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An early 20th century recipe in Cooking In Old Creole Days, C. Eustis, 1903 ... Most of the cooking was done by enslaved Africans and Native Americans. ...
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Slide 2:Index History of Faubourg Tremé
The French and the Spanish
Jumballaya Recipe
The Africans and the Native Americans
Congo Square
Creole Calas Recipe
Early Residents of Tremé
Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs
The Catholic Church in Tremé
Sisters of the Holy Family
Marie Laveau's Tomb
Italian Immigration
St. Joseph's Day
St. Joseph's Day Cream Puff Recipe
Storyville
Jazz Funerals and Second Line Parades
Restaurants in Tremé
Markets in TreméDorothy JohnsonTremé's Recipes
Slide 3:History of Faubourg Tremé
Slide 4:History of Faubourg Tremé Faubourg Tremé was developed on the natural levee at the trunk of Bayou St. John/Esplanade Ridge. It became New Orleans’ largest faubourg or neighborhood.
Slide 5:Tremé The historic district of Tremé today is bounded by Lafitte Avenue, Canal Street, Rampart Street and Claiborne Avenue. Traditionally, the borders extended to Esplanade Avenue.
Slide 6:Claude Tremé In 1783 Frenchman Claude Tremé arrived in New Orleans from France with the promise of the New World. As New Orleans' population and city expanded outside the old city limits, the Vieux Carré (French Quarter), he envisioned a community and financial opportunity for himself and his family. Tremé, a hat maker and real estate developer, subdivided the former Morand plantation into plots of land to be sold to a diverse population including many free people of color, recently manumitted enslaved Africans, Caucasians, Haitians, Cubans and other recently immigrated people of color from the Caribbean. Faubourg Tremé became an epicenter of culture, racial tension, class struggles, political strife, triumphs, tradition, rich cuisine, music as well as a strong sense of community.
Slide 7:The French and the Spanish The French and Indian Wars, 1754–63 ended disastrously for the French and even worse for the citizens hunkered down in the malarial swamp of La Nouvelle Orleans. In a desperate attempt to keep the entire Louisiana territory from falling into the hands of the Protestant British, King Louis XV secretly ceded it to his Bourbon cousin, King Charles III of Spain. On 3 November 1762, France and Spain agreed to the Treaty of Fontainebleau by which the Louisiana colony was transferred from France to Spain. France was thereby sacrificing about seven thousand of its Louisiana subjects, but to King Louis XV, France’s interests took precedence over these faraway people. In truth, as long as France could retain their lucrative sugar island production on Ile St. Dominique (Haiti), they were not upset about unloading the financial sinkhole of Louisiana.
Slide 8: It was not until April 1764 that King Louis XV got around to telling his former subjects in La Nouvelle Orleans that they were now subjects of Spain. Needless to say, the citizens were rankled at their abandonment by France. Most importantly they feared that the Spanish could terminate their freedoms and sources of income. Prominent citizens conducted mass meetings demanding that France continue their control of Louisiana. The Spanish continued to rule.
Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Viscount of Galveston and Count of Gálvez, statue in front of the World Trade Center, New Orleans, LA. Governor of Louisiana and Cuba in the 18th century and military leader during the American Revolution and their fight for independence
Slide 9:The French and the Spanish However, it was during the governance of Esteban Rodriguez Miró that the neighborhood of Tremé would become a haven to many French and Spanish and gens de couleur libre (free people of color). In 1782, Miró, formerly the second in command to Governor Galvez, took over as the Spanish governor of Louisiana, serving during a pivotal period in the history of the city and the early development of the Tremé.
Creoles of Spanish descent served as influential inhabitants of Tremé in the mid-18th century and their descendents would become active parishioners of St. Augustine Parish in the 19th century.
Slide 10:The Great Fire Tragedy struck the city on Good Friday, March 21, 1788 when fire rapidly spread through the French Quarter, destroying 856 buildings out of the 1,100 original French structures in the area. The city’s two horse drawn fire wagons were also consumed by the flames. Many of the newly homeless fled the city for the safety of the countryside. New Orleans suffered more than
$2,595,000 damage from the great
fire. Governor Miró quickly set up
tents and provided food and other
supplies for the traumatized
populace. Another consequence
was the demand for land, which
possibly created an opportunity
for Claude Tremé and his
subdivided plots for sale outside
of the Vieux Carré.
Slide 11:Spanish Influences The Spanish ruled Louisiana for 34 years (1769-1803) and New Orleans was historically linked in cuisine, culture and economically to the flourishing Spanish settlements in Texas to the west; Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico to the southeast; and Central and South America. However, the culture of Louisiana never ceased to be French, with many resisting all efforts to convert themselves into Spaniards.
