City of New Orleans Ville de La Nouvelle-Orléans
Flag Seal
Nickname: "The Crescent City," "The Big Easy," "The City That Care Forgot," "504," and "NOLA" (acronym for New Orleans, LA).
Location in the State of Louisiana and the United States
Coordinates: 29°57′53″N 90°4′14″W / 29.96472, -90.07056
Country	United States
State	Louisiana
Parish	Orleans
Founded	1718
Government
- Mayor	C. Ray Nagin (D)
Area
- City	907 km² (350.2 sq mi)
- Land	467.6 km² (180.6 sq mi)
- Water	439.4 km² (169.7 sq mi)
Elevation	-2 to 6 m (-6.5 to 20 ft)
Population (2006[1])
- City	275,000
- Density	973/km² (2,518/sq mi)
- Metro	1,030,363
Time zone	CST (UTC-6)
- Summer (DST)	CDT (UTC-5)
Website: http://www.cityofno.com

New Orleans (pronounced /nʲuːˈɔɹliˌɛnz/, locally /ˌnuːˈɔːlɛnz/; French: La Nouvelle-Orléans [lanuvɛlɔʀleɑ̃] (help·info)) is a major United States port city and the largest city in Louisiana. It is the center of the New Orleans metropolitan area.

New Orleans is located in southeastern Louisiana, straddling the Mississippi River. It is coextensive with Orleans Parish, meaning that the boundaries of the city and the parish are the same.^[2] It is bounded by the parishes of St. Tammany (north), St. Bernard (east), Plaquemines (south), and Jefferson (south and west).^[2][3][4] Lake Pontchartrain, part of which is included in the city limits, lies to the north, and Lake Borgne lies to the east.^[4]

The city is named after Philippe II, Duc d'Orléans, Regent of France, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. It is well known for its multicultural heritage,^[5] cuisine, architecture, music (particularly as the birthplace of jazz^[6][7]), and its annual Mardi Gras and other celebrations and festivals. The city is often referred to as the "most unique" city in America.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

History

Main article: History of New Orleans

Beginnings through the 19th century

See also: New Orleans in the Civil War

Map of New Orleans from the 1888 Meyers Konversations-Lexikon

La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in 1718 by the French Mississippi Company, under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, who was Regent of France at the time; his title came from the French city of Orléans. The French colony was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the Treaty of Paris (1763) and remained under Spanish control until 1801, when it reverted to French control. Most of the surviving architecture of the Vieux Carré (French Quarter) dates from this Spanish period. Napoleon sold the territory to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French, and Creole French. Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on large plantations outside the city.

The Haitian Revolution of 1804 established the second republic in the Western Hemisphere and the first led by blacks. Refugees who were white and free people of color both arrived in New Orleans, often bringing slaves with them. While Governor Claiborne and other officials wanted to keep out more free black men, French Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking population. As more refugees were allowed in Louisiana, Haitian émigrés who had gone to Cuba also arrived. Nearly 90 percent of the new immigrants settled in New Orleans. The 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites; 3,102 free persons of African descent; and 3,226 enslaved refugees to the city, doubling its population. Sixty-three percent of Crescent City inhabitants were now black, as Americans classified people.^[13]

During the War of 1812, the British sent a force to conquer the city. The Americans decisively defeated the British troops, led by Sir Edward Pakenham, in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815.

As a principal port, New Orleans had the major role of any city during the antebellum era in the slave trade. Its port handled huge quantities of goods for export from the interior and import from other countries to be traded up the Mississippi River. The river was filled with steamboats, flatboats and sailing ships. At the same time, it had the most prosperous community of free persons of color in the South, who were often educated and middle-class property owners.^[6][14]

The population of the city doubled in the 1830s, and by 1840 New Orleans had become the wealthiest and third-most populous city in the nation. It had the largest slave market. Two-thirds of the more than one million slaves brought to the Deep South arrived via the forced migration of the internal slave trade. The money generated by sales of slaves in the Upper South has been estimated at fifteen percent of the value of the staple crop economy. The slaves represented half a billion dollars in property, and an ancillary economy grew up around the trade in slaves - for transportation, housing and clothing, fees, etc., estimated at 13.5 percent of the price per person. All this amounted to tens of billions of dollars during the antebellum period, with New Orleans as a prime beneficiary.^[15]

The Union captured New Orleans early in the American Civil War, sparing the city the destruction suffered by many other cities of the American South.^[16]

Twentieth century

A view across Uptown New Orleans, with the Central Business District in the background (1991).

