Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-03-05
THE SOUTHERN METROPOLIS
EIirds-Eye View OF the Crescent
City-Its Promenades-Theat-
rfcaIs-The French Quarter

City-Its Promenadcs-The
ricaIs-The French Quarter
The opera.
EpIToR HKRALD-There is but on
New Orleans. Stranger and citizen alik
cannot fail to see that there is no othe
city whose society is so democratic
whose population is composed of repre-
sentatives from 80 many different coun
tries, or whose buildings. by the differ
ence of their architecture, prove sucl
strong reminders Of the rapid progress o
to-day, aa well as OF the slow and uncer
tain steps Of the old French and Spanisl
regime. II you should go from one ent
Of the city to another you would hay'
ample opportunity Of seeing for yoursel
some Of its characteristic features, which
would forcibly convince you of the city
individuality.
One Of the former suburbs Of the city
now included within Its limits, Is Carroll
ton 1.-THE principal features oi which ar,
the large gardens and pleasure grounds)
which were once the only outdoor plac,
of amusement open to the New Orleans
public. II was very delightful place
too, being on the banks of the dear old
Mississippi, and beautifully adapted to
picnics and open air sports Of all kinds
Now, however, the resort has fallen into
comparative disuse and has, therefore,
lost much Of its former beauty.
Let us take the car from the little Car.
rollton station and settle ourselves to
receive the many pictures framed by its
windows during the six-mile drive ia
Canal street The first object Of inter.
est that we see is the Exposition grounds
we will not view them closely as yet,
but our car stops here and we can see
very plainly the Government and Main
Building, the Art and Horticultural
Halls being just behind the lat
ter, and so beyond our vision
from Hour present standpoint. The
Exposition OF last year. even though II
may not have been a success financially.
benefited the city by showing what
could be done and by bringing 1t into
greater prominence. The continuation
Of it this year has not been failure, in
spite of its many drawbacks. Chief
among these was the withdrawal OF the
government exhibit. Why the govern
ment should have teen so inexorable in
its refusal to aid us second time re.
mains mystery. Financially it would
have suffered nothing; and, as that is
generally paramount consideration
with the government, II certainly seems
that all other and minor obstacles were
easily removable. Perhaps it were better
that the people should have been thrown
on their own resources and that on them
alone should the re-opening depend.
1t must be confessed that the Exposi-
ton is far from being what it was last
year, but it is improving daily, and is
now superior to the annual ones held in
Chicago, Louisville or st. Louis. But
all this while our car has been passing
some typical southern homes, standing
in the midst OF beautiful grounds and
half hidden by the luxuriant foliage.
These houses are almost invariably
painted white with green blinds, and
built with hall in the middle and a
gallery extending around the whole
house, both ON tho upper and lower
floors. II is in this locality only that q
Few of these houses are seen, for on the
lower part of st. Charles avenue the
houses are in great contrast to
| these "before the war" dwellings.
You will certainly admire the
broad, beautiful avenue down which
your car is passing. 1t is the pride of
every natives heart-the admiration of
all strangers. Down its center there is,
almost the whole way, long vista Of
trees, forming an exquisite green aisle,
through which the cars pass. On either
side of this there is the broad, smooth
carriage drive of asphalt paving, which
quite eclipses our famous ''shell road. !"
| On this and the adjacent street, Pry-
| tania, it Is that we see the most beauti-
| full, luxurious aud modern of New Or
leans homes. This is the garden dis
trict, and the stately houses standing
amid their gardens of roses, orange
blossoms and jesamine, are as dainty as
the flowers themselves.
New Orleans has not taken kindly to
the parti-colored houses which have be-
come so popular lately, and it is only
'semi mi.occasionally" that one of them
intrudes itself among its delicate green,
brown or gray neighbors. These houses
are generally built of wood, and it is
very seldom that our balmy weather
masquerades in arctic guise long enough
to cause us to wish for stronger protec-
ton against cold Boreas" than these
| frame houses afford.
The Avenue, which is not long, is al
most passed, and you can plainly see the
statue of Lee in the Circle that bears
his name, and which marks its ending.
Now we emerge on the more thickly
settled portion of the city y-the gardens
become fewer, the streets more crowded,
and an occasional store pushing itself in
among the dwellings, causes you to
realize that the business portion of
the city is not far distant. Only
one thing more to attract your
attention, before you reach Canal
street, and that is the Church Of the
immaculate Conception belonging to the
Jesuit order. The stained glass win
dows of this church are the handsomest
in the city, each one represents some
scene from biblical history; they are
genuine stained glass, which is quite a
rarity in these degenerate days of imita-
tions. The altar is of solid bronze, ex-
quisitely ornamented and the images On
it are very beautiful.
| But you will not care to remain long
in this dimly lighted edifice when the
| Joys of promenade on Canal street are
within such easy reach. 1t is with great
interest that the stranger views our
principal street, for he has never seen
any thing like it before. Like st. Charles
avenue it is very wide, with the car
tracks slightly elevated in the center,
aud carriage drive on either side. You
will be surprised at the lack Of architect
ural beauty of our retail stores, for most
| of them are but two stories high and
| utterly devoid of exterior ornament,
some of them even looking as if coat
| of paint would not be amiss. In strik-
| ing contrast to these are the magniict mt
club houses, which emind us of beauti.
| full butterflies among crowd OF earth
worms. These buildings are far from
being of butterfly mould, however. as
| thoir substantial ex. and interior show.
| The "Pickwick Club has been lately
erected, and it and the new Cotton Ex-
change are about the only public build.
| ings worthy to be called modern archi-
| lecture 1t seems hardly Just that this
"palace of pleasure and idleness"
| Pickwick have so handsome a
dress, while the 'palaces of useful
ness and work" all around should
be veritable Cinderellas before she
was visited by her fairy godmotherl
Let us hope that New Orleans will soon
be visited by that greatest of all fairy
godmothers-enterprise, and that the
Cinderella-like stores will put on their
ball costume.
If you are lover of character study
you will have ample food for this on
Canal street, for nov you have left your
car and can give more than passing
glance at your fellow creatures. What
a variety of people you do see! If you
are as expert in such matters as we are
you will be able to tell at glance who
is and who is not citizen, and so the
plainly audible whisper of That's a
stranger" will not surprise you. Lookl
here comes the brisk Northerner, who
l. r. "