Slutty facts: extended edition
New Orleans, explained.
Every fact below is true. The city itself is the exaggeration.
Slutty facts
The classics.
Drinks to go, legally
You can walk down the street with an open cocktail in a plastic cup — it's fully legal in the French Quarter. Just keep it off glass.
No last call
Bars in New Orleans can stay open 24 hours a day. Some actually do. Sunrise is a suggestion, not a rule.
Drive-thru daiquiris
Yes, daiquiri drive-thrus are real. Frozen cocktails in a to-go cup, from your car window. NOLA logic: it's 'to-go' until you open it.
The go-cup is a way of life
Bars will happily pour your unfinished drink into a plastic 'go-cup' when you leave. Finishing a drink indoors is basically a tourist move.
Beads are currency
On Bourbon Street, a set of Mardi Gras beads has historically bought a whole lot more than souvenirs. The balance of trade is legendary.
The Quarter never sleeps
Bourbon Street's bars and strip clubs run all night, every night. Whatever happens on the 300 block stays on the 300 block.
Laissez les bons temps rouler
'Let the good times roll' — the unofficial Louisiana motto, and the closest the state comes to a legal basis for the debauchery.
The weird & wonderful
Only in New Orleans.
The city is below sea level
Large parts of New Orleans sit below sea level — and it's sinking about an inch every few years. The city is essentially a bowl slowly filling with good decisions.
Dead people live above ground
Because of the high water table, bodies buried underground can literally float up. That's why the famous 'Cities of the Dead' cemeteries have above-ground tombs.
Voodoo is real history
Marie Laveau, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans, was a real person in the 1800s. Her tomb in St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 is one of the most visited graves in America — people still leave offerings and draw XXX marks on it.
It has its own time zone attitude
Locals call it 'New Orleans time' — events start late, plans are loose, and nobody is in a hurry. Consider this your official permission slip for the weekend.
The history
Older than America, basically.
Founded in 1718
New Orleans was founded by the French in 1718, making it older than the United States itself. It's been French, Spanish, French again, and then American — the city has changed flags more than most people change sheets.
Jazz was born here
Jazz music was invented in New Orleans in the early 1900s, in the bars and dance halls of Storyville — which was also the city's legal red-light district. Of course it was.
Storyville: the legal red-light district
From 1897 to 1917, prostitution was fully legal in a designated district called Storyville, right next to the French Quarter. Blue books were published as directories of the ladies. New Orleans has never been subtle.
The Great Fire couldn't kill it
The French Quarter burned down twice (1788 and 1794) — which is why most of the 'French' Quarter is actually Spanish architecture. The city just rebuilt and kept partying.
The food & drink
Invented here. You're welcome.
The cocktail was born here
The Sazerac — often called America's first cocktail — was invented in New Orleans in the 1830s. The word 'cocktail' itself was first printed in a New Orleans newspaper.
The Hurricane & the Hand Grenade
Pat O'Brien's invented the Hurricane, and Tropical Isle invented the Hand Grenade — the neon-green Bourbon Street classic that's legally 'New Orleans' most powerful drink.' Pace yourselves, ladies.
Beignets are the state doughnut
Louisiana made the beignet its official state doughnut in 1986. Café du Monde has been frying them since 1862, 24 hours a day. Yes, 24 hours. Everything here is 24 hours.
The po'boy fed a strike
The po'boy sandwich was invented in 1929 to feed striking streetcar workers — the 'poor boys.' Free sandwiches for the boys on strike. Solidarity, but make it delicious.
Mardi Gras
The Super Bowl of partying.
Beads are thrown by law
It's actually illegal for Mardi Gras parade riders NOT to throw beads or trinkets to the crowd. Throwing things at strangers is literally mandatory.
The colors mean something
Purple = justice, green = faith, gold = power. Chosen in 1872. Clark will be wearing at least one of these colors inappropriately by Saturday night.
It's a marathon, not a sprint
Mardi Gras isn't one day — the parades run for weeks. The city essentially shuts down to party, and that's considered completely normal governance.
King cake has a baby in it
A tiny plastic baby is baked into every king cake. Whoever gets the baby has to buy the next cake — or, depending on the crowd, the next round.