New Orleans by Bicycle: A Tourists guide to living like a local

I've got a lot more articles in me, but we're going to start where we should...the beginning. If you are wondering if your visit to New Orleans will be better on a bike, wonder no more, it will, and here's a few tips to make sure of that.

First off, New Orleans is a great place for biking. It is flat. Very Flat. After hurricane Katrina, I was actually shocked to learn that the elevation of the city changes as much as 10 feet in a couple of miles, that is steeper than it ever felt to me. However, New Orleans has something for everyone, so those hankering for the mountains of home can always head to Monkey Hill in Audubon Park. A pile of dirt that rises to an astounding 15 feet high, it was built in 1935 by the Works Project Administration so our young'uns could know what hills were like. You're not allowed to bike up it anyhow, so, needless to say, pedaling is always easy in New Orleans.

Because the city is so flat, with just a little common sense, anybody can bike here. No need to be in shape, fancy multi-speed bicycles are wasted money, and having no hills to climb after an evening of enjoyment at one of our bars bar, should be every realtor's selling point around here. While I do not 100% endorse drunken biking for the inexperienced, it sure as heck beats drunken driving, and it's not close, just be careful.

To the uninitiated visitor, while biking is easy physically...bring a map. Our city is built on a crescent on the Mississippi river, and, for better or worse is shaped like a Crescent, so bring your map, but throw away your compass, it's useless around here. South Claiborne heads south, east, then northeast. After it crosses Canal street, its' name changes to North Claiborne, where, for some reason it eventually heads directly east. To punctuate the need to forget everything you know about the compass; from the French Quarter, you can look to the West Bank and see the sun rise. Case Closed. Tour books recommend using the terms Upriver and Downriver and Riverside and Lakeside to denote direction, but using terms like that would just leave us scratching our heads.

What direction to head and what to see and do? Well that is easy, every direction has something. If you just point your bike and go, you are bounf to have fun. Beautiful architecture, oak strewn parks, Po' Boy shops, neighborhood bars and restaurants are strewn throughout the city. Each neighborhood has a slightly different feeling; in some, built by Creoles and free people of color, only french was spoken throughout the 19th century. In the American sector, once a different city altogether, the wealthy mansion owners and the poor Irish and Italian immigrants lived right next to each other.

Within easy biking distance of the French Quarter are all varieties of neighborhoods, these are some of the more popular for bike rides:

The Faubourgs Marigny, Bywater, and Treme, are all beautiful neighborhoods near the French Quarter with history and architecture that goes back 150 years. Great for slow, pretty bike rides with plenty of local food, coffee shops and bars for stopping.

Lower Ninth Ward, area of some of the worst of Katrina's devastation, now optimistically being rebuilt by true believers in New Orleans.
City Park, with the largest collection of live oaks in the world. Make sure to ride by the house of Fats Domino.

City Park is the home to the worlds largest collection of Liv Oaks,

The Garden District, has numerous antique and vintage clothing shops, along with mansions and the famous St Louis #1 cemetary, all easily reachable by bicycle.

Audobon Park and River Road, for those who want a longer ride, River Road is easily bikable and can be ridden along the Mississippi river all the way to Baton Rouge.

Feel free to ask us anything about renting a bike in New Oleans, or for any futher details about routes, sights, or tour possibilities.

OK, you've been biking the scenic streets of New Orleans all afternoon, maybe saw some devastated neighborhoods and the people rebuilding them, maybe saw Bayou St John, or took the ferry to Old Algiers...thats not important right now. What is important is that you are hungry. And hot. And maybe a little stinky. This ain't a moment for Commanders Palace, this is a moment for a some tasty local New Orleans food...a Po' Boy, or a plate of fried oysters with a side of macaroni and cheese, or my favorite, a few pounds of takeout crawfish. Here is a list of 10 places where you can eat (and pay) like a local, neighborhood joints that capture the flavor, feeling and culture of our local neighborhoods. Grab your maps and see where these are, they all are highly recommended, fun to bike to, cheap, and probably not listed in your tour guide books.

Links are provided for the restaurants with websites. Some of these spots are too local to even have one. Enjoy the eating.