Although the French period officially ended in 1762, French administration continued until 1769. The Spanish Colonial period was from 1762-1800 (1769-1803). Effective control by the Spanish began in 1769 and officially ended in 1800 when Spain ceded it back to France. However, the French only re-assumed control about thirty days before the Louisiana Purchase, leaving the Spanish as administrators until 1803.
Slide 12:Jumballaya
A Spanish Creole Dish
Wash one pound of rice and soak it an hour. Cut up a cold roast chicken, or the remnants of a turkey and a slice of ham, and fry them in a tablespoonful of lard. Stir in the rice, and add slowly while stirring in, a pint of hot water. Cover your pot, and set where it can cook slowly, until the rice is nearly dry. One or two spoonfuls of cooked tomatoes give it a very good taste. Jumballaya is very nice made with oysters, shrimps or sausages.
- An early 20th century recipe in Cooking In Old Creole Days, C. Eustis, 1903
Slide 13: On December 20, 1803, France sold Louisiana to the Americans. On April 20, 1812, Louisiana entered the Union as the eighteenth state of the United States of America.
Slide 14:This painting depicts the claiming of the Louisiana territory by French explorers.
Slide 15:The Africans and Native Louisianians The institution of slavery was one of the principal forces that shaped New Orleans, Louisiana, the United States, and the New World. It was the enforced labor of Africans and their descendants whose sweat hacked through razor sharp palmetto to clear the land, planted and harvested the crops, made the bricks, cut the wood and milled it, built the masters palatial homes and houses of worship, cooked the masters meals and reared his children, and in some instances, bore his children. However, in New Orleans the focus of the community was the Catholic Church built upon the backs of slave labor. Interestingly, in New Orleans enslaved Africans from the Morand Plantation were the first to manufacture and lay the bricks to build Faubourg Tremé that rose from the Cypress Swamp.
Slide 16:The Africans and Native Americans Most of the cooking was done by enslaved Africans and Native Americans. Because the early French colonists to Louisiana had a shortage of familiar food supplies from their own country, dependence on local foodways and food prepared by slaves was crucial to their survival. Faced with a shortage of flour, colonists made roux by cooking either sliced okra or powdered sassafras in a slowly heated oil. They added seafood, poultry, meat, or any combination of these ingredients. Gumbo, the finished product comes from the Angolan word for, Okra, which is Guin gombo. The Choctaw word for sassafras powder was kombo ashish.
--Barbara Trevigne, What is a Creole?
2006
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Slide 17:Culinary Traditions Native Louisianians continued to market sassafras or filé powder into the twentieth century. Both early enslaved Native American cooks’ and enslaved African cooks’ culinary traditions became the nucleus of New Orleans cuisine.
The evidence of these two culinary and cultural influences are still apparent in modern day Tremé. They can be seen in the food and cultural festivities of one particular Tremé tradition, the Black Mardis Gras Indians. Their parades and festivities always include celebratory food. The herb filé or sassafras, a gift from the Choctaw Indians, is used in filé gumbo, and okra, the epitome of African food, is used in okra gumbo. Furthermore, the West African staple of rice and beans became a Monday ritual in New Orleans as seen in the preparation of Red Beans and Rice. Also, calas, the fried rice fritters that were sold by merchants on street corners for most of the 19th century in Tremé, the Vieux Carre (French Quarter) and other parts of New Orleans by enslaved African women or free women of color came directly from West Africa. The fusion of Native American, European and African culinary traditions spilled into the birth of the Faubourg Tremé and through cultural memory it continues to invite other cultures to contribute to New Orleans cuisine.
Slide 18: Benjamin Kendig Sales April 1856 reads in one sales ad (sold at Banks Arcade 33 Camp St.), “The slave man JOE, aged 26 years, a first rate meat and pastry cook, capable of taking charge of the cooking department of a first class hotel, boarding-house or restaurant; he is fully guaranteed in every respect. The slave can be seen at anytime by calling at the auctioneer’s office, 33 Camp Street.”(Photo taken by Zella Llerena, July 2009 at the main New Orleans Public Library) In other entries, slaves who were skilled culinary artisans went for a higher price than field slaves and many were enslaved African men who were sold for sums as large as $1,500 in 1855. Many of these highly skilled enslaved Africans in culinary artistry lived in Tremé.
