What is like living in New Orleans ?

[cBach]

Originally Posted by green_mariner

That is one part of New Orleans. To get a better idea of what New Orleans is like, one has to go there in person.

As for New Orleans being described as the northernmost Latin American city, well, there is some truth to that. There have been Latin American influences in New Orleans' history. Spanish ships used to sail from New Orleans to Havana,Cuba. Cuba was New Orleans' largest trading partner. New Orleans gets alot of notoriety for its French heritage, and that is accurate. New Orleans was founded by the French. That said, New Orleans used to be part of Spanish Empire too.

If you want to learn more, this video should help. Geography is a major factor in how New Orleans developed.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vq7NpugfOY

This video is true. What it shows is how New Orleans didn't live up to its potential.

New Orleans was the original gateway to Latin America when Miami was a sleepy town.
Miami was able to outgrow New Orleans and take that title away.

New Orleans had the largest port system in the Gulf due to its location on the Mississippi.
Houston, an inland city, was able to dredge a channel (Houston Ship Channel) and usurp New Orleans as the most important port in the Gulf.

New Orleans is a city full of loads of history and is infinitely more interesting than both Miami and Houston combined, but it's a shell of its former self. At one point, New Orleans was the third largest city in America. My how far have we fallen!

New Orleans is the individual that had everything handed to her on a silver spoon (advantageous location, early establishment, natural resources), yet other cities that started off in worse conditions were able to surpass her.

[Chilly Gentilly]

Originally Posted by cBach

This video is true. What it shows is how New Orleans didn't live up to its potential.

New Orleans was the original gateway to Latin America when Miami was a sleepy town.
Miami was able to outgrow New Orleans and take that title away.

New Orleans had the largest port system in the Gulf due to its location on the Mississippi.
Houston, an inland city, was able to dredge a channel (Houston Ship Channel) and usurp New Orleans as the most important port in the Gulf.

New Orleans is a city full of loads of history and is infinitely more interesting than both Miami and Houston combined, but it's a shell of its former self. At one point, New Orleans was the third largest city in America. My how far have we fallen!

New Orleans is the individual that had everything handed to her on a silver spoon (advantageous location, early establishment, natural resources), yet other cities that started off in worse conditions were able to surpass her.

New Orleans remains true to form and has never obsessed over money per the typical American mindset. A perfect example of this is John Boutte, who wrote the Treme theme song. Instead of using this to build momentum and book more shows and whatnot, he decided to pay off his mother's house and work less.

New Orleans would much rather enjoy life over chasing the next big check, which to some only makes sense.
This lassez-faire attitude of course has its pros and cons. The economy isn't robust, average wages are abysmal, and public services struggle. Then on the flip-side, the pleasure-over-business environment helps maintain a healthy life to work balance. Certain businesses are likely to be closed for festivals/parades or sometimes just because they went fishing lol...its happened to me on several occasions. This little jewel in the South is not like other American cities and doesn't try to assimilate to the American mentality when it comes to money.