Sammy's Food 3000 Elysian Fields Ave. By far the most outstanding neighborhood joint in the city. Huge portions, everything fresh, never frozen. Just outstanding for seafood and Po' Boys. website lists daily specals.

Jack Dempsey's 738 Poland Ave. 943-9914
Piles, and I do mean Piles of fried seafood. Lunches are always good, plenty of fish dishes.

Captain Sal's 3168 Saint Claude Ave. 948-9990
As good of a place as pick your boiled crawfish by the pound. Take it to Marky Park with some bottles of Barqs.

Liuxxa's By The Track< 1518 N. Lopez. 943-8667.
Gumbo, poyboys and some great New ORleans style barbecued shrimp if you have a high tolerance to butter. I do.

Parkway Bakery 538 Hagan Ave. 482-3047
Consistently rated as one of the top 3 Po' Boy places in New Orleans. Roast Beef, or fried shrimp and oysters, in a great old atmosphere.

Angelo Brocato's 214 N. Carrollton Ave. 504-486-1465
Homemade ice cream and Italian sweets including the souths best eclair's. Started in the Quarter in 1905.

Zimmer's 4915 St. Anthony Ave. 282-7150
In Gentilly, neighborhood only partly rebuilt, but luckily their greatest seafood/po' boy joint is back.

Mrs. Hyster's Barbeque 2000 S Claiborne Ave. 522-3028.
Long been New Orleans best BBQ ribs.

Casamento's 4330 Magazine. 895-9761
Oysters and Oyster loaves, at the best, old style, place in the city to eat them. Call ahead, I have never figured out when they are open.

Domilese's 5240 Annunciation. 899-9126
Uptowns favorite shrimp and Roast beef po' boy spot. Like at all these places, get a bottle of Barqs with the meal.

Parasol's 2533 Constance. 899-2054
Has the advantage of having a legendary Roast Beef Po' Boy and being a popular Irish bar. Skip the Barqs here, real beer will be fine.

Of course this is in no way exhaustive, more like a few grains of rice in a giant jambalaya, (OK, sorry for the bad New Orleans analogy) but take it as a start, and be patient...bars and coffee shops are coming soon. As always, you can ask us anything about bike tours in New Orleans or anything else about our city you need advice on. We are always glad to share what we know.

Here are a few destinations for your New Orleans Bicycle rides. These are a bit longer than your standard 'dawdle around a neighborhood and stop at coffee shops' kind of ride (not that those aren't great, too), but these are all easy rides. New Orleans is still flat, and these will all give you plenty to look at along the way.

You don't have too bring a lot of water or food, the corner stores will provide all, plus some local friendliness, but remember to drink plenty of water...it does get hot here.

OK, grab your maps and figure out your routes, it's time to head out...

River Road Bike Path Bike towards uptown, by whichever route you choose, go through the Lower Garden district and past the grand Uptown mansions until you reach Audubon Park, a great place in itself to enjoy some live oaks and atmosphere. From there, it's 80 miles of following the mighty Mississippi river, winding about and enjoying the breeze, busy freighters, and countryside. It's a great ride, however far you go...a popular turnaround point is the Destrehan Plantation.

Biking the Lower 9th Ward There are a few routes to the Industrial Canal Bridge, most popular are the new St Claude Ave Bike Path, or through the scenic Bywater neighborhood. Be careful on the bridge, there is no bike lane, but there is a spot to pull over half way across. Once arriving in the lower 9th, there are 2 ways to go. On the right, there is the pleasant Holy Cross neighborhood, currently being rebuilt. To the left, past Claiborne Ave is where the levee broke. Now you can see mile after mile of what is left of the neighborhood, and firsthand understand how absolutely large the devastated area really is. A quick trip will take you to Fats Domino's house and the House of Dance and Feathers, a really neat local cultural museum.

Biking to Lake Ponchartrain Looking at your map, you can see there are a few ways, all of them are great in their own way, so take a circular route, and enjoy 2. Up through the beautifully historic Esplanade Avenue, and up through City Park is on great route, another is taking St. Bernard Ave most of the way for a more gritty slice of New Orleans, passing a lot of areas that are yet to be rebuilt. Biking along the river is always nice (and cool) And you can return to the city on Franklin Avenue, another route that will show you a little bit of everything that makes our city interesting.

