New Orleans East

by Maurice Carlos Ruffin

It’s definitely easier to define New Orleans East by what it isn’t than what it is. The East, as locals call it, isn’t architecturally important (the French Quarter). It’s not the home base of condo-dwelling nouveau-yuppies (the Central Business District). And it’s not funky, artistic, or likely to be the seat of an anarchist uprising (the Bywater). There are no museums, sport arenas, or 100-year-old restaurants. Even the name is generic; it’s named after a cardinal direction, not the kind of badge likely to spur legions of hip kids to drive down just so they could say, “I’ve been there. It was okay.” (Marfa, TX anyone?). However, if you think the East is a cypher, you’re wrong.

Mostly.

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New Orleans East Asian Church

New Orleans East Asian Church

George E. Williams IV

The only true suburb in Orleans parish (commercial hubs Metairie and Kenner are located in neighboring Jefferson Parish), the East is the place to go if you want to know how the people behind the New Orleans magic go about their lives when the music stops. These are the people who work for local government, run small businesses, and cook the food that makes the city famous.

To get to the East, you’ll have to cross a bridge, the aptly named “Highrise Bridge,” which is one of the tallest manmade objects in a state with no mountains and virtually no hills. The Highrise transports visitors with little fanfare. At the apex you’ll encounter a blue sign with small-font letters that simply says, “East.” More of a whisper than a declaration.

Like most suburbs, New Orleans East is a sprawling residential area. It spans from the Industrial Canal all the way through Bayou Sauvage, the largest urban wildlife refuge in America, to Lake Saint Catherine. In fact, in terms of land mass, the East is comparable in size to all of the sexier parts of the city combined. The main artery of the East is Interstate 10, a little road that runs from one end of the nation to the other. You may have heard of it.
Here in the East, the I-10 is crossed by several tributaries: Downman Road, Crowder Boulevard, Read Boulevard, and Bullard Avenue. These thoroughfares lead to what you would expect to find in any suburb anywhere in the United States: acres of homes and apartment complexes, a few fast food restaurants, and at least one strip club. Curiously, there’s not a single coffee shop in the entire area (not even a Starbucks). However, there is a Folder’s coffee plant. The aroma of roasting beans is omnipresent during morning commutes. There are worse things to smell on the way to the office.

Here’s what you won’t find in the East: a shopping mall, a supermarket, or a full-service hospital, all facilities that existed prior to Hurricane Katrina. Residents of the East currently travel to other neighborhoods like Gentilly and Mid-City for their grocery runs and to Jefferson Parish for the megamall experience.

The dining profile of New Orleans East mirrors that of most suburbs. There are plenty of fast food locations, but one can also find only-in-New Orleans food at stalwarts like Captain Sal’s or Castnet seafood, either of which sell boiled shrimp, crawfish, potatoes, spicy corn, and turkey necks by the pound. Most of these establishments sell beer, and it’s safe to say that if you go to any of the numerous seafood shacks scattered around this section of the city, you’ll likely be the only tourist there. This is where locals go.

If you go to a seafood shack during rush hour on a weekday, there’s bad news and good news. The bad news is that you’ll be in line for over 20 minutes, minimum. It’s not that the proprietors are slow. To the contrary, these are well-oiled operations. If only the lines at Disney world or the DMV moved as quickly. The reason you’ll wait is the good news. The seafood shacks are the arguably the most authentic New Orleans eats you can get. The guy who drove the streetcar you rode earlier today? He’s here ordering a deep-fried catfish platter with French fries and a side of more French fries (They can be addictive.) The woman who’ll be singing at that jazz club you’re going to later? She’s the one carrying a half-dozen po-boy sandwiches for her band mates.

Even further off the beaten path is the eastern section of New Orleans East. This part of town includes the fishing communities of Lake Saint Catherine, Irish Bayou, and Village de L’est, or Little Vietnam. Little Vietnam is notable for Dong Phuong Bakery, which produces banh mi and French bread consumed all over New Orleans. Google this place and you’ll find people proclaiming the “life changing” goodness of DPB. They’re not exaggerating. You simply won’t find fresher, lighter bread on the face of the earth.

The East has a few unexpected pleasures, most of which are free. The northern edge of the East is bordered by a high levee. It’s concrete topped and from there you can get a view of vast Lake Pontchartrain. Locals use it as a jogging path. Although they’re impossible to see from the main streets, New Orleans East is also a land of lakes. If you enter any of the subdivisions in the east, you’re likely to come across a huge manmade body of water ringed by two-story homes. Joe Brown Park is a good place to relax and enjoy the sun, although the park suffered heavy damage in Hurricane Katrina and is still undergoing extensive renovation.

