Bourbon Street is the core of New Orleans’ nightlife. It is a street that runs the length of the historic French Quarter, and is lined with bars, nightclubs, and souvenir shops. For parents traveling with children – beware – there are also a number of strip clubs along Bourbon Street that are not discreet in their advertising. Bourbon Street has definite warts – drunk tourists, tawdry strip clubs, some sketchy characters hanging around, bars with some of the nastiest bathrooms in the US, and way too much cigarette smoke. However, it also has bands playing some great music in its bars, ranging from rock to jazz to rap to funk. Also, the nightlife goes very late, since New Orleans does not have a mandatory closing hour for bars. The food on Bourbon Street is generally mediocre – the Fench Quarter’s best restaurants are on other, quieter streets nearby. One good thing about Bourbon Street is that you can carry your drink out of a bar and walk down the street with it. A lot of the fun is just walking down the street and people watching.
History
The French claimed Louisiana as a colony in the 1690s. Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville was appointed as Director General in charge of developing a colony in the territory. He founded New Orleans in 1718. In 1721, the royal engineer, Adrien de Pauger designed the city’s street layout. He named the streets after French royal houses and Catholic saints. Bourbon Street paid homage to France’s ruling family, the House of Bourbon.
New Orleans was given to the Spanish in 1763 in order to avoid the chaos of the French Revolution. In 1788, a major fire destroyed 80% of the city’s buildings. The Spanish rebuilt many of the damaged buildings, which are still standing today. For this reason, Bourbon Street and the French Quarter display more Spanish than French influence.The Americans gained control of the colony following the 1803 Louisiana Purchase USA adventure tours. They translated the French street names into English, with Rue Bourbon becoming Bourbon Street.New Orleans in the nineteenth century was both similar to and different from other Southern cities. It was similar in that like other southern cities, its economy was based on selling cash crops such as sugar and tobacco. By 1840, newcomers whose wealth came from these industries turned New Orleans into the third largest metropolis in the country.
Significance
When the Spanish took over in 1762 via a war treaty, two fires wiped out most of the French architecture on Bourbon Street. Even though the area is the French Quarter and the sign still says Rue, there is a lot of Spanish architecture on Bourbon Street because they rebuilt the original town with Spanish-style architecture. Lafitte’s Blacksmith Shop is one spot that shows the French architecture that pre-dates the Spanish influence. The 1772 building is one of the older buildings in New Orleans and now houses a bar.
Attractions
Though largely quiet during the day, Bourbon Street comes alive at night, particularly during the French Quarter’s many festivals. Most popular among these is the annual Mardi Gras celebration, when Bourbon Street teems with hundreds of thousands of tourists. Local open container laws in the French Quarter allow drinking alcoholic beverages in the street. Popular drinks include the Hurricanes, Hand Grenades and Huge Ass Beers – a large plastic cup of draft beer marketed to tourists at a low price.The most visited section of Bourbon Street is “Upper Bourbon Street”, an eight-block section of popular tourist attractions.Among the tourist attractions are bars, restaurants,souvenir shops and strip clubs. There are also a number of gay bars. Most bars are located in the central section of Bourbon Street. Popular bars include Johnny White’s, The Famous Door, Razzoo and The Cat’s Meow. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Bourbon Street is a Great Place For Vacations.
Arguably the most popular restaurant on Bourbon Street is Galatoire’s. However, Jean Laffite’s Blacksmith Shop and The Old Absinthe House are also popular.The upper end of Bourbon Street near Canal Street is home to many of the French Quarter’s strip clubs. These include Rick’s Cabaret, Temptations, and Larry Flynt’s Barely Legal Club.The section of Bourbon Street from the intersection of St. Anne Street caters to New Orleans’ thriving gay community, featuring such clubs as New Orleans’ largest gay nightclub, The Bourbon Pub, and Oz. St. Anne Street has been referred to as “the Velvet Line”,[30] in reference to it being the edge or boundary line of the gay community in the French Quarter. Cafe-Lafitte-In-Exile is the oldest gay bar in the country. The intersection of Bourbon Street and St. Anne Street is also the center of Southern Decadence, commonly referred to as the “Gay Mardi Gras” and attracts upwards of 100,000 participants over Labor Day weekend.
