Canal Street: New Orleans' Great Wide Way
For two hundred years, Canal Street was the center of commercial activity in New Orleans. Stretching from the Mississippi River to the cemeteries, it is familiar to natives and visitors alike as a meeting place for downtown shopping sprees, Mardi Gras parades, political protests, daily rendezvous, grand celebrations, and newsworthy events. Many have crossed its path to reach the French Quarter, ridden its streetcars to City Park, or stayed in one of its luxury hotels. More recently, it was the street where news crews stationed themselves after Hurricane Katrina.  Based on the public television documentary, Canal Street: New Orleans' Great Wide Way chronicles the street's incarnation in 1807, its development, eventual decline, and hopeful revival as New Orleans' main thoroughfare in the twenty-first century. Each chapter is dedicated to a different aspect of Canal Street--from streetcars and social issues to Christmas shopping and cemeteries. Featuring familiar favorites like Mr. Bingle and D. H. Holmes Department Store, the book covers the revitalization of the Canal Street streetcars, the changes along the riverfront, including new establishments like Harrah's Casino, and the transformation of common destinations like Woolworth's into upscale hotels for tourists and convention goers.  This exhaustive urban history recalls, celebrates, and documents the contributions Canal Street made to New Orleans' cultural, artistic, commercial, religious, and political landscape. Vintage and contemporary photographs accompanied by detailed descriptions of Canal Street "then and now" make this book a necessity for historians, visitors, and nostalgic former or current residents.  (Back Flap) Peggy Scott Laborde has been the senior producer and host of WYES-TV in New Orleans since 1987. Her interests are reflected in the programs she has produced, including the history of New Orleans jazz, Mardi Gras, architectural preservation, restaurants, gardens, plantations, artists, and more. Throughout the years she has served on numerous nonprofit boards, and she has been awarded several local and national awards for her dedication to preserving the cultural history of New Orleans.  John Magill lectures frequently on various aspects of New Orleans life and history, ranging from urban growth and neighborhoods to the Civil War and Mardi Gras. He has contributed to several award-winning books published by or associated with The Historic New Orleans Collection, where he serves as curator and head of research services.  Front-jacket photograph: Canal Street in the 1950s, by Grant L. Robertson (courtesy of Grant L. Robertson, Inc.)  Back-jacket photograph: Canal streetcar, by G. E. Arnold (courtesy of the family of G. E. Arnold)