In the early 20th century, New Orleans was a progressive major city whose most portentous development was a drainage plan devised by engineer and inventor A. Baldwin Wood. Until then, urban development was largely limited to higher ground along natural river levees and bayous; Wood's pump system allowed the city to expand into low-lying areas. Over the 20th century, rapid subsidence, both natural and human-induced, left these newly populated areas several feet below sea level.^[17][18]

New Orleans was vulnerable to flooding even before the age of negative elevation. In the late 20th century, however, scientists and New Orleans residents gradually became aware of the city's increased vulnerability. In 1965, Hurricane Betsy killed dozens of residents, even though the majority of the city remained dry. The rain-induced 1995 flood demonstrated the weakness of the pumping system; since that time, measures were taken to repair New Orleans's hurricane defenses and restore pumping capacity.

Hurricane Katrina

Main article: Hurricane Katrina

An aerial view from a United States Navy helicopter showing floodwaters around the entire downtown New Orleans area (2005).

By the time Hurricane Katrina approached the city at the end of August 2005, most residents had evacuated. As the hurricane passed through the Gulf Coast region, the city's federal flood protection system failed, resulting in the worst civil engineering disaster in American history.^[19] Floodwalls and levees constructed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed below design specifications and 80% of the city flooded. Tens of thousands of residents who had remained in the city were rescued or otherwise made their way to shelters of last resort at the Louisiana Superdome or the Morial Convention Center. Over 1,500 people died in Louisiana.^[20]

Hurricane Rita

Main article: Hurricane Rita

The city was declared off-limits to residents while efforts to clean up after Katrina began. The approach of Hurricane Rita in September 2005 caused repopulation efforts to be postponed,^[21] and the Lower Ninth Ward was reflooded by Rita's storm surge.

See also: Effect of Hurricane Katrina on New Orleans and Drainage in New Orleans

Post-disaster recovery

Main article: Reconstruction of New Orleans

^[22]

The Census Bureau in July 2006 estimated the population of New Orleans to be 223,000; a subsequent study estimated that 32,000 additional residents had moved to the city as of March 2007, bringing the estimated population to 255,000, approximately 56% of the pre-Katrina population level. Another estimate, based on data on utility usage from July 2007, estimated the population to be approximately 274,000, or 60% of the pre-Katrina population. These estimates are somewhat smaller than a third estimate, based on mail delivery records, from the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center in June 2007, which indicated that approximately two-thirds of the pre-Katrina population had returned to the city.^[23]

The New Orleans cityscape as of 2007.

Several major tourist events and other forms of revenue for the city have returned. Large conventions are being held again, such as those held by the American Library Association and American College of Cardiology.^[24][25] College football events such as the Bayou Classic, New Orleans Bowl, and Sugar Bowl returned for the 2006-2007 season. The New Orleans Saints returned that season as well, following speculation of a move. The New Orleans Hornets returned to the city fully for the 2007-2008 season, having partially spent the 2006-2007 season in Oklahoma City. In March 2007 a local group of investors began conducting a study to see if the city could support a Major League Soccer team.^[26] New Orleans successfully hosted the 2008 NBA All-Star Game, and Tulane University hosted the first and second rounds of the 2007 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament. The Superdome played host to the 2008 BCS National Championship Game in January 2008.

Major events such as Mardi Gras and the Jazz and Heritage Festival were never displaced.

Geography

A true-color satellite image of New Orleans taken on NASA's Landsat 7

New Orleans is located at 29°57′53″N, 90°4′14″W (29.964722, −90.070556)^[27] on the banks of the Mississippi River, approximately 105 miles (169 km) upriver from the Gulf of Mexico. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 350.2 square miles (907 km²), of which 180.56 square miles (467.6 km²), or 51.55%, is land.^[28]

The city is located in the Mississippi River Delta on the east and west banks of the Mississippi River and south of Lake Pontchartrain. The area along the river is characterized by ridges and hollows.

