10 Best Sights in New Orleans, Louisiana

Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum

Lower Ninth Ward Fodor's choice

To get a better sense of the Lower Ninth Ward's extensive history, visit this small, community-run museum with particular focus on the before and after of Hurricane Katrina. It celebrates the neighborhood's past, present, and future through oral histories and various exhibits, and is free to the public (cash donations are welcomed).

Christopher Porché-West Galerie

Bywater

Legendary independent photographer Christopher Porché-West operates out of this working studio and exhibit space. The atmosphere depends on the current focus and vigor of Porché-West's activities: sometimes it is more work-oriented, sometimes more formally organized around exhibits of his work or that of other artists. The gallery occupies an old pharmacy storefront at the hub of a hip block boasting restaurants, boutiques, and a yoga studio. Whenever the artist happens to be in, the gallery is open. You can also make an appointment by calling (he's almost always nearby).

Crescent Park

Bywater

The newest park in New Orleans stretches along the Mississippi riverfront and provides for spectacular views of the New Orleans skyline, Algiers, and the mighty Mississippi itself. The best place to enter the park is at Mazant Street in the Bywater, where you can explore the park's promenades, green spaces, and repurposed wharves, and walk the 1.4-mile path along the water. Plans are in the works to extend the park through the Marigny and beyond.

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Doullut Steamboat Houses

Lower Ninth Ward

In 1905, Paul Doullut was inspired to build a home that resembled the great steamboats of the Mississippi, where he spent his time as a riverboat captain. In 1913, he built a similar home for his son, down the street at 503 Egania. Towering over the Mighty Mississippi and the rest of the neighborhood with wraparound verandas fitted with guardrails and high-perched widow's walks, these houses are architectural oddities specific to their environment. Because the first floors are constructed of ceramic tile, the Doullut houses are uniquely equipped to withstand flooding, and both survived Hurricane Katrina with little damage. Today these are private residences that can only be toured from the outside.

Dr. Bob

Bywater

A small compound of artists' and furniture-makers' studios includes the headquarters of this beloved local folk artist, whose easily recognizable work can be found hanging across New Orleans. "Be Nice or Leave," "Be Gay and Stay," "Shalom, Ya'll," and "Shut Up and Fish" are just a few of his popular themes. Dr. Bob's shop is chock-full of original furniture, colorful signs, and unidentifiable objects of artistic fancy. Prices start as low as $30 for a small "Be Nice," and most pieces are in the $200–$500 range. The sign outside advertises the open hours as "9 am–'til"—best to call ahead.

Fats Domino House

Lower Ninth Ward

When music legend Fats Domino passed away in 2017, a city-wide second-line parade culminated at his former home in the Lower Ninth Ward: a black-and-yellow shotgun house emblazoned with the letters "F D", a bright reminder of the artist's dedication to the neighborhood. Blocks from where he was raised, Domino built this two-house compound in 1960, at the height of his musical career, and kept it as his homebase throughout decades on tour. While he spent his later years across the river in Harvey, Louisiana, it was in this house where Fats endured Katrina, and was later rescued by the Coast Guard (and visited by President G. W. Bush) after losing almost everything he owned.

House of Dance and Feathers

Lower Ninth Ward

One of the most fascinating and heartwarming locations in the Lower Ninth Ward has to be the House of Dance and Feathers, a tiny backyard museum, which is a labor of love for community character Ronald Lewis, a retired streetcar conductor. Formed almost by accident—after his wife threw his extensive collection of Mardi Gras Indian and second-line paraphernalia out of the house and into the yard—this small glass-paneled building contains a trove of Mardi Gras Indian lore and local legend. Intricately beaded panels from Indian costumes, huge fans and plumes of feathers dangling from the rafters, and photographs cover almost every available inch of wall space. Lewis, who among many other things can list "president of the Big Nine Social and Pleasure Club" and "former Council Chief of the Choctaw Hunters" on his résumé, is a qualified and dedicated historian whose vision and work have become a rallying point for a hardscrabble neighborhood. Call before visiting to make sure he's around (he usually is).

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Music Box Village

Bywater

A whimsical creation of repurposed urban wasteland, this artist-built sculpture garden features an interactive landscape of music-making structures and houses. The space hosts musical acts, performances, and workshops. Most weekend days when there isn't an event, the space is open for the public to explore and play (check the website calendar for "Open Hours" before visiting).

St. Claude Arts District

Bywater

The Bywater neighborhood is home to dozens of alternative art spaces, many of which have banded together under the loose umbrella of the St. Claude Arts District (SCAD). From old candle factories to people's living rooms, this burgeoning scene—centered around St. Claude Avenue and nearby streets—produces some of the most intriguing and innovative work in the city, with several major artists and arts organizations. In addition to galleries, several independent theater spaces have sprung up as well, offering venues for live performances, magic and burlesque shows, fringe theater, and more. The second Saturday of each month is opening night, when galleries and venues host new shows and parties.

Studio Be

Bywater

Artist Brandan "BMike" Odums's larger-than-life graffiti murals and installations fill this 35,000-square-foot warehouse in an industrial nook of the Bywater, easy to spot thanks to its bright front exterior and giant mural of a young African American girl shrugging her arms up towards the sky. Work here excites and awakens viewers, with its themes on social justice, African American history, racial violence, and other contemporary issues in New Orleans and beyond. Check Brandan's website for more projects around town.

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