Slide 19:Congo Square
Located in Tremé, historic Congo Square sits on Rampart Street in a corner of the Louis Armstrong Park Complex. The area was renamed many times, from Place Congo to Circus Square, then Beaureguard Square in the 18th and 19th centuries before it was finally changed to Louis Armstrong Park in the mid 20th century. Beginning in the earliest days of the city, it was one of several locations where enslaved Africans as well as some free people gathered for the purposes of dancing, merriment and recreation. Beginning in 1817 as an effort to control such activities, the mayor restricted all such assemblies of enslaved people to this one location on Sunday afternoons.
Slide 20: The marketing that took place during those gatherings was well established, economically profitable, and historically significant as sellers and buyers were largely enslaved people. Marchandes, marketers, the majority of whom were women, both enslaved and free, carried on cultural practices as well as food-ways from African traditions.
Their food items included candies made with molasses, peanuts and pecans that came to be known as pralines; ginger cakes called estomac de mullatres (mulatto’s belly) also known as stage planks; and calas, a small, sweet rice pastry of African origin.
The beverages included lemonade, coffee, and the most popular one, la bierre du pays or ginger beer made with fermented apples, ginger root and pines. Another name for this beverage was Creole beer; and reportedly, women of African descent held the recipe in secret.
Slide 21:Congo Square These marchandes did not limit such marketing practices and food ways to Congo Square nor to Sunday afternoons. Market women and men of African descent conducted petty marketing in New Orleans every day of the week during the antebellum period into the early1900s. Among the many who sold food were “The Praline Madame”, “The Taffy Candy Man,” “The Vegetable Man” and “The Cala Man.”
Slide 22:Congo Square The popularity of the calas vendor is no doubt linked to the pastry’s African origin and its role in New Orleans culture. Among African descendants, calas along with café noir or café au lait for adults and weak coffee called choo-loo-loo was served with plenty of cream or warm milk for children and became an integral part of First Communion breakfast, wedding breakfast, the first breakfast during Lent, and Sunday breakfasts. During the 1940s, male marchand Richard Gabriel, who lived on Burgundy Street, still made a living selling hot calas and hot coffee from his push-cart. His Sunday morning route included the Creole houses of Tremé as well as the more modern ones near the neighborhood known as Pilot’s landing. On Sunday mornings, Gabriel, pushing his cart along the route, could be heard with his vendor call:
Slide 23:Calas Vendor Call
Slide 24: Other popular calas vendors included Tante (Aunt) Caroline, Tante Clementine, and Tante Toinette, the latter of whom peddled her calas every morning beginning at five o'clock. Her best business reportedly came on Sundays at the corner of Ursuline and Chartres from parishioners of St. Mary’s Church and housewives coming from the French Market. Among the oldest calas vendors was Madame Edouard, who also operated her business on the corner of Chartres and Ursuline Street. A common chant of the calas vendors was: “Belle calas! Tout chaud, Madame, two cents!” “Fine calas! “All hot, Madame, two cents!” New Orleanians who provided interviews in 1940 during the Works Progress Administration Project gave the following arrangement for a typical calas vendor’s chant.
Slide 25:Calas Recipe
Slide 26:History of Coffee in Tremé Coffee vendor Rose Nicaud also transacted some of her best business on Sundays at her stand near St. Louis Cathedral. She began her enterprise in the 1840s while enslaved, and by the 1850s, her daily profits from the sale of coffee by the cup ranged from $50 to $60. During that time, her thriving business required eighteen gallons of pure milk per day. Nicaud is recognized by many as the first coffee vendor in New Orleans, and reportedly secured a coffee stand in the French Quarter that offered seating. In her honor, Café Rose Nicaud, located on Frenchmen Street, bears her name.
Slide 27:Modern Day Tremé In modern day Tremé, food and beverage street vendors can be seen at Second Line Parades, St. Joseph night, Super Sundays, Mardi Gras and outside of many bars on the weekends. Conceptually, food is an integral part of Tremé culture as well as the people who cook and sell the food. In Tremé, at the Backstreet Cultural Museum, an altar bearing a photo of a deceased beverage vendor with his beverage cooler was donated to honor his life and service to the community. And on any given day, the Okra man can be heard on a loud speaker from his pickup truck throughout Tremé and the Faubourgs calling to his patrons, “I got fresh okra, I got strawberries!” To this day, pralines and many of the foods that were eaten hundreds of years ago are still sold throughout many of the Faubourgs, including Tremé. The entrepreneur spirit and honoring of those who cook and mix drinks both dead and alive still reigns in Tremé.