Elevation of New Orleans

New Orleans was originally settled on the natural levees or high ground along the Mississippi River. In fact, when the capital of French Louisiana was moved from Mobile, Alabama to New Orleans, the French colonial government cited New Orleans' inland location as one of the reasons for the move as it would be less vulnerable to hurricanes.^[29] After the Flood Control Act of 1965, the US Army Corps built floodwalls and man-made levees around a much larger geographic footprint that included previous marshland and swamp. Whether or not this human interference has caused subsidence is a topic of debate. A study by the Geological Society of America reported

On the other hand, a report by the American Society of Civil Engineers claims that "New Orleans is subsiding (sinking)":^[31]

Vertical cross-section of New Orleans, showing maximum levee height of 23 feet (7 m).

A recent study by Tulane and Xavier University notes that 51% of New Orleans is at or above sea level, with the more densely populated areas generally on higher ground. The average elevation of the city is currently between one and two feet (0.5 m) below sea level, with some portions of the city as high as 16 feet (5 m) and others as low as 10 feet (3 m) below sea level.^[32]

In 2005, storm surge from Hurricane Katrina caused catastrophic failure of the federally designed and built levees, flooding 80% of the city.^[33][34] A report by the American Society of Civil Engineers says that "had the levees and floodwalls not failed and had the pump stations operated, nearly two-thirds of the deaths would not have occurred".^[31]

New Orleans has always had to consider the risk of hurricanes, but the risks are dramatically greater today due to coastal erosion from human interference.^[29] Since the beginning of the 20th century it has been estimated that Louisiana has lost 2,000 square miles (5,000 km²) of coast (including many of its barrier islands) which once protected New Orleans against storm surge. Following Hurricane Katrina, the Army Corps of Engineers has instituted massive levee repair and hurricane protection measures to protect the city. By 2011 the city of New Orleans is planned to have 100-year flood protection (meaning protection against the worst storm that would occur in an average 100-year period).^{citation needed}

In 2006, Louisiana voters overwhelmingly adopted an amendment to the state's constitution to dedicate all revenues from off shore drilling to restore Louisiana's eroding coast line.^[35] Congress has allocated $7 billion to bolster New Orleans' flood protection.^[36]

Climate

Hurricanes of Category 3 or greater passing within 100 miles (160 km) of New Orleans

The climate of New Orleans is humid subtropical, with short, generally mild winters and hot, humid summers. In January, morning lows average around 43 °F (6 °C), and daily highs around 62 °F (17 °C). In July, lows average 74 °F (23 °C), and highs average 91 °F (33 °C). The lowest recorded temperature was 7 °F (−14 °C) on February 13, 1899. The highest recorded temperature was 102 °F (39 °C) on August 22, 1980. The average precipitation is 64.2 inches (1,630 mm) annually; the summer months are the wettest, while October is the driest month.^[38] Precipitation in winter usually accompanies the passing of a cold front. Hurricanes pose a severe threat to the area, and the city is particularly vulnerable because of its low elevation. According the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city is the most vulnerable in the country when it comes to hurricanes.^[39] Since 1965, portions of New Orleans have been flooded by four different storms: Hurricane Betsy, Hurricane Georges, Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita.^[40][41]

New Orleans experiences snowfall only on rare occasions. A small amount of snow fell during the 2004 Christmas Eve Snowstorm. On December 25, a combination of rain, sleet, and snow fell on the city, leaving some bridges icy. Before that, the last white Christmas was in 1954 and brought 4.5 inches (11 cm). The last significant snowfall in New Orleans fell on December 22, 1989, when most of the city received 1–2 inches (2–5 cm) of snow.

Cityscape

The City of New Orleans & The Mississippi River

Bourbon Street, New Orleans, in 2003, looking towards Canal Street.

See also: Wards of New Orleans and New Orleans neighborhoods

New Orleans, Chartres Street looking towards Canal Street, (2004).

The Central Business District of New Orleans is located immediately north and west of the Mississippi River, and was historically called the "American Quarter" or "American Sector". Most streets in this area fan out from a central point in the city. Major streets of the area include Canal Street, Poydras Street, Tulane Avenue and Loyola Avenue. Canal Street functions as the street which divides the traditional "downtown" area from the "uptown" area.