Some History

In some sense, New Orleans East is a land of used to be and never was. Originally envisioned in the mid-twentieth century as an endless suburb to serve city dwellers who wanted to live within city limits, things did not go according to plan. The East underwent steady, dramatic expansion for decades. During this time hundreds of single-family homes were built, along with a bowling alley, several movie theaters, strip malls, and a gigantic shopping center (with a carousel and skating rink!) called the Plaza. The East even had several amusement parks: Pontchartrain Beach (originally whites only), Lincoln Beach (the black beach) and Jazzland (later, Six Flags). Those three facilities closed over time due to general decline, the end of Jim Crow, and Katrina damage, respectively.

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But Katrina was really only a dramatic end-note to a much longer process. The East never reached the population that city planners expected (Note the two I-10 interchanges that were never put into use just beyond Paris Road). The oil bust of the 1980s, along with white flight, further contributed to contraction. By the 1990s, the East was a majority African-American area with a high crime rate and declining property values as more multi-family dwellings were built. Currently, the residents of New Orleans East are pushing hard for redevelopment, and by some measures, they are succeeding.

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A new hospital is in the works, and there is talk of a new facility at the now-ruined Jazzland site. Perhaps the East experience is best captured by the view you get when leaving it. At the top of the Highrise Bridge heading west, you’re surprised by a panoramic view of New Orleans: Treme, the French Quarter, and the downtown skyline. And this is typical of the East, which has long been content to stay off the radar and take advantage of the fact that it is a neighborhood within the city limits of one of the country’s most storied towns.

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Our Local Publisher Partners

The Arts Council of New Orleans

The Arts Council of New Orleans is a private, non-profit organization designated as the City’s official arts agency. The Arts Council serves as one of eight regional distributing agencies for state arts funds and administers available municipal arts grants and the Percent For Art program for the City of New Orleans. The Arts Council works in partnership with the City of New Orleans, community groups, local, state, and national governmental agencies, and other nonprofit arts organizations to meet the arts and cultural needs of the New Orleans community through a diversity of initiatives and services.

WWNO

WWNO, the NPR member station for New Orleans, serves southeast Louisiana and parts of southwest Mississippi by broadcasting balanced news, thought provoking analysis, classical music, jazz and other musical styles, intelligent entertainment, and unique local content. We broadcast on 89.9 FM, and KTLN 90.5 FM in the Houma-Thibodaux area as a public service of the University of New Orleans. All of WWNO’s programs, including its growing local news coverage, are available online at WWNO.org.

WWOZ

WWOZ 90.7 FM is the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Station offering listener-supported, volunteer-programmed community radio. WWOZ covers many events live in and around the city and across the United States, and broadcasts live from the famed New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival annually. WWOZ’s mission is to be the worldwide voice, archive, and flag-bearer of New Orleans culture and musical heritage.

PRC

Preservation Resource Center (PRC) has been preserving, restoring, and revitalizing New Orleans’ historic architecture and neighborhoods since 1974. Throughout its history, PRC has acted as an advocacy agent on a local, regional, and national scale, spreading the word about the city’s rich architectural heritage and the economic importance of preserving this heritage. PRC also takes a hands-on approach to preservation, with a history of successfully restoring over 1,400 properties. The center strengthens and revitalizes New Orleans in a way that is forward-looking and sustainable, yet sensitive to the city’s past and its heritage.

NOMA

As a nexus for the arts in New Orleans, NOMA is committed to preserving, interpreting, and enriching its collections and renowned sculpture garden; offering innovative experiences for learning and interpretation; and uniting, inspiring, and engaging diverse communities and cultures.

The Historic New Orleans Collection

The Historic New Orleans Collection (THNOC) is a museum, research center, and publisher dedicated to preserving the history and culture of New Orleans and the Gulf South. Its holdings comprise more than one million items from more than three centuries, documenting moments both major and minor. Its four exhibition spaces–the Williams Gallery, the Louisiana History Galleries, the Boyd Cruise Gallery, and the Laura Simon Nelson Galleries for Louisiana Art–faithfully depict the multicultural stories of the region, from permanent displays exploring the evolution of Louisiana to rotating exhibitions showcasing history and fine art.

Southern Food

The Southern Food and Beverage Museum is a nonprofit living history organization dedicated to the discovery, understanding and celebration of the food, drink and the related culture of the South. While based in New Orleans, the Museum examines and celebrates all the cultures that have come together through the centuries to create the South’s unique culinary heritage. The Museum is also home to the collections of the Museum of the American Cocktail, the Galerie d’Absinthe, and a demonstration kitchen.

Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing educational opportunities to all Louisianans.

The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities’ mission is to provide all Louisianans with access to and an appreciation of their own rich, shared and diverse historical, literary and cultural heritage through grant-supported outreach programs, family literacy and adult reading initiatives, teacher professional development institutes, publications, film and radio documentaries, museum exhibitions, cultural tourism, public lectures, library projects, and other public humanities programming.

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