Real New Orleans Tours

10/13/2021

To purchase tickets visit kreweofkrampus.com

05/12/2021

From Hogs for the Cause and NOWFE to Essence and Jazz Fest, here are the 2021 dates announced so far

05/11/2021

17 restaurants with fresh menus and festive drinks for springtime brunch

05/11/2021

11 new spots in New Orleans for old school martinis, mezcal cocktails, and twists on the beloved kalimotxo

05/07/2021

Where to find the best non po’ boy sandwiches in New Orleans

05/06/2021

Get moving with a college dance company and zydeco from Cajun country.

04/21/2021

Where to soak in the best views in the city with a cocktail in hand

04/08/2021

From muffulettas and lobster dumplings to po-boys and oysters Rockefeller

04/06/2021

This centuries-old townhouse is part of The Historic New Orleans Collection’s museum campus at 520 Royal St., which is now LEED Silver certified. It is...

04/05/2021

Whether you mark Easter or Memorial Day as the beginning of the warm weather fashion season, the time for seersucker has officially arrived in New Orleans. The puckered fabric has been a staple of summer fashion for generations, but just how did the iconic material come to be? Local legend claims th...

04/01/2021

It Was All A Dream 💭 My How Far music has taken me ! Blessings

04/01/2021

From Creole Italian and New York bagels to Thai, Vietnamese, and Middle Eastern, the neighborhood has just about everything to offer

03/31/2021

Who doesn't know of Verti Marte's excellence?!

Deep in the heart of the French Quarter, Verti Marte is a hidden gem for hungry locals looking for the best po'boy in New Orleans.

03/14/2021

Every Sunday throughout the run of THNOC’s “Dancing in the Streets” exhibition, we’ll share the backgrounds of social aid and pleasure clubs whose annual anniversary parades (also known as second lines) have been canceled due to COVID-19. Add your images and memories to the second line by using . We start this week with Keep ‘N It Real Social and Pleasure Club, who typically parade on the second Sunday of March. They’re shown here in a 2012 photograph by Leslie Parr.

“I love second lining. I live for it,” said Perry “Ice Bird” Franklin, president of Keep ’N It Real. He started out in the Mellow Fellows, a division of the Young Men Olympian Jr. Benevolent Association. Perry and some friends eventually broke off to form their own group, Keep ’N It Real. “The name says it all,” Perry said. “We want to be known as honest, up-front kind of guys.” The parade begins on Orleans Avenue at Bayou St. John. Because the members change outfits at the first stop—a barbershop on Broad Street, where they also pick up their queen—they don’t come out at the start but instead gather in the street and take their cue to begin dancing from the band. The parade always ends at Club Good Times II on Conti Street, the club’s home base.

Perry’s wife, Rose Madison, helps with choosing the colors and ordering the suits. “We try to get suits that we can wear again,” Perry said. “But we do buy alligator shoes. I still have the first pair that I wore with the Revolution. They never wear out.”

This story is adapted from the forthcoming book "Dancing in the Streets: Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs of New Orleans," due out June 2021. For more on New Orleans’s social aid and pleasure clubs, visit “Dancing in the Streets”: https://www.hnoc.org/exhibitions/dancing-streets-social-aid-and-pleasure-clubs-new-orleans

02/28/2021