Slide 28:Okra Man on Esplanade Street (left), "Walking Liquor Store" at a Secondline Parade in Tremé (center), and Tyrone Peters, deceased walking liquor store’ vendor in the Backstreet Cultural Museum (right).
Slide 29:Early Residents of Tremé The traditions and spirit of Faubourg Tremé played a crucial role in shaping New Orleans culture. Many of the early residents of Tremé were free people of color, Catholic, property owners and entrepreneurs. Their culture and traditions were rooted in African, French, Native American and Caribbean customs. The amalgamation of these cultures would forever leave an indelible mark on the culinary legacy of Tremé.
Slide 30:Early Residents According to author Brenda Marie Osbey, Faubourg Tremé had a strong sense of community during its early inception, especially for free black residents, many of whom were former slaves who saw the need to create a mutual aid society to not only help free people of color but many of their relatives who were still enslaved. In 1783, the Perseverance Benevolent and Mutual Aid Association was founded to assist the collective needs of people of African descent for the greater good of the community. The society offered a variety of services including loans, legal advice, carnival organization and medical care. In many instances, food was the tie that bound the community through celebrations and defeats. (It is rumored that at many of the 'coloured' balls in Tremé 12 different types of gumbo were served.)
Slide 31:Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs In every event, food was an integral part of the meetings and festivities. Some of the past and present organizations have built halls that were used to feed members of clubs and the community; organizations such as La Société des Artistes (The Society of Artists, 1834) Société d’Ecónomie (The Economy Society, 1834) Les Jeunis Amis (The Young Friends, 1867) and the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club (1916).
At any Second line parade today, members of a particular social aid and pleasure club can be seen giving homage to watering holes that are owned by sponsors or by various club members. Both food and beverages are served to the members and sold to the second line goers. A participant can find gumbo, fried chicken, and many other treats.
Slide 32:Early Residents... In 1885, journalist and food lover Lafcadio Hearn published La Cuisine Creole which gave a vivid glimpse of 19th century Creole cuisine and a idea of what it was like to walk down the streets in Old New Orleans. The vendor of fowls pokes in his head at every open window with cries of “Chick-en, Madamma, Chick-en!” and the seller of “Lem-ons-fine Lem-ons!” follows in his footsteps. The peddlers of “Ap-pulls!” of Straw-bare-eries!” and “Black-Brees!”-all own sonorous voices…Then there is the Cantelope Man, whose cry is being imitated by all the children
“Cantel-lope-ah! Fresh and fine Jus from the vine, Only a dime!"
-with the old cries added to the list –the “calas” and “plaisir” and other Creole calls. (pg. 1-2, Voices of Dawn)
Slide 33:In the same cookbook, Hearn offers a recipe for turtle soup or cowan gumbo, a true identification of New Orleans Creole cuisine and a staple in Tremé:
Turtle Soup for a Large Company, No. 1
Cut the head off the turtle the day before you dress it, and drain the blood thoroughly from the body. Then cut it up in the following manner: Divide the back, belly, head and fins from the intestines and lean parts. Be careful not to cut the gall bag. Scald in boiling water to remove the skin and shell. Cut up in neat pieces and throw into cold water. Boil the back and belly in a little water long enough to extract the bones easily. If for a large company a leg of veal will also be required, and a slice of ham, which must be stewed with the lean parts till well browned; then add boiling water, and the liquor and bones of the boiled turtle. Season with sliced lemon, whole pepper, a bunch of parsley, two leeks sliced, and salt to taste. Let this all boil slowly for four hours, then strain. Add the pieces of back, belly, head and fins (take the bones from the fins), pour in half a pint of Madeira wine and a quarter pound of good sweet butter, with a tablespoonful of flour worked in it; also a lemon sliced thin. Let it boil gently for two hours, then serve.
In cutting up the turtle great care should be taken of the fat, which should be separated, cut up neatly, and stewed till tender in a little of the liquor, and put into the tureen when ready to serve. Garnish with eggs, if any; if not, use hard boiled eggs of fowls.
Slide 34:The Catholic Church in Tremé
Slide 35:The Catholic Church in Tremé
Slide 36:The Catholic Church in Tremé St. Augustine from its inception fed many from the Tremé and from other Faubourgs. On special religious holidays such as Easter, St. Josephs Day and during Lent, women from the community would cook while the men would take charge of putting up the chairs and seats. There were also pot lucks, picnics and Friday Fish Fries during Father Jerome Le Doux's 16 years at St. Augustine Church (1990-2006).
