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Frenchmen Street: A Bourbon Street for Locals

Where would you go out at night in New Orleans? Bourbon Street, right? Me too. But after satiating the people-watching craving via the drunken crowds and after having enough of the flashing neon signs, I yearned for more of a locals’ scene.

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Enter Patrick, a self-proclaimed hobo, standing on the corner of Bourbon Street. With blonde dreads draping to his mid-back, looking not homeless but possibly without a home, he immediately responds to my locals’ scene question, “Over at Frenchmen. I’m on the way there right now. I’ll show you.”

Ahh, the friendliness of New Orleans.

Video:

New Orleans' Frenchmen Street

Just a typical night on Nola's Frenchmen Street.

Just a typical night on Nola's Frenchmen Street.

You hear the horns of Frenchmen Street nightlife before you walk its two-block stretch. This isn’t music from clubs, but rather from the street’s bands. They usually jam on a corner surrounded by a small park – sometimes bands enter into musical wars as well (see video). The area pulsates with dance, music and stimulants of sorts – alcohol, of course, and later in the night, a nitrous oxide balloon-sucking session. Seriously.

Don’t stay in the streets too long: Frenchmen also offers an array of nightclubs, bars and cafes. Some of New Orleans’s best acts play here at venues like D.B.A. and the Blue Nile Nightclub. A great dive bar with beautiful live jazz is the Spotted Cat.

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Where would you go out at night in New Orleans? Bourbon Street, right? Me too. But after satiating the people-watching craving via the drunken crowds and after having enough of the flashing neon signs, I yearned for more of a locals’ scene.

Sponsored
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Enter Patrick, a self-proclaimed hobo, standing on the corner of Bourbon Street. With blonde dreads draping to his mid-back, looking not homeless but possibly without a home, he immediately responds to my locals’ scene question, “Over at Frenchmen. I’m on the way there right now. I’ll show you.”

Ahh, the friendliness of New Orleans.

Video:

New Orleans' Frenchmen Street

Just a typical night on Nola's Frenchmen Street.

Just a typical night on Nola's Frenchmen Street.

You hear the horns of Frenchmen Street nightlife before you walk its two-block stretch. This isn’t music from clubs, but rather from the street’s bands. They usually jam on a corner surrounded by a small park – sometimes bands enter into musical wars as well (see video). The area pulsates with dance, music and stimulants of sorts – alcohol, of course, and later in the night, a nitrous oxide balloon-sucking session. Seriously.

Don’t stay in the streets too long: Frenchmen also offers an array of nightclubs, bars and cafes. Some of New Orleans’s best acts play here at venues like D.B.A. and the Blue Nile Nightclub. A great dive bar with beautiful live jazz is the Spotted Cat.

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