , as well as those who make the haul out for fresh seafood or chicken foot at Hong Kong Food Market , and those who mostly pick up what they need at the Mardi Gras Zone .
Our neighborhoods
The other night , I texted a protagonist of mine to see where to meet for swallow and cogitate I might win over her to fulfil me at my region bar . She say me she was go out in her neighborhood , and so I enounce that I would n’t strain to get her to add up to my neighborhood . Here ’s the thing : we were less than a Admiralty mile and a half away from each other . New Orleans is not a big metropolis ; there are few pointedness inside the metro area that would take more than 30 minutes of traveling time . And yet the cross of arbitrary boundary is somehow like climbing Everest .
Things that “ain’t dere no more”
You could say that you really become a New Orleanian the first clock time you say “ It ’s where so - and - so used to be . ” That so - and - so could be anything . When I move to New Orleans in the summer of 2006 , multitude were still blab out about the locally possess chain of K&B drug stores , which end operations in 1997 . This impulse is deep than nostalgia , though . It ’s an attempt to interact with account , to remember all the versions of this city that have been destruct and rebuilt so many times over .
What other people say about us
AMarch 2014 story in theNew York Timesabout the influx of artist to New Orleans generate us this beautiful quote from the actress Tara Elders : “ New Orleans is not cosmopolitan . There ’s no kale here . ” Pardon the pun , but we chewed on that one for year . New Orleanians are generally a bit preoccupied with depictions of New Orleans , and one of our top pastimes is poking fun at the nonsensical conclusions other people make about our home – whether it ’s a delightfully and disastrously strange boob tube show ( K - Ville’sgumbo parties ) , off - the - wall movies ( Bad Lieutenant : Port of Call New Orleans ) , or head - scratchingly clueless travel article .
T-shirts (especially ones about New Orleans)
Visit different cities in the United States and take note of their cover . Do you find lots of I Heart NY tees in New York ? Is Ithaca awash in citizens glorify its gorges ? Are the street of Richmond , Virginia pack with residents glorify their ok state for lovers ? Here in New Orleans , we like to wear our civil pride on our chests . So saunter into Dirty Coast , Storyville , Defend New Orleans , or Fleurty Girl ( you get the picture ) and find the motto and purpose for you . It ’ll make you look like a local .
Technically, worthless crap
You find them on makeshift altar throughout the city : glitter - smothered high heels , painted coconuts , and gleaming , glittery purse . Gifts that were slip by from hand to hand . A passenger in a float dangles a treasure over the border , then cast it in the clutch of their chosen reveller . These are the talismen of Carnival , and sure , they ’re technically ugly . Some people go for Muses place , Zulu coconut , or Nyx purses . Other people dive for doubloons , or want every tradition brace of beads thrown by Rex riders . But every New Orleanian keeps a few treasure that could , in other contexts , be mistaken for crank .
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New Orleans Jazz Festival|Flickr/Richard Schneider (edited)
Trenasse
Flickr/SC Cunningham
Flickr/Joel Mann
Flickr/Shawn Harquail (edited)
Flickr/Infrogmation of New Orleans
Flickr/Mark Gstohl
