Orientation

Visitor Information

The New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2020 St. Charles Ave., New Orleans, LA 70130 (tel. 800/672-6124 or 504/566-5011; www.neworleanscvb.com), not only has a wide array of well-designed and well-written brochures that cover everything from usual sightseeing questions to cultural history, but the incredibly friendly and helpful staff can also answer almost any random question you may have. If you're having trouble making decisions, they can give you good advice; if you have a special interest, they'll help you plan your visit around it -- this is definitely one of the most helpful tourist centers in any major city.

Once you've arrived in the city, you also might want to stop by the Visitor Information Center, 529 St. Ann St. (tel. 504/568-5661), in the French Quarter. The center is open Tuesday to Saturday from 9am to 5pm and has walking- and driving-tour maps and booklets on restaurants, accommodations, sightseeing, special tours, and pretty much anything else you might want to know about. The staff is friendly and knowledgeable about both the city and the state.

NOLA.com is an excellent resource, offering online versions of the Times-Picayune, information about nightlife and festivals, good links, and of course, Bourbo-cam (a webcam aimed 24/7 at a certain corner of Bourbon St.; at press time, down for repairs), which we watch compulsively on the days leading up to Mardi Gras.

City Layout

"Where y'at?" goes the traditional local greeting. "Where" is easy enough when you are in the French Quarter, the site of the original settlement. A 13-block-long grid between Canal Street and Esplanade Avenue, running from the Mississippi River to North Rampart Street, it's the closest the city comes to a geographic center.

After that, all bets are off. Because of the bend in the river, the streets are laid out at angles and curves that render north, south, east, and west useless. It's time to readjust your thinking: In New Orleans the compass points are lakeside, riverside, uptown, and downtown. You'll catch on quickly if you keep in mind that North Rampart Street is the lakeside boundary of the Quarter and that St. Charles Avenue extends from the French Quarter, downtown, to Tulane University, uptown.

Canal Street forms the boundary between new and old New Orleans. Street names change when they cross Canal (Bourbon St., for example, becomes Carondelet St.), and addresses begin at 100 on either side of Canal. In the Quarter, street numbers begin at 400 at the river because 4 blocks of numbered buildings were lost to the river before the levee was built.

Maps -- Don't think you can get along without one in New Orleans! For a map, call the Convention and Visitors Bureau , stop by the Visitor Information Center for a free one, or pay for one at any major bookstore. If you rent a car, be sure to ask for maps of the city -- the rental agents have good detailed ones.

Street Names -- As if the streets themselves weren't colorful enough, there are the street names, from Felicity to the jawbreaker Tchoupitoulas (chop-i-too-las). How did they get these fanciful monikers? Well, in some cases, from overeducated city fathers who named streets after Greek muses (Calliope and Terpsichore). Some immortalize long-dead and otherwise forgotten women (Julia was a free woman of color, but who was Felicity?).

Many streets in the French Quarter -- Burgundy, Dauphine, Toulouse, and Dumaine -- honor French royalty or nobility, while St. Peter and St. Ann were favorite baptismal names of the Orleans family. The Faubourg Marigny (Faubourg being the local word for suburb) neighborhood was once part of the Marigny (say Mare-i-nee) family plantation. After scion Bernard squandered his family's fortune (mostly on gambling), he sold off parcels to the city, naming the streets after his favorite things: Desire, Piety, Poets, Duels, Craps, and so forth.

By the way, if pronunciation seems a mystery, try it with a French accent, and you might actually get it right. Unless it's Chartres (Chart-ers), that is, or Burgundy (Bur-gun-dee) Street. Or Gallier (Gaul-ee-er). Or Calliope (Cal-lee-ope). Oh, never mind. When in doubt, just ask a local. They're used to it.