The state of illicit gambling in New Orleans was summed up well in the 1938 WPA New Orleans City Guide, "although gambling is, strictly speaking, illegal, these places are usually open for business…

Hank Staples of the Maple Leaf Bar discusses illicit gambling that took place along Oak Street prior to the 1960s.

The Maple Leaf reading series is the longest-running poetry reading series in New Orleans as well as the South. In 1979, famed local poet Everette Maddox began the series with sculptor Franz Heldner…

The Maple Leaf Bar, one of the city's longest operating music clubs, is a haven for local music and has been drawing crowds from New Orleans and throughout the world since the venue opened in…

As late as the 1830’s, the former French and Spanish colony of Louisiana still lagged far behind in the British sport of thoroughbred racing, which had been flourishing on the East Coast for the last…

The headquarters and downtown station of the Orleans-Kenner Electric Railway were located at 127 South Rampart Street between Canal Street and Tulane Avenue. Better known as the "O-K Line," it was…

The town of Kenner was the western (or upper) terminus of the Orleans-Kenner interurban line from 1915 until service was discontinued in 1930. During this time, the company also operated a "trolley…

The fabulous French Opera House dominated a vastly different Bourbon Street than the gaudy strip of today. Designed by James Gallier Jr. and erected in 1859, the Opera House became the cultural…

Imagine yourself in a mule-drawn streetcar or private carriage being transported to Exposition grounds. Hear the hooves on a shell road constructed for the occasion. You arrive at this Main Entrance.…

Cross over to the path along the side of the park that is Exposition Boulevard. Walk along and admire the houses on your way to Prytania Street, the main entrance to the fair in 1884. In…

Take a few moments here to enjoy the activity in the park and the beauty of the entrance. As you face the entrance again, Tulane and Loyola universities are across the street and were also originally…

Pontchartrain Beach Amusement Park was created during the Lakeshore reclamation project of the 1920s. The Orleans Levee Board began the project with the construction of a seawall which was…

A small fort was erected in 1701 before the founding of the city of New Orleans by the French where Bayou St. John empties into Lake Pontchartrain. The settlers sought to protect the important trade…

John F. Popp was a park visitor with a penchant for classic style architecture and music. He was determined to construct a bandstand for the park that was harmonious with the other newly constructed…

Built in 1912, this structure was conceived as a combined refreshment stand and administrative center, then referred to as "The Casino." Because of its Spanish Mission Revival design, someone at the…