What New Orleans Taught Me

I’ve traveled to NOLA for work over the years and have fallen in love with the city. The first time I went there, I just thought it would be a tourist trap which, of course, it partially is but you have to go beyond that to find all the wonderful things NOLA has to offer. What draws me to NOLA is the “grit” which is both good and bad. You can eat delicious and unique meals but there are other restaurants where you’ll get ripped off. The live music is simply second to none. My favorite by far is Frenchman street. Some memories I cherish is seeing the New Orleans Jazz Vipers at the Spotted Cat Cafe. I was sitting so close to the band once that I was basically sitting among the musicians. It’s the authenticity of NOLA I adore. But you’ve got be careful, and to be honest I don’t always feel safe there. When walking back to my hotel through the French Quarter at 2am, I walk as fast as I can and in the middle of the street so I am not mugged. Anyway, it is a place I’ve grown to love despite and perhaps because of the rough edges. Edit: Also the NOLA locals are fantastic people!

Speaking of community, there is a really nice little tech community going strong in New Orleans that I think reflects the culture talked about here. If you are ever in town you should stop by an event https://www.noladevs.org/.

Feel free to reach out to me if you want some intros.

I grew up in Louisiana and have been to NOLA a lot (also studied at Tulane). While there's NOLACon etc. there isn't much tech here and not a lot of jobs. Lots of us live in poverty. Laissez faire and corrupt politics have been in Louisiana for a long time. Lots of public schools are closing to be replaced by private schools. NOLA floods pretty good every 5ish years, so it's not a good place to live imo + the insurance and crime rates are very high.

However, I've lived in Chicago, Austin, KY and Omaha. I moved back and honestly I like it here. I hated it when I grew up, but the cost of living is cheap and the food is good. I got my real ID here back in 2016 when I got my learners permit which surprised people in Chicago. Also we got phone app IDs pretty early. It's getting a little better.

I just moved to Seattle after being in New Orleans for about a month and I already miss nola. There’s really nothing else like it in America. I’m especially missing the cheap public transit and good dive bars, Seattle is lacking with both of those things

I've spent a lot of time in NOLA over the past 5 years as I have some investments here. The quality/price of housing and quality of life in the Uptown and Audubon Park areas is fantastic. I'm very surprised more remote engineers/workers haven't discovered it. Yes, hurricanes are a thing.

I would consider raising a family in those areas as well. Beautiful and walkable.

I live here part time now. I tell people New Orleans is a different country - has to be experienced.

As someone who just signed a PNS on a condo in the French Quarter yesterday (what timing for this HN post!), I'm looking forward to finding that balance between the universal and the intimate - I come from New England, where the elitism and tribalism the author speaks of is easy to find, and easier to get sucked into.

I've been here a few times now, mostly frequenting the Quarter, Marigny, the Warehouse District, and the Garden District -- each seem (to me) to be their own special, slower spin on different areas of the country. I'm sure some will disagree, but to me, the French Quarter, while obviously having tons of European influence, feels a lot like a New England town (except the weather of course!). Marigny (again, to me) feels almost SoCal-esque, with its small bungalows and arts focus. The Warehouse District feels like a rust belt city, very industrial but charming, and the Garden District feels straight out of Georgia or South Carolina, the most southern. All this is to say it all makes New Orleans a very special place.

I really, really like New Orleans and this fits my 2 year experience so far.

2025 makes it hard to be far from SF for me again because there's so much interesting stuff getting built. FOMO follows me around though.

Didn't grow up in the city, but relatives came from there, I still have an "ear to the ground" so to speak, am Saints fan and visit occasionally.

Pros: - Great food

- History (relative to the US at least)

- Laid back culture

- Decent public transit. Not as good as NYC or SF, but in the city and even outlying areas like Metarie the streetcar gets you alot of places

- Interesting architechture in places like the Garden District and French Quarter

- All-in-all, one of the most unique places in the US

Cons:

- Weather is shyte, although winters tend to be mild (ironically it can get cold at times, even worse than say the SF Bay)

- K-12 education outside of private and parochial Catholic is mostly, not good

- The politics. Depending your perspective, you get the worst of both worlds (batshit insane conservatives running the state vs. corrupt liberals running the city)

- Every other commercial you see will be for personal injury lawyers. The tort decisions there are out of control and insurance rates are high.

All this is probably OK for childless young adults. I'd think twice before settling down there though

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did they mention abundant specialized prostitution? like San Francisco too

Formatting of the photos and new paragraphs looks off FYI. It’s distracting enough to make the article difficult to read.