Podcast version of our Third Thursday Sicilian talk.
Podcast 61 – When the French Quarter was Sicilian
Thanks to everyone who came out last Thursday night for our fourth talk in our “Third Thursday Lecture Series.” This talk is essentially a lecture, now podcast, version of part of my “down-river” French Quarter Walking Tour. We explore the part of the Quarter known as “Little Palermo” in the early part of the 1900s. From the riverfront to the French Market, up into the neighborhood, we talk about produce farmers, market vendors, grocers, bakers, organized crime, and a well-known ice cream guy.
As mentioned in the presentation, I am a volunteer tour guide for the Friends of the Cabildo (FOC). The FOC offers one of the best French Quarter Walking Tours, and I’m proud they let me do them! This presentation is more-or-less a verbal/image “walk” like my tour. When going “down-river” from Jackson Square, you just can’t avoid talking about the Sicilian influence in the French Quarter, beginning in the 1880s. You’re most welcome to join us on the tour–click the link for more information.
Creole Italian by Justin A. Nystrom (link to bookshop.org)
While there are several good books on the Sicilian influences and history in New Orleans, I really enjoy Dr. Nystrom’s. The book goes well beyond just Da Quarters, but his thoughts on “Little Palermo” are excellent.
Scenes
Sicilian Lemons, which became part of the tariff issues in 1897.
Produce stall at the French Market, 1920s (colorized by NOLA History Guy)
While Progress Grocery ain’t there no more, Central Grocery is still selling muffulettas at 923 Decatur Street. The Peronne family closed their grocery at 1003 Decatur, but still operate as a wholesale business. You can buy Progress Grocery brand olive salad and other products at local supermarkets.
The more Canal Street 1935 evolved, the more it remained iconic.
Canal Street 1935
Franck Studios of Canal Street at St. Charles Avenue, 1935. The photographer stands in the neutral ground, on the river side of the outside streetcar track. The fiw on the left is of the 700 block of Canal, the Uptown side of the street.
700 Canal Street is the Pickwick Club building. At this time, it’s still the Crescent City Billiard Hall. The corner shop is Loft’s Candy. Here’s a comment from our friend Derby Gisclair on the corner:
This 1935 photograph by Charles Franck shows the corner of Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue. The Crescent City Billiard Hall on the corner looks rather dingy and dark compared to past images. A large sign directing drivers to the St. Charles Hotel juts out over the second floor on the corner above the Loft’s Candy Store. Loft’s at one time was owned by City Stores Company, parent company of Maison Blanche, and became the largest candy manufacturer in the world in the 1920s.
I remember when Derby said this, thinking, this explains why the Candy Department at MB was always so good.
The corner got a facelift when it was sold to the Pickwick Club. The sign for the St. Charles Hotel is typical for Canal Street throughout the Twentieth century. The big hotels were all off-Canal. So, to get you to the St. Charles, or the Monteleone, or even to the Holiday Inn on Royal Street, drivers could follow signs for where to turn.
Up the street. Next to the billiard hall is Steven’s, a store for men. You can see the secondary signs advertising Hart, Schaffner and Marx clothing. Additionally, there’s a wall sign saying “Steven’s” on the side.
Continuing down the block, these buildings remain today. The clock at Adler’s is visible towards the end of the 700 block.
Up to the 800 block, the onion spire on the edge of 800 Canal, the original Pickwick Hotel, is visible. In 1935, this was Stein’s Department Store. Leon Fellman’s/Feibleman’s moved up to Baronne and Common in 1931. Gus Mayer purchased 800 Canal after WWII. They demolished the building in 1947 and built a new store there.
Streetcars
The city completed their most recent street improvement program on Canal in 1930. That’s when the Union Sheet Metal light poles, with their fleur-de-lis lighting, appeared. So, this is just five years into their life. There are several arch roof streetcars up Canal. Our venerable 800- and 900-series streetcars dominated the routes at this time.
Radio
Not much of the French Quarter side of the street is visible in this photo. The Maison Blanche building towers over the Audubon Building in the 901 block. The large antenna on top of the MB building is the transmitter for WSMB Radio. WSMB broadcasted from the 13th floor of Maison Blanche’s office wing.
Four Ways to Support NOLA History Guy
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New Orleans French Market 1925 underwent a significant re-design.
French Market 1925
Architectural rendering of the “new” French Market 1925. While the market buildings had undergone minor, quick-fix, repairs since the 1880s, the market required a major facelift by this time. Sam Stone’s firm won the bid for the design. Among many Stone designs in the Central Business District (CBD), the 13-story Maison Blanche Building remains the most-visible.
Public Market
The French Market anchored the city’s Public Market system. The location pre-dates the French colony as a trading post. The indigenous gathered here long before Jean-Baptiste LeMoyne chose the site for his city. Unlike many towns, the market extended along the riverbank. The French and Spanish didn’t change this. So, the locals accessed the market via streets (and later, street railways) as well as boats.
Stone’s design
Sam Stone’s design suggested a major change to the French Market. He proposed building a new structure directly across the street from Jackson Square. The left side of the rendering shows the square’s iron fence and main gate. Across the street stands a “new” Butchers’ Market. The proposal never materialized. The city maintained a clear line of sight from St. Louis Cathedral to the river since 1728.
