In Depth

Throughout this guide, we'll talk about the mystique of New Orleans and its ineffable essence. But first, it's time for some stats. The largest city in Louisiana (even post-Katrina) and one of the chief cities of the South, New Orleans is nearly 100 miles above the mouth of the Mississippi River system and stretches along a strip of land 5 to 8 miles wide between the Mississippi and Lake Pontchartrain. Surrounded by a river and a lake, the city is largely under sea level. The highest natural point is in City Park, a whopping 35 feet above sea level.

Prior to 2005, the city was perhaps best known for its jazz-infused joie de vivre, a place where antebellum-meets-bohemia in a high-stepping dance of life, lived fully and out loud. Post 2005, its recent history is marked by a series of well-known difficulties.

First, the city's federal levee system failed following Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005, which resulted in flooding that was responsible for 1,836 recorded deaths and all forms of astounding, horrifying loss. Second, an oil spill occurred at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010. New Orleans is some 100 miles inland from the Gulf coast, and thus was not directly impacted -- but the perception was otherwise. Compound this with the economic downturn, and Louisiana's floods of 2011, and it would seem hard to get past the word "grim."

Remarkably, that is not at all the case. Certainly, all here will be forever designated either B.K. or A.K. (Before Katrina or After Katrina). But the place and its people have seemingly unending reserves of pluck and vivacity, which visitors continue to tap right into. In this section, we briefly recount the area's rich history, starting with today and then reaching back to its foundation, to help explain how New Orleanians' got their resilient, life-affirming "yatitude" (from "Where y'at?" -- the local version of "How ya doin'?").