After Hurricane Katrina, St. Augustine opened a food bank for victims of Katrina. People from all over the city came to the church’s food bank. Shortly after, the Catholic Archdiocese decided to close St. Augustine Church due to property loss and a decline in parishioners, despite the fact that the church was a tremendous asset to the community. St. Augustine parishioners were outraged. Many barricaded themselves in the rectory, and eventually a documentary called Shake the Devil Off (2007) was filmed to get national attention on the closing of St. Augustine Church. St. Augustine Church remained open even though Father LeDoux was transferred to a Catholic church in Fort Worth, Texas. St. Augustine remains a pillar in the Tremé community.
Slide 37:The Sisters of the Holy Family Henriette DeLille, a free person of color was born in New Orleans in 1812. She, along with her close Cuban-born friend, Juliette Gaudin, vowed to dedicate their lives to care for the poor and the enslaved, to provide education for their children, and to tend to the elderly and the sick in the Tremé. In 1842 DeLille founded an order of nuns called the Sisters of the Presentation. Women of African descent had not previously created an order of nuns, and the order was not immediately recognized by the Vatican.
DeLille purchased a home with her own money on Governor Nicholls Street between Rampart Street and St. Claude Avenue, putting them one block from St. Augustine Church.
Slide 38:Sisters of the Holy Family Immediately members from the Tremé community began bringing food, shoes and coal during the winter to the Sisters. The order began feeding many who were in need and to this day continue to serve food to those in need with paper bag lunches, dinners and holiday feasts. According to Sister Goodo of the current order, food that was fed to those in need would probably have been hominy grits and fatback. The sisters had to beg for food to feed the needy during the early years of their inception. A Lifetime Cable movie was made in honor of DeLille called The Courage of Love (2001), which starred Vanessa Williams. In recent news, Henriette DeLille was nominated for canonization by the Sisters of the Holy Family and the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans as a saint.
Slide 39:Photo taken at the Tremé’s Cookin' event at St. Augustine’s 2007
Slide 40:Marie Laveau's Tomb in St. Louis Cemetery The tomb of Marie Laveau at St. Louis Cemetery Number 1 in Tremé at 420 Basin Street is always overflowing with offerings. Infamous Marie Laveau was known as a Voodoo practitioner in New Orleans. Many visitors to Laveau’s tomb offer food, alcoholic beverages and other items that would please her, hoping to get their wishes granted.
Slide 41: The Italian Immigration History states that during the Middle Ages there was a severe drought and subsequent famine in Sicily. The people of the region prayed to Saint Giuseppe (Joseph), Patron Saint of Sicily, imploring him to deliver them from peril. They promised that if he answered their prayers, they would prepare a large feast to honor him. According to legend, first the rains came, then fava beans. Before fava beans were only used to feed farm animals. However, fava beans grew in abundance and helped sustain the starving people of Sicily. Giving food to the needy is a St. Joseph's Day custom. Sicilian immigrants to Tremé, the first picture was taken c. 1936 and the second picture of the little girl c. 1921 on Governor Nicholls St.
Slide 42:St. Joseph’s Day The celebration of the La Festa di San Giuseppe was transplanted to New Orleans and St. Augustine Church by immigrants from Sicily. Between 1850 and 1870, the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that there were more Italians in New Orleans than in any other U.S. city. By 1910, the population of the city's French Quarter, adjacent to Tremé, was 80 percent Italian. By the late twentieth century, there were 200,000 Americans of Italian descent living in greater New Orleans. Many were born and raised in Tremé along with Irish, Germans and Greeks. Many became grocers, restaurateurs, bar owners, candy makers, bakers and butchers. Tremé continued to be a diverse community up until the 1960’s when an urban renewal project tore down a large portion of the area, including small businesses and homes owned by many Tremé residents.
Slide 43:St. Joseph's Day Altar In Tremé and other faubourgs were Italians resided in New Orleans during the early 20th century, a fresh green branch was hung over the doorway of each home, indicating that the public was invited to view the altar, to celebrate La Festa di San Giuseppe, and to share the food. Each item on the altar, from the candles to the cookies, is blessed by a Catholic priest in a special ceremony the afternoon before an altar is 'broken.' Although there are perishable foods on the altars, a large portion of the breads, cookies and cakes are wrapped so that they may be given to charities after the altar is broken. The altar is broken after a ceremony reenacting the Holy Family’s asking for shelter called Tupa Tupa (Italian for Knock Knock). Children dressed in costume knock at three doors asking for food and shelter. At the first two they are refused. At the third door, the host of the altar greets them and welcomes them to refresh themselves.