Every street crossing Canal Street between the Mississippi River and Rampart Street, which is the northern edge of the French Quarter, has a different name for the "uptown" and "downtown" portions. For example, St. Charles Avenue, known for its street car line, is called Royal Street below Canal Street. Elsewhere in the city, Canal Street serves as the dividing point between the "South" and "North" portions of various streets. In the local parlance downtown means "downriver from Canal Street" while uptown means "upriver from Canal Street". Downtown neighborhoods include the French Quarter, Treme, the 7th Ward, Faubourg-Marigny, Bywater (the Upper Ninth Ward), and the Lower Ninth Ward. Uptown neighborhoods include the Warehouse District, the Lower Garden District, the Garden District, the Irish Channel, the University District, Carrollton, Gert Town, Fontainebleau, and Broadmoor. However, the Warehouse and Central Business Districts, despite being above Canal Street, are frequently called "Downtown" as a specific region, as in the Downtown Development District.

Other major districts within the city include Bayou St. John, Mid-City, Gentilly, Lakeview, Lakefront, New Orleans East, and Algiers.

Architecture

Main article: Buildings and architecture of New Orleans

One Shell Square, at 51 floors, stands as the tallest building in New Orleans.

An aerial view of New Orleans (1999).

New Orleans is world-famous for its plethora of unique architectural styles, as it reflects the city's historical roots and multicultural heritage. The city has seventeen historic landmark districts, administered by the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission (HDLC). Many styles of housing exist in the city, including the shotgun house (originating from New Orleans) and the California bungalow style. Creole townhouses, notable for their large courtyards and intricate iron balconies, line the streets of the French Quarter. Throughout the city, there are many other historic housing styles: Creole cottages, American townhouses, double-gallery houses, and Raised Center-Hall Cottages. St. Charles Avenue is famed for its large Antebellum homes and its mansions in various styles such as Greek Revival, Colonial, and Victorian styles such as Queen Anne and Italianate. New Orleans is also noted for its large, European-style Catholic cemeteries, which can be found throughout the city.

For much of its history, New Orleans' skyline consisted of only low- and mid-rise structures. The soft soils of New Orleans are susceptible to subsidence, and there was doubt about the feasibility of constructing large high rises in such an environment The 1960s brought the World Trade Center New Orleans and Plaza Tower, which demonstrated that high rises could stand firm on New Orleans' soil. One Shell Square took its place as the city's tallest building in 1972. The oil boom of the early 1980s redefined New Orleans' skyline again with the development of the Poydras Street corridor. Today, New Orleans' high rises are clustered along Canal Street and Poydras Street in the Central Business District.

See also: List of tallest buildings in New Orleans

Tourism and culture

According to current travel guides, New Orleans is in the top ten of the most visited cities in the United States, and tourism is a major staple in the area's economy.^[42] 10.1 million visitors came to New Orleans in 2004, and the city was on pace to break that level of visitation in 2005. Annually, tourism in New Orleans is a $5.5 billion industry and accounts for 40 percent of New Orleans' tax revenues. Tourism employed 85,000 people, making it New Orleans' top industry.^[43] The city's annual large events such as Mardi Gras, the Sugar Bowl, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (known by locals as "Jazz Fest"), the Voodoo Music Experience, Southern Decadence, and the Essence Music Festival help fuel its mammoth tourism industry. Events held less frequently, such as Super Bowls and portions of NCAA tournaments, also contribute.

Prior to Katrina in the Greater New Orleans Area, there were 265 hotels with an inventory of 38,338 rooms. In May 2007, there were over 140 metro area hotels and motels in operation with over 31,000 rooms in inventory.^[44].

A CNN poll ranking US cities was released in October 2007, ranking New Orleans first in eight categories, behind only New York City, which ranked first in 15. According to the poll, New Orleans is the best US city for live music, cocktail hours, flea markets, antique shopping, nightlife, "wild weekends," "girlfriend getaways," and cheap food. The city also ranked second for gay friendliness, overall food and dining, friendliness of residents, and people-watching, behind San Francisco, California, Chicago, Illinois, Charleston, South Carolina, and New York City, respectively. However, among the top 25 U.S. travel destinations as established by the poll, the city was voted last in terms of safety and cleanliness and near the bottom as a family vacation destination. "We weren't surprised to see New Orleans' great performance," said Amy Farley, a senior editor at Travel + Leisure, which printed the complete results in its November issue. "New Orleans is legendary for its great after dark scene."^[45]

In 2007, Louisiana began to offer tax incentives for music and theatre productions, leading many to begin referring to New Orleans as "Broadway South". This will likely become an important aspect of the city and region's economy in the near future, most notably further boosting the tourism industry.^[46]

New Orleans has many major attractions, from the world-renowned Bourbon Street and the French Quarter's notorious nightlife to St. Charles Avenue (home of Tulane and Loyola Universities), the historic Pontchartrain Hotel, and many stately 19th century mansions. Magazine Street, with its many historic antique shops and boutique stores, is also popular tourist attraction.