So, with that exception, the new plan moved forward. The Butchers’ Market remaind in the first building, behind the Cafe’ du Monde Coffee Stand.
Public Market to Retail
Stone’s incarnation of the market stands to this day. The French Market endured several changes in the last century. While this design continued the functionality of the post-Civil War market, commercial air conditioning changed how New Orleanians made groceries in that next decade. A/C allowed the butchers and fishmongers to operate longer each day. Neighborhood groceries installed coolers and their own butcher counters. Locals didn’t have to go to the public markets early in the morning to get fresh meat and poultry. The “truck farmers” designed their own distribution systems to provide those local stores with fresh produce, but that wasn’t as critical. The Vegetable Market continued into mid-century.
The 1920s buildings required renovations and upgrades by the 1980s. Mayor Dutch Morial’s administration supervised that work, which is why part of the back path through the market bears his name, “Dutch Alley.”
Four Ways to Support NOLA History Guy
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
In Podcast 60, we tell the story of Waterbury’s Drugstores on Canal Street and its expansion stores. Waterbury’s had four locations, from 1930 to 1984:
#1 Canal and Camp Streets
#2 Canal and S. Rampart Streets
#3 1632 Dryades Street
#5 766 Harrison Avenue
There was a #4 store planned for Westgate Sholpping Center in Metairie, but the plan didn’t materialize.
Waterbury Chemical Company manufactured and sold “patent medicines” like “Waterbury’s Compound.’ They based this “tonic” on cod liver oil, adding vitamins. They claimed it was one of the “best cures for coughs and colds.” Waterbury Chemical operated a plant on Gravier Street in the CBD. They sold the “compound” nationwide.
Manufacturer to Retail
In 1930, C.C. Waterbury, son of the company’s founder, leased the two-story building at Canal and Camp, on the river side of the intersection. He opened the drugstore in April, 1930.An article in the Times-Picayune in August, 1930, shows “The Busy Corner” and its businesses at the time.
Avit Cancienne, ad for Waterbury’s in the Times-Picayune, 4-February-1932
While the drugstore was an immediate success, C.C. Waterbury lost interest in the retail project. He sold the drugstore to a long-time employee, Avit Cancienne. Cancienne was a pharmacist originally from Thibodaux. He took over Waterbury’s in December, 1930. His family ran the store from that point until its closure in 1984.
S. Rampart Street
Cancienne acquired a drugstore, Walsdorf’s, at 1036 Canal Street, in 1932. He opened Waterbury’s #2 there on 14-October-1932. The store stood on the corner of Canal and S. Rampart Streets, next to Haverty’s Furniture Store. Waterbury’s #2 gave Cancienne stores on both sides of the Central Business District.
While the original store at Canal and Camp evokes the most memories (after all, it lasted until 1984), Canal and S. Rampart fascinates me much more. This corner evolved into downtown’s transit hub. The West End and Spanish Fort streetcar lines originated here. Terminal Station (Southern Railway, GM&O) stood just a block up the street, at Canal and Basin. Union Station and the L&A terminal were just up Loyola Avenue a few blocks. Just like store #1, this store operated 24 hours. While the night crowd at Camp Street was mostly moviegoers, Canal and S. Rampart enabled travelers to pick up the things they forgot.
Dryades and Euterpe
Store #3 operated at 1632 Dryades, corner Euterpe, in the Dryades Market corridor. Cancienne opened the store on 15-November-1937.
Celebrate Canal!
Four Ways to Support NOLA History Guy
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
Tulane and Carrollton in 1947. The photographer stands on Tulane Avenue, looking west. The streetcar tracks curve over to S. Carrollton Avenue here, for the Tulane and St. Charles Belt lines.
By 1964, the location morphed into a Budget Store, as MB Airline took over as the western suburban store.
Pelican Stadium
Home of the New Orleans Pelcans and New Orleans Black Pelicans (Negro League). This photo is from 1951, as work begins on ripping up the streetcar tracks on Tulane Avenue.
Wider shot showing the closure of the New Basin Canal as construction begins on the Pontchartrain Expressway.
Railroads
Illinois Central’s Panama Limited, stopping at the Carollton Station.
The Carrollton Interchangei, 1964. The buildings in the background are Mid-City Baptist Church (left) and Jesuit High School (right).
Four Ways to Support NOLA History Guy
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
The Mercier Building 1885 when it was under construction is the subject of our first Premium tier pocast.
Mercier Building 1885
We came across this photo a few years ago. It’s identified as being from 1906. At that time, Maison Blanche demolished the Mercier Building 1885 to build the 13-story building we all know as the “MB Building.” That building is now the Ritz-Carlton Hotel New Orleans.
Thing is, there were a number of things that didn’t add up about that date. I posted the image with background, and this was my conclusion at the time:
UNO captioned this as “Mercier Building being dismantled, Canal Street, New Orleans,” but the photo actually documents the construction. This photo was taken in 1885, not 1906.
New Orleans Illustrated in Photo Etching (1892), published by James P. Craig
So, at the time, I figured one of the regular “experts” that love to point out my mistakes would “correct” me. Nobody did! Now we unpack the photo, with an 1893 image of the building as comparison.
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. We offer you the opportunity to support us at $1/month and $5/month levels.
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