Slide 45:St. Joseph's Day Altar Perhaps the universal symbol to be found on all altars is the lucky Fava Bean. Legend has it that the person who carries a 'lucky bean' will never be without coins. The fava bean is a token of the St. Joseph's Altar, and a reminder to pray to St. Joseph for the needs of others. Cuccadati are the traditional decorative loaves of bread that are formed in a variety of symbolic shapes like a staff or crown of thorns.
Slide 46:St. Joseph's Day Altar The specially prepared decorative breads on the St. Joseph’s altar take many forms, including the shellfish eaten during the Lenten season, symbolic carpentry imagery specific to Joseph , the peacock representing the glory of man, and breads with a decorative interlace filled with figs alluding to the fig orchards of Sicily. They also reflect Christian symbols such as the Crown of Thorns, palm fronds that refer to both martyrdom and a symbol of eternal love, a dove representing the Holy Spirit, and a lamb or fish showing Jesus as the Lamb of God and the Fisher of Men. In addition, a heart pierced by a dagger also refers to the grief of Mater Dolorosa and may bear the names of recently departed loved ones in the family of the maker of the bread.
Slide 47:On the Altar... Wine bottles on the altar represent the miracle of Cana and the twelve whole fish represent the twelve apostles and the miracle of the loaves and the fishes.
Slide 48:SFINGE DI SAN GIUSEPPE (St. Joseph's Cream Puffs) SFINGE:
Ingredients
1 cup water
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1 TBSP sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
Pinch of salt
1 cup sifted flour
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 TBSP vanilla
Slide 49:SFINGE DI SAN GIUSEPPE(St. Joseph's Cream Puffs) Filling:2 cups ricotta cheese1/2 cups confectioners' sugar1/2 tsp. vanilla1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon1/3 cup grated dark chocolate2 TBSP finely chopped pistachios
Garnish:Powdered sugarLemon rind Filling:Mix the ricotta, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, chocolate, and pistachios.Just before serving (so they don't get soggy!), cut off the tops of the sfinge and fill.Place top back on after filling.Arrange on platter, sprinkle with powdered sugar, and garnish platter with lemon
Slide 50:Storyville Just one to two generations removed from slavery, New Orleans and especially Tremé could boast themselves as being the creators of America’s only indigenous art form: Jazz. They could also claim to house one of the most notorious neighborhood within a neighborhood--Storyville, which was right in the middle of Tremé.
Slide 51:Storyville While St. Augustine Church served as the spiritual heart of the Tremé, sinners in the early 20th century were just a few blocks away from a walk on the wild side. Officially chartered on January 1, 1898, The District became the only legally operated red-light district in the Victorian era in the United States.
The District encompassed sixteen square blocks from Iberville to Basin Street, St. Louis to Robertson Street. The site was chosen because it was adjacent to the Burnham train depot on Basin St., one of New Orleans’ main railway stations so that it was easily accessible to visitors. Many of the houses or ‘cribs’ that were rented out were owned by descendants of free people of color or Creoles, Irish, German and others. Storyville real estate boomed.
An average Creole cottage would run for $42 a night, or $294 per week in comparison to other Faubourgs that rented at only $15 a month. Storyville was commonly referred to as the red light district because a red lantern would be placed outside the door to let customers knew they were open for business.
Slide 52:Storyville According to a redrawn map of Storyville, New Orleans in 1900-1915 made in 1944 by Paul Edward Miller and Richard M. Jones, there were over 60 saloons, cabarets, dance halls, honky tonks, restaurants and food stands. There were oyster, praline and fruit stands. There were many grocery stores such as, Colan’s on Rampart, Panqual’s on Franklin and John’s on Marais and Bienville.
In addition, a mid-sized Chinatown in what was called Elk’s Square on Rampart and Tulane served Chinese food and had a fruit stand. Many of the dance halls and saloons in Storyville also served food. The map noted Nick’s Italian Restaurant and Saloon on Rampart, a Greek restaurant on Rampart plus wine store, Geddries & Allen Restaurant on Howard and two of the most famous saloons with restaurants, Tom Anderson's and Mahogany Hall.
Slide 53:Storyville Tom Anderson’s saloon on 209 N. Basin Street was owned by himself, a politician of the fourth ward known as the 'Mayor of Storyville.' In 1892, Anderson opened up his restaurant at 12 N. Rampart. Anderson's Famous Cafe and Chop House fed many politicians and policemen. The restaurant's motto was "The Best of Everything."