Favorite tourist scenes in New Orleans include the French Quarter (known locally as "the Quarter" or Vieux Carré), which dates from the French and Spanish eras and is bounded by the Mississippi River, Rampart Street, Canal Street and Esplanade Avenue. The French Quarter contains many popular hotels, bars, and nightclubs, most notably around Bourbon Street. Other notable tourist attractions in the Quarter include Jackson Square, St. Louis Cathedral, the French Market (including Café du Monde, famous for café au lait and beignets), and jazz at Preservation Hall.

Horse carriage entering Royal Street

Also located in the French Quarter is the old New Orleans Mint, formerly a branch of the United States Mint, which now operates as a museum. Located on Royal Street is The Historic New Orleans Collection, a museum and research center housing art and artifacts relating to the History of New Orleans and the Gulf South.

Near the Quarter in the neighboring Warehouse District sits the National World War II Museum, opened on June 6, 2000, as the National D-Day Museum, dedicated to providing information and materials related to the allied invasion of Normandy, France. Also nearby is Confederate Memorial Hall, containing the second largest collection of Confederate memorabilia in the world in the oldest continually operating museum in Louisiana.

To tour the port, one can ride the Natchez, an authentic steamboat with a calliope which cruises the Mississippi the length of the city twice daily.

Art museums in the city include the Contemporary Arts Center, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) in City Park, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art. Audubon Park, the Audubon Zoo, and the Aquarium of the Americas are also located in the city. New Orleans is also noted for its many beautiful cemeteries. Some notable cemeteries in the city include Saint Louis Cemetery and Metairie Cemetery. Significant gardens include Longue Vue House and Gardens and the New Orleans Botanical Garden. Gardens are also found in places like City Park and Audubon Park. City Park still has one of the largest (if not the largest) stands of oak trees in the world.

There are also various points of interest in the surrounding areas. Many wetlands are in close proximity to the city, including Honey Island Swamp. Chalmette Battlefield and National Cemetery, located just south of the city, is the site of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans.

Entertainment and performing arts

Main article: Music of New Orleans

Mounted Krewe Officers in the Thoth Parade during Mardi Gras.

Greater New Orleans is home to numerous celebrations, including Mardi Gras and the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. New Orleans' most popular celebration is Carnival, officially beginning on the Feast of the Epiphany, which locals sometimes refer to as "Twelfth Night". The Carnival season is often known (especially by out-of-towners) by the name of its last day, Mardi Gras (French for "Fat Tuesday"), which is held the Tuesday before the beginning of the Catholic liturgical season of Lent, which commences on Ash Wednesday.

The largest of the city's many musical festivals is the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Commonly referred to simply as "Jazz Fest", it is one of the largest music festivals in the nation, featuring crowds coming from all over the world to experience music, food, arts, and crafts. Despite the name, it features not only jazz but a large variety of music, including both native Louisiana music and internationally-known popular music artists. Along with Jazz Fest, New Orleans' Voodoo Music Experience (known as Voodoo Fest) and Essence Music Festival are both large music festivals featuring local and internationally known music artists.

Other major events in the city include Southern Decadence, the French Quarter Festival, and the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival.

Throughout the Greater New Orleans area, various ethnic groups have retained their distinctive language traditions to this day. Although rare, Kreyol Lwiziyen is still spoken by Louisiana Creole people. Also rare, an archaic Louisiana-Canarian Spanish dialect is spoken by the Isleños people, but it can usually only be heard by older members of the Isleños population.

Louis Armstrong, famous New Orleans Jazz musician.

