What the Locals Do in New Orleans

Tired of time-share hawkers and tap dancers? Want to spend some time enjoying New Orleans the way locals do? Step one: get out of the Quarter.

Get Some Exercise

Go for a jog along the St. Charles Avenue streetcar tracks. You'll have plenty of company anywhere between Jackson Avenue and the university area—just follow the well-worn trails along the wide median (to really pass for a local, refer to it as the "neutral ground"). Keep an eye out for streetcars (duh) as well as vehicles crossing the tracks. If that sounds too risky, hit the paths in City Park. Or rent a bicycle and head for Audubon Park, where you can get on a paved jogging and bike trail that runs along the Mississippi River levee well into Jefferson Parish.

Find a Market

The Crescent City Farmers Market sets up at the corner of Girod and Magazine streets in the CBD on Saturday mornings; on Tuesday from 9 am to 1 pm, it's held Uptown at Tulane Square, on Leake Avenue at Broadway. While you may not want to lug a bag of broccoli back to your hotel, there's always some good prepared food for sale (and a guest-chef-created weekly Green Plate Special), local chefs foraging for ingredients, and an entertaining bunch of vendors. If you happen to be around the third Saturday of the month, check out the Bywater Art Market at Palmer Park (at Royal and Piety streets in the Bywater), where the merchandise is high quality and the crowd never less than colorful.

Queue Up for Breakfast

Contrary to the impression you may have gleaned from Hollywood's version of New Orleans, locals as a rule do not start the morning with café au lait and a plate of beignets—but they do have their favorite spots, where on weekends you'll find lines of hungry customers stretching onto the sidewalk. Both Bluebird Café for pecan waffles and cheese grits (3625 Prytania St., Uptown 504/895-7166) and Slim Goodies Diner for sweet potato pancakes (3322 Magazine St., Uptown 504/891-3447) are open weekdays, when there's less chance of a wait. Thanks to word-of-mouth advertising, Elizabeth's (601 Gallier St., Bywater 504/944-9272) gets its share of tourists, but the Saturday and Sunday brunch crowd still mostly consists of neighborhood denizens.

Hang Out by the River

Locals love Riverview Drive—better known as the Fly—the riverside stretch of Audubon Park behind the zoo, even if they have no idea how it got its nickname (probably from a butterfly-shaped building that used to stand here). There are a couple of baseball diamonds and a football/soccer field, but most people are content to spread out on a blanket, have a picnic, and watch the ships go by on the Mississippi. The nearby dog park, on the levee just upriver from the park, is another popular gathering spot, especially in late afternoon.