Lulu White, a woman of color from the West Indies known as the “Queen of Storyville” built the Mahogany Hall for $40,000 on 235 N. Basin Street. It was later renamed by musician Spencer Williams as the “Mahogany Hall Stomp.” Mahogany Hall was one of the larger if not the largest saloons in Storyville. Built with mostly marble and mahogany, four stories high, five parlors and one of the most expensive saloons for entertainment, gambling and dining, Lulu White’s saloon rivaled many of her competition such as Willie V. Piazza (Famous "Jelly Roll" Morton used to play his piano at Willie’s), and Emma Johnson, a Cajun known for being a madame with a bad reputation.
Slide 54:Storyville According to a photo in Al Rose’s book, Storyville in New Orleans (1974), Mathew Antoine Desiré Dekemel, known as ‘Buglin’ Sam the Waffle Man’ played jazz on an army bugle from his food vendor cart where he would sell hot waffles and Chero-Cola for 5¢.
"The Waffle Man was a familiar figure in the red-light District…A mule-drawn wagon kept a coal fire aboard, along with a huge cast iron waffle maker. The tender, a man named Dekemel, would make the waffle on the spot, dust it with powdered sugar, and hand it over to the purchaser. The presence of the waffle man in the neighborhood was loudly announced by blasts from an army bugle." –Al Rose, Storyville New Orleans, 1974 pg.58
Slide 55:Storyville's Demise Just blocks away laborers, tradesmen and seaman would buy alcohol, food, and indulge themselves in other pleasures in some of the “cribs” nearby. However during Jim Crow, black men were barred from many white establishments. Nonetheless, black saloons, cabarets and brothels in Storyville oftentimes served both black and white clients since many of the owners were people of color or passing for white. Although racist and restrictive laws against Blacks in New Orleans were harsh, Storyville and its patrons crossed racial lines many times. For twenty years, the experimental Storyville district would become a cross-cultural cauldron where men and women of all socio-economic classes and races could soak up the sounds of ragtime and Jazz, gamble, get a good meal, and enjoy other vices.
In 1917 The District was “officially” closed down by the U.S. Department of the Navy. Within twenty years, the once bustling red light district had become a decaying slum. The Housing Authority of New Orleans (HANO) was chartered in 1938 to rid the city of the slum. By 1939 it had demolished most of Storyville to make way for seventy-five brick row-house style buildings with 858 low-income apartments. The Iberville Project was conceived as a panacea for the depressed economy and served as the prototype for HANO’s subsequent low-income housing developments in other parts of New Orleans. It was also an attempt to wipe out all memories of the red light district; therefore even the once grand mansions along Basin Street were demolished. Basin Street was renamed "North Saratoga" (although the historic name was returned some 20 years later).
Slide 56:The community's frustration with Storyville can be seen in publications such as this. Front page of "The Mascot" newspaper, New Orleans, for 11 June 1892.
Slide 57:The Tradition of the Jazz Funerals and Secondline Parades in Tremé Secondline Parade in Tremé Summer 2009
Slide 58:Jazz Funerals and Second Lines Brass bands from all over the city filled the post-Civil War (1861-1865) streets of New Orleans with Jazz. In Tremé, they played after church services (many Secondline parades to this day commence directly after St. Augustine Church services on Sunday), at dances, picnics, street fairs, political rallies, prizefights and carnivals.
The tradition of the jazz funeral evolved out of the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs in the late 19th century, which functioned as burial societies to ensure that each member was provided with a dignified Catholic burial and a grave in one of their society tombs.
Slide 59:Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs "The property owning…Catholic gens de couleur after Reconstruction found themselves considered equivalent to the freed slaves in New Orleans. Louisiana legislative code 111 of 1890 designated a person of any African ancestry as Negro. This finalized a total change among the inhabitants of Faubourg Tremé. The war that resulted in freedom for slaves brought oppression to the former gens de couleur libres. They lost their white clients in all fields of business. Small businesses in the corner store-houses were barely able to operate, their customers being poverty stricken Negroes and Creoles of color who had lost their means of support. Real estate brokers lost their property. Housing patterns were altered. Many gens de couleur lost their homes and began to rent, often from white Creoles."
-New Orleans Architecture Vol. VI Faubourg Tremé and the Bayou Road, Roulhac Toledano and Mary Louise Christovich
Slide 60:Second Line Parades
Slide 61:Jazz Funerals The Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs proliferated in the mid 19th century during Reconstruction to provide social structure in the days when yellow fever could wipe out an entire family in a weekend and unscrupulous white landowners were bent on swindling property from the black populace. It is estimated that more than four-fifths of all people of African descent belonged to one or more benevolent societies by the early 20th century.
