Old Photos of New Orleans (& LA)

Old photography fascinates me. It's the great recorder of how life was, the things people wore, the way people got around... it's the living historian that can't lie. But it's funny how the "good old days" are never the good old days when you're living in them. I could go put my camera in the same exact position and take photos of the same street scenes that you see here, but they would be insanely boring. But to a person living 100 years from now this photo would be pretty damn interesting. This is what makes photography great.

Another thing that humbles me is how much more you had to know and do to be a photographer back then. We are all spoiled by the modern digital pixels that have whored the art of photography almost beyond recognition. But that's ok, I'm not complaining. I probably wouldn't have made it back in the day.  The sharpness and range in these 8x10 negatives is stunning.  It's ironic that their quality is actually diminished by the digital scanning.  

Anyway, if you've never heard of Shorpy.com, you need to check it out. It is a huge online collection of thousands of high res photos mostly taken 100+ years old. It's fantastic. So here are a few I found from New Orleans and Louisiana taken around the turn of the century. It's cool to see how little this place has changed over the past few hundred years.

What's sad is how much this city has lost, even before Katrina. Beautiful and historic buildings, neighborhoods, churches, libraries- all of which seem to have been demolished in the 1950's and replaced with the ugliest architecture the world has ever seen. If it were up to me I would destroyed every building built in the 1950's and 60's. I'm not even kidding. 

Be sure to check out Shorpy...always interesting. Enjoy a little history.

[UPDATE]  For whatever reason, this blog post has gotten over 11,000 hits in the past week.  A new record for this site, for sure.  It appears that I am not the only one with an interest in old photography.  So, I have updated this page and added many more photos.

Also, all of these photos are the original size...meaning, if you right click the picture and open in a new tab you will see glorious details that you would have otherwise missed.  It's fascinating to see people, signs, dogs, fashion, cars....just life in general.  Enjoy.

Update on the update: apparently blogger maxes the size of my uploads at 1600px...what a shame.  Check out Shorpy.com for the original hugeness.

Enjoy the photos and feel free to share away!  And comment below!   

The abandoned Belle Grove mansion in White Castle, LA. These photos were taken in 1938, years after its abandonment. When it was built in 1857 it was the largest mansion in the south and comprised of more than 75 rooms. It has since burned to the ground.

I would have seriously considered amputation of a limb to have explored this place.

Old Cotton Exchange, 1900.

Esplanade Avenue, 1900. 

French Opera house, 1900.  

Here it is again in 1910.  It would burn to the ground in December of 1919.  It's burning signifies the death of class of Bourbon Street.

Mules on the levee, 1903.  Notice the JAX Brewery to the right.

 Unloading bananas on the levee, 1903.

Oyster sluggers, 1906.

Oyster & charcoal luggers in the old basin, 1908.

Pay day on the levee, 1906.

"Steamer loading grain from floating elevator." 1906

"Steamer loading hides." 1903

Torpedo boats on the Mississippi, 1906

Milkbobile in Quarter, 1903.

1910.

 Milk runner on Esplanade Ave, 1903.

Now and then.  As you can see, the scene remains exactly the same.  

"Smallest news & post card stand in New Orleans."  103 Royal Street, 1908.

View of the St. Charles Hotel, one of the finest in the south.

The buildings even leaned back then...Lee Circle, 1936.

Old Ursuline Convent, 1910.  Finished in 1752, it's considered the oldest surviving structure in New Orleans.

815 Toulouse Street, 1937.

837 Gov Nicholls Street, 1937.

842 Royal Street, 1937.

Tulane & Charity Hospitals, 1928. 

Bourbon & St. Peters, 1937

Chalmette refinery, 1913.

Jackson Avenue, 1920's

Lee Circle, 1928.

Slow up?  Lee Circle.

West End streetcar out in Lakeview, 1949.

Old Absinthe House & Bourbon Street, 1903.

Inside the Absinthe House.

House on Palmer Avenue, built for $10,000.

Liberty Theatre on St. Charles, 1936.  Many people don't know that it was actually New Orleans who had the first movie theater in the country.  

The Joy Theater on opening night, February 8, 1947.  See my photos inside the abandoned theater here.  It was since been restored!  

Camp & Canal, 1905.

Canal Street, 1910.

Maison Blanche building, where my grandpa had his dental practice.  Now the Ritz Carlton.

Canal Street, 1890's.

1907.

Carondelet Street, 1905. NEW Jackson Square Cigars!

Mardi Gras on Canal.

End of Canal Street, 1890.  The Clay monument has since been moved to Lafayette Square.  Notice the advertisement for the Opera.

Canal Street from above, 1903.

View down Chartres Street.  Still looks the same.

View of the Mississippi atop the Grunewald Hotel, 1910.

Downtown rooftops from the Grunewald (now The Roosevelt), 1910.

Postcard from Lafayette Square.

Lafayette Square.  The church to the right was First Presbyterian.  It was demolished in 1938 and moved to South Claiborne & Jefferson in Uptown.

Angola landing, 1910.

Basin Street (early 1890's?), part of Storyville.  These beautiful buildings, along with the rest of Storyville, were demolished in 1930 to make way for the Iberville Projects.  Great move New Orleans...great move.

Storyville prostitutes photographed by E.J. Bellocq, early 1900's.

Jewish Boys Home, corner of St. Charles & Jefferson.

NOLA's main public library on Lee Circle.  Why was this demolished?!

Postcard from 1912.

View from 1940/50's.

Touro Shakspeare Home, now abandoned.  Check out my pics here.

Dedication of the Industrial Canal, 1923.

French courtyard, 1906.

French Market, early 1900's.

Same view, 1890's.

Nola Paperboys, 1913.  Photographed by Lewis Hine.

"Group of workers in Lane Cotton Mill showing the youngest workers and typical conditions in New Orleans.  Violations of the law are rare."  November 1913.

Rare photograph of the James Robb mansion, once the largest in the entire south.  It occupied an entire city block in Uptown New Orleans.  Read a bit more about it's history here.

Robb Mansion, after it had been turned into Newcomb College for women.

Luling Mansion, and later the Jockey Club.

Katz & Besthoff, 1950's.

Le Pretre Mansion in the Quarter, built in 1835.  Still looks the same.

"Italian headquarters, Madison Street." 1906

Masonic Temple, 1910.

Napoleon House, 1905.  One of my favorite bars in the city.  (Pim's Cup might be my favorite drink of all time...so refreshing.) 

"Negro house in New Orleans, Louisiana." 1936

The new Hotel Denechaud on Poydras Street, 1908.  Now the Le Pavillon Hotel.

Sun Coffee Shop on Canal Street, 1935.

Courtyard at 1135 Chartres Street, 1937.

Le Petite Theatre, 1937

Southern Railroad Depot, demolished in the 1950's.

Somewhere on Esplanade Avenue.

Mount Airy in St. John the Baptist Parish, 1938.

Elks Home...still there.

Learning numbers.  Translyvania, Louisiana 1939

Notre Dame de Bon Secours.

Pointe Coupee Parish, 1938.

Trepagnier House, St. Charles Parish, 1938.  Destroyed to build the Bonnet Carre spillway.  The caption reads, "Abandoned plantation house now occupied by Negroes."

Uncle Sam's Plantation...built in 1847, demolished in 1940.

NOLA skyline, 1950's.