These are a really good start, for anyone looking for more unspecific advice, I am always glad to help out, and answer all questions. Look me up at my New Orleans Bicycle Tours website

The French Quarter? It's a fine place, but that's where every other tourist goes...try going to the local bars where we hang out. Be friendly, smile, say hello, tip well, you will have a good time. New Orleanians are very accepting; Pleasant drunkenness is highly accepted...Frat-boy attitudes, condesention, and prejudice we don't cotton too. Easy, right?

All of these are on the Creole side of town, uptown is fine for people that want to go that way, but downtown is my home, so I'll share a wide variety of places to have fun around here.

New Orleans neighborhood bars to bike to:

Marky's (Bywater) Home of the Downtown Irish Parade. Lots of TV's, very cheap drinks, good Guinness, and a pool table.

Saturn Bar (Bywater) Local legend O'Neil's (see Links section) extension of his imagination has dulled down a bit with his passing. The stale Cheeto's and cockroaches have been replaced by live music and 20 something hipsters...I guess most people would call that an improvement, but I'm a crotchety old man, and still some of the old magic remains.

Vaughns (Bywater) Been the home of Kermit Ruffins on Thursday nights as long as my bad memory stretches back. Plus his barbecue swings as good as his backup band, 'The Barbecue Swingers' do. Great small place for local bands.

Pal's Lounge (Mid-City) Ex old man's bar, now great for everyone. Plus they still keep the Pabst cans so the old timers can feel at home still.

Finn McCool's (Mid City) Every European in a 20 mile radius treks down to this neighborhood bar for football, cricket, pub quiz night, and good old fashioned drinking.

Just take a cab:

Ernie K-Doe's (Treme) Living museum dedicated to our favorite R&B star. Mr K-doe is no longer with us, but his wax figurine holds up his part fairly well.

Bullets Sports Bar (Seventh Ward) Old School. Bottle service with mixers for the afternoon regulars and some good music at night. Probably what Bourbon Street felt like in its' glory days. Kermit Ruffins plays Tuesdays at 6.

Sidney's Saloon (Seventh Ward) New. old style place. Based on the owners, probably great. Local R&B hero George French plays on Mondays.

New Orleans has it's share, in fact has at least a small nations share, of party music, but the song that always brings the biggest smile to my face is Oliver Morgans only hit 1963's Who Shot the LaLa (Click link to play)

Oliver Morgan was born, raised and stayed, in the lower 9th Ward, similarly to Fats Domino, who until Hurricane Katrina wiped out the neighborhood, never had a reason to leave the area that gave him his start. The poor but colorful Lower 9th was fertile ground for musicians in the 1950's and 60's, one of the many others being Lawrence "Prince LaLa" Nelson. When LaLa was killed, maybe by an angry cuckolded husband, Oliver was swarmed with questions about the killing...and there was no better way to tell his story than in true New Orleans fashion. Just as our Jazz funerals are a joyous goodbye to our departed, "Who Shot the LALA" is the same.

To the raucous beat, hand clapping, and background chants, Oliver first denies any part in the shooting himself, then tells what he would do to the killer if he had a say in the matter. Finally, in his trademark raspy vocals, he tosses out some suspects, which include High-Head, Joe Mouth, and his brother John. If it doesn't sound like the making of a great dance hit, trust me, Oliver Morgan pulled it off.

Like most of the musicians of the day, big money and long careers were always justout of reach, and Oliver Morgan moved back into national obscurity, but remained a neighborhood hero. He worked as a custodian at City Hall before becoming a caretaker at the New Orleans Pharmaceutical Museum, where anybody was free to stop in and say hello and share memories with him. After hours, he could often be found performing about town, trademark second-line umbrella on stage with him.

Like plenty of old timers, post Katrina, he was forced out of New Orleans unable to return, and like so many others, with the destruction of his past, he never got back on track. He died in Atlanta on August 1, 2007, less than a year after the hurricane, but I listen to his songs ans remember his spirit. He was New Orleans, and the city misses him.