New Orleans has always been a significant center for music, with its intertwined European, Latin American, and African-American cultures. New Orleans' unique musical heritage was born in its pre-American and early American days with a unique blending of European instruments with African rhythms. As the only North American city to allow slaves to gather in public and play their native music (largely in Congo Square, now located within Louis Armstrong Park), likely due to the more relaxed attitudes of French and Creole slave owners as compared to their Anglo-American neighbors, New Orleans give birth to an indigenous music: jazz. With New Orleans' large, educated, and influential Creole, Haitian, and free black population, these African beats intertwined with trained musicians and the city's now famous brass bands gained wide popularity and remain popular today. New Orleans musical traditions also borrow heavily from Acadiana to the west, home of Cajun music and Zydeco music, as well as the Delta blues from its hinterlands in the Mississippi Delta.

The city created its own spin on the old tradition of military brass band funerals. Traditional New Orleans funerals feature sad music (mostly dirges and hymns) on the way to the cemetery and happy music (hot jazz) on the way back. Such traditional musical funerals still take place when a local musician, a member of a club, krewe, or benevolent society, or a noted dignitary has passed. Until the 1990s most locals preferred to call these "funerals with music", but out-of-town visitors have long dubbed them "jazz funerals". Younger bands, especially those based in the Treme neighborhood, have embraced the term and now have funerals featuring only jazz music.

Decades later, New Orleans was home to a distinctive brand of rhythm and blues that contributed greatly to the growth of rock and roll. A great example of New Orleans' sound in the 1960s is the #1 US hit "Chapel of Love" by the Dixie Cups, a song which had the distinction of knocking the Beatles out of the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100. New Orleans became a hotbed for funk music in the 1960s and 70s. By the late 1980s it had developed its own localized variant of hip hop called bounce music which, while never commercially successful outside of the Deep South, remained immensely popular in the poor African-American neighborhoods of the city through the 1990s.

A cousin of Bounce, New Orleans Rap has seen commercial success locally and internationally. Also, a form of southern rock or cowpunk has become popular across college campuses throughout the United States. New Orleans bands which helped originate this wave include The Radiators, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Rebirth Brass Band, Better Than Ezra, Cowboy Mouth, Rising Sun and Dash Rip Rock. Notable aspects of the New Orleans music scene are Lil Wayne, Master P, Birdman, Juvenile, Cash Money Records, and No Limit Records. Throughout the 1990s many sludge metal bands started in the New Orleans area. Heavy Metal in New Orleans has avoided the standardisation of the style by MTV and other Media. Bands like Down, Eyehategod, Soilent Green, Crowbar and Acid Bath have incorporated styles such as Country, Dixie Rock, Punk, and NWOBHM to create an original and heady brew of swampy and aggravated Metal.

New Orleans is the southern terminus of the famed Highway 61.

Film

In an effort to diversify its economy, Louisiana began offering tax incentives for movie production companies in 2002. This led to a substantial increase in the number of films shot in the New Orleans area giving it a new nickname - "Hollywood South". Many big-budget and critically acclaimed feature films have been made in and around New Orleans, such as Ray, Runaway Jury, The Pelican Brief, The Skeleton Key, Hard Times, Glory Road, All the King's Men, Déjà Vu, Last Holiday, Waiting..., Failure to Launch, Stay Alive, and many other full-length films and documentaries. Hollywood stars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have made New Orleans their home with the purchase of a home in the French Quarter, and a new movie studio complex is to be built in the Treme neighborhood. K-Ville, a cop drama series set in post-Katrina New Orleans, has been picked up for the Fox Network's 2007-08 prime-time schedule, according to sources in Hollywood, a move that could pump millions of dollars of location production money into the local economy. The show stars Anthony Anderson (The Shield, The Departed) and Cole Hauser (The Cave, Paparazzi).

Food

Main article: Louisiana Creole cuisine

Main article: Cajun cuisine

New Orleans is world-famous for its food. The indigenous cuisine is distinctive and influential. From centuries of amalgamation of local Creole, haute Creole, and New Orleans French cuisines, New Orleans food has developed. Local ingredients, French, Spanish, Italian, African, Native American, Cajun, and a hint of Cuban traditions combine to produce a truly unique and easily recognizable Louisiana flavor.

