Come To New Orleans For The Super Bowl, Stay For The Culture

From the Secret Service on Tuesday came word that Donald Trump will attend Sunday’s Super Bowl, making him the first sitting president to do so. Given his myriad responsibilities, he won’t have time to stay in New Orleans for long — but he should.

Mind you, the Crescent City has more than its fair share of problems. Aging infrastructure means the city can flood when it rains, never mind during a major hurricane like Katrina. And its current mayor, LaToya Cantrell (D), has, shall we say, a colorful history that includes flipping off a float rider during a Mardi Gras parade. 

This week’s Super Bowl, coming weeks after the tragic New Year’s terrorist attack, should provide a reason for Americans to celebrate the city of New Orleans. But the comparatively paltry crowds the first few days of Super Bowl week suggest the attack may have dissuaded potential guests — a real shame, given all the wonders present in one of my favorite cities to visit.

Beyond Bourbon Street

Many tourists come to Louisiana’s largest city expecting to party. And indeed, people who want to, as a popular T-shirt says, “Get Bourbon Faced on Sh-t Street” will have plenty of opportunities to do so. But viewing New Orleans only through the spectrum of drunken debauchery, and not venturing beyond the bars of the French Quarter, does a disservice to one of the most unique blends of culture in not just the United States but the world.

Most visitors know the area’s history of French control that gave Louisiana and New Orleans their names. (Fewer might realize, however, that Bourbon Street’s name has nothing to do with alcohol or the bars that run its length, but rather a dynasty of French kings.) But Spain also controlled the territory for four decades leading up to the Louisiana Purchase, with the term “Creole” often referring to those with Latinized roots.

New Orleanians have historically come from far afield. Over the centuries, Africans and those from the Caribbean joined Cajuns — individuals originally from France who settled first in Canada and were exiled to Louisiana when France lost custody of Quebec after the French and Indian War. This blending of peoples from all over the world has led to the region’s distinct culture and cuisine. Like a fine gumbo — itself a dish with French, African, Spanish, and Native influences — New Orleans has always acted as a melting pot of cultures.

Those influences include cultures one might not necessarily associate with Louisiana. New Orleans features a large Italian community, including House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., which gives the city its famous muffuletta. Refugees who settled after the Vietnam War created one of the city’s most popular bakeries — Dong Phuong, which won a James Beard award as one of America’s Classics — where households line up early in the morning to buy king cakes this time of year during Carnival.

Jazzy Culture

New Orleans’ cultural mélange has created an outstanding culinary scene, where diners can experience excellence of all sorts, from white-tablecloth fancy to hole-in-the-wall places with delectable po’boys. It also helped refine one of America’s other great contributions to society: jazz.

Jazz seems an apt metaphor for life and culture in New Orleans. It blends together distinct strands and sounds into a coherent whole, yet it allows each voice to shine. Somehow, the right composition can relax the listener while putting a pep in his step at the same time.

Sadly, Ellis Marsalis, patriarch of the legendary music family, went to his great beyond during the pandemic five years ago. But his legacy lives on in four of his musician sons (several of whom play regularly at New Orleans’ Snug Harbor bistro) and the many other young players and composers he mentored.

The legacy lives on too at many other New Orleans jazz establishments and nightclubs, from those on Frenchmen Street to Tipitina’s to Jazz Fest every spring. A variety of celebrity musical acts are coming to town during Super Bowl week — 50 Cent, Bill Bellamy, and Shaquille O’Neal (as “DJ Diesel”) will all host events — but as for me, I’ll take the Dixieland sounds of the Preservation Hall All-Stars every day of the week.

If the band happens to play Louis Armstrong’s theme song, “(Back Home Again In) Indiana,” its improvisational syncopations won’t just have you thinking of the Hoosier State but longing to experience the wonders of the Crescent City again and again. The food and the music keep me coming back home to New Orleans — and they will for you too.