Stories tagged "Entertainment and Leisure": 63
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Tennessee Williams' Early Days in New Orleans
In his over 40 years living in New Orleans, famed playwright Tennessee Williams resided in several French Quarter locations. Arriving in New Orleans in 1938, a 28-year-old Williams rented a room at…
St. Louis Hotel & Exchange: Auctioning Off Lives
Numerous 19th-century travelers who frequented New Orleans for business and pleasure described the slave auction block in St. Louis Hotel. Sensationalism aside, visitors recorded their surprise at the…
The Barrooms and Brothels of Gallatin Street
Gallatin Street was once filled with barrooms, dance houses, and brothels — most institutions serving as all three. There was rarely a fee to enter, but men were encouraged to buy a drink for their…
Harry Macarthy and the Academy of Music
In August 1861, Harry Macarthy, also known as "The Arkansas Comedian," arrived in New Orleans to perform a three-month stint of "Personation Concerts" at the Academy of Music, a then popular play…
"Bonnie Blue Flag:" The Most Dangerous Song of the Civil War
The popularity of sheet music in the United States had reached its peak by the start of the Civil War. Well before the development of recording and broadcasting technology, the commercial music…
Wedell-Williams Air Service Makes Its Mark
The Wedell-Williams Air Service pilots entered air races across the country from 1928 through 1935. These races kept the viewers in suspense as the aircraft circled the pylons that marked the race…
Happenings at the Wedell-Williams Airport
The Wedell-Williams Airport saw quite a bit of excitement after it opened in early 1931. The Ford company sponsored a series of annual air tours dubbed “The National Air Tour,” with the 1931 tour…
The Arts Market, Holidays, and Playground in Palmer Park
The Arts Market, held the last Saturday of every month in Palmer Park, has a become a popular event. The market, sponsored by the non-profit Arts Council of New Orleans and held in Palmer Park since…
Carville, The National Leprosarium: Patient Life
In 1940, the patient population was between 400 and 450 and a massive renovation was underway. The improved hospital created individual rooms for 450 patients and the 13” thick concrete walls made the…
The 1934 Pan-American Air Races
On February 9, 1934, the first Mardi Gras after Prohibition was repealed, hundreds of people crowded around the airport to see the Pan-American Air Races. Abraham Shushan, the Henderson brothers (air…
Carnival on Wheels 1887
On the evening of February 23, 1887, a crowd lined St. Charles Avenue to witness a procession of lanterns floating like a swarm of fireflies through the darkened street. First came the bandwagon,…
State Cycling Championship of 1891 at the Fair Grounds
In the late nineteenth century, bicycles appeared on city streets, country roads, and race tracks. Cycle racing in New Orleans rose with a tide of interest in sports—recreational and spectator—among…
Audubon Park Race Track, Cyclists hold League meet in 1887
In September of 1887, New Orleans cyclists held the 3rd annual meet of the League of American Wheelmen (LAW), Louisiana Division, at the Audubon Park Race Track. Originally a horse racing track, it…
First Cycling Races Held on a Track in New Orleans 1887
In the 1880s, along with the rise of spectator and participatory sports, cycling races appeared in New Orleans. The city's first bicycle club, the New Orleans Bicycle Club, formed in 1881. All members…
The Clubhouse of the Louisiana Cycling Club: Completed 1890
In August of 1890, work was completed on the clubhouse of the Louisiana Cycling Club (LCC) at 1637 Octavia Street. The Queen Anne-style building still stands at that address. The party celebrating its…
New Orleans Bicycle Club: 1892 Clubhouse
In 1892, the New Orleans Bicycle Club celebrated the opening of their new clubhouse in the Garden District, at the corner of General Taylor and Baronne. The plans were drafted by W.C. Williams and…
1887 Thanksgiving Day Bicycle Road Race
On a crisp Thanksgiving Day in 1887, a crowd gathered beneath the bare branches of the sycamore trees in the center of Canal Street. Bisected by multiple street railway beds and flanked by the…
1886 Cycling Tour: New Orleans to Boston
Early on Easter morning 1886, around a hundred people gathered at the Henry Clay Statue outside A. M. Hill Jewelers at St. Charles and Canal. Hill, captain of the New Orleans Bicycle Club, stood…
Founding of New Orleans Bicycle Club, 1881
In 1881, the New Orleans Bicycle Club formed in a building at Commercial Street and St. Charles, inside the jewelry and pen shop of A. M. Hill.
A. M. Hill arrived in New Orleans at nineteen years…
Horse Racing on Sundays at the Eclipse Course
Captain Yelverton N. Oliver of Virginia, who “cast the seed of enterprise upon the rich alluvial soil of Louisiana,” rejuvenated the languishing sport of thoroughbred racing in New Orleans by…
Southport Gambling Club
Southport was one of the most infamous clubs in the area. It was owned by Carlos Marcello and is now a music venue called Southport Hall. It moved and changed names several times.
According to Al…
O'Dwyer's Club
According to Al Kleindienst, a long-time resident of the Greater New Orleans Area, the O'Dwyer family opened a gambling club at 100 Jefferson Highway in 1949 called "O'Dwyer's." The O'Dwyer brothers…
Club Forest
According to Al Kleindienst, after a fire in 1942 destroyed George and Rudy O'Dwyer's Original Southport Club, they "moved to the Club Forest at 407 Jefferson Highway and called it O'Dwyer's Club…
Gaming Chips
Every club would produce their own gaming and roulette chips, marked with their names or an identifiable symbol. Since the closing of the clubs, these have become collector's item.