Unique specialties include beignets, square-shaped fried pastries that could be called "French doughnuts" (served with coffee and chicory, known as café au lait); Po'boy and Italian Muffaletta sandwiches; Gulf oysters on the half-shell, boiled crawfish, and other seafood; étouffée, jambalaya, gumbo, and other Creole dishes; and the Monday favorite of red beans and rice (Louis Armstrong often signed his letters, "Red beans and ricely yours"). New Orleans residents enjoy some of the best restaurants in the United States that cater specifically to locals, and visitors are encouraged to try the local establishments recommended by their hosts.

Sports

Main article: Sports in New Orleans

Professional sports teams include the New Orleans Saints (NFL), the New Orleans Hornets (NBA), the New Orleans VooDoo (AFL), and the New Orleans Zephyrs (PCL). There is also an all-female flat track roller derby team, Big Easy Rollergirls, and an all-female football team, New Orleans Blaze. The Louisiana Superdome is the home stadium of the Saints and hosts the annual Sugar Bowl and other prominent events. The New Orleans Arena is the home of the Hornets and many events that aren't large enough to need the Superdome. New Orleans is also home to the Fair Grounds Race Course, the nation's third-oldest thoroughbred track, and the Zurich Classic, a golf tournament on the PGA Tour. In 2008 New Orleans hosted the NBA All-Star Game. The game showcased the Hornets own Chris Paul and David West.

Economy

A tanker on the Mississippi River in New Orleans.

Intracoastal Waterway near New Orleans

New Orleans is the home to one of the largest and busiest ports in the world, accounts for a major portion of the nation's refinery and production of petroleum, has a top 50 research university (in Tulane University) as well as half a dozen other institutions of higher education, and is renowned for its cultural tourism.

New Orleans is an industrial and distribution center and the busiest port system in the world by gross tonnage. The Port of New Orleans is the 5th-largest port in the United States based on volume of cargo handled, second-largest in the state after the Port of South Louisiana, and 12th-largest in the U.S. based on value of cargo. The Port of South Louisiana, also based in the New Orleans area, is the world's busiest in terms of bulk tonnage, and, when combined with the Port of N.O., it forms the 4th-largest port system in volume handled.

Like Houston, Texas, New Orleans is located in proximity to the Gulf of Mexico, and the many oil rigs lie just offshore. Louisiana ranks fifth in oil production and eighth in reserves in the United States. It is also home to two of the four Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) storage facilities: West Hackberry in Cameron Parish and Bayou Choctaw in Iberville Parish. Other infrastructure includes 17 petroleum refineries with a combined crude oil distillation capacity of nearly 2.8 million barrels per day, the second highest in the nation after Texas. Louisiana has numerous ports including the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port (LOOP), which is capable of receiving ultra large oil tankers. With all of the product to distribute, Louisiana is home to many major pipelines supplying the nation: Crude Oil (Exxon,Chevron, BP, Texaco, Shell, Scurloch-Permian, Mid-Valley, Calumet, Conoco, Koch, Unocal, Dept. of Energy, Locap), Product (TEPPCO, Colonial, Plantation, Explorer, Texaco, Collins), and Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Dixie, TEPPCO, Black Lake, Koch, Chevron, Dynegy, Kinder, Dow, Bridgeline, FMP, Tejas, Texaco, UTP).^[47] There are a few energy companies that have their regional headquarters in the city, including Chevron and Shell Oil Company.

The city is the home and worldwide headquarters of a single Fortune 500 company: Entergy Corporation, an energy and infrastructure providing company. Freeport-McMoRan, the city's other Fortune 500 company, merged its copper and gold exploration unit with an Arizona company and relocated that division to Phoenix, Arizona. Other companies with a significant presence or base in New Orleans include the worldwide headquarters of the Entergy and its subsidiaries, Freeport-McMoRan, AT&T, IBM, Navtech, Harrah's (downtown casino), Popeye's Fried Chicken, Zatarain's, Whitney Bank (corp. HQ), Capital One (banking HQ), Tidewater (Corp. HQ), McMoran Exploration, and Energy Partners (corp.HQ).

The federal government has a significant presence in the area. The NASA Michoud Assembly Facility is located in the eastern portion of Orleans Parish, known as New Orleans East, and is operated by Lockheed-Martin. It is a large manufacturing facility where external fuel tanks for space shuttles are produced, and it also houses the National Finance Center, operated by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Demographics