Even today as friends gather to mourn and to offer solace to one another, music sets the tone. After a long emotional wake the night before, the body is transferred to the church in a solemn walking procession. The brass bands play a mournful medley of gospel, “Bye and Bye” and “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” As the service draws to a close, hundreds of people gather on outside along Governor Nicholls Street and St. Claude Avenue. Pickup trucks often line the streets with barbecue pits grilling hot sausages and frying fish. Mostly men pull ice coolers with what they call walking liquor stores, filled with ice, beer, water, soft drinks, juice and hard liquor. Both women and men can be seen walking around with flat baskets and selling homemade pralines.
Slide 62:Jazz Funerals Once the burial is complete the band returns to Tremé to resume the parade. After the body is ‘cut loose’ (placed in the crypt), the mood of the parade makes the transition from mournful to joyful that the recently departed has taken his place with the Lord. Officials from the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs often pick up the syncopation of the music as they follow the life-well-spent procession from the home of the deceased to a series of local bars and hangouts, where drinking continues.
Slide 63:Restaurants in Tremé: Past and Present
Slide 64:Chez Helene Chez Helene once stood on North Robertson Street. The late Chef Austin Leslie known as the ‘father of fried chicken’ in New Orleans bought the restaurant from his aunt in 1975. The charismatic chef who donned a boat captain’s hat and wore a necklace with a large diamond crab medallion cooked some of the best cornbread, fried chicken and Oysters Rockefeller in New Orleans. People from all over came for Leslie’s infectious smile and mouth watering food. In the late 1980’s a television sitcom Frank’s Place was based on Chez Helene and Chef Austin Leslie. Unfortunately, Chez Helene closed in 1989, and during Katrina, Leslie spent two days trapped in the attic of his home. Although Leslie was rescued and flown to two different states for treatment, he died of a high fever. A Second line parade after Katrina in 2005 in his honor commenced at Pampy’s restaurant, the former Chez Helene, and then proceeded to the Backstreet Cultural Museum.
Slide 65:Dooky Chase's Dooky Chase's is located at 2301 Orleans Avenue and has been in operation since 1941. Known for its traditional Creole cuisine prepared by famous chef Leah Chase. Mrs. Chase worked alongside her in-laws, the former owners, until she eventually became owner and chef. Eventually, the restaurant became a haven for Civil Rights activists, African-American artists whom she supported by hanging their art works, and her loving family. Chase is famous for her gumbo z’herbes, shrimp Clemenceau, fried chicken and for maintaining Creole traditions and cuisine. Many famous people have eaten at Dooky Chase’s over the years; even Ray Charles in his song “Early Morning Blues” sang of a meal he had at Dooky Chase’s. Leah Chase is now 86 years old and continues, along with her grandchildren and children, to run a successful restaurant even after Katrina nearly destroyed it.
Slide 66:Willie Mae's Scotch House Willie Mae’s Scotch House located at 2401 St. Ann Street serves some of the best fried chicken in the nation. Willie Mae Seaton moved to New Orleans from Crystal Springs, Mississippi with her husband. Trained in southern cooking by her mother, Willie Mae opened her restaurant in the late 1950’s. It was originally a Scotch House until patrons started asking for some of the good smelling food she would cook for her family that they would smell from the streets. Willie Mae’s Scotch House to this day serves various kinds of pork chops, butter beans, red beans and rice, other dishes and her infamous fried chicken.
Slide 67:Others... Between the 1930s and 1960s these restaurants were the epitome of the Tremé culinary legacy:
Hanks served sandwiches and liquor.
Lavata's was famous for their Oyster Sandwiches.
Mules, Italian owned, was where people went for sandwiches and draft beer. According to historian Barbara Trevigne, this is where all the men went on Friday's, including Fats Domino when he was in town. Mules is located one block off Claiborne and two blocks from St. Bernard Avenue.
Trevigne also said that many Tremé residents would have what was called ‘sweet shops’ in their homes where they sold Hucklebucks (now called frozen cups) all throughout Tremé. The treats were simply juice frozen in paper cups, but they were refreshing and delicious on a hot day!
Slide 68:Markets in Tremé
Slide 69:Markets These were some of the public markets according to the city directory from 1933-1947.
Lebreton Market Bayou Road at North Dorgenois
Maestri C. N. Market 725 N. Broad
Rocheblave Market 2509 Iberville and also 203 Rocheblave
Tremé Market Orleans Av between N Villere and Marais
Circle Food Store, 1938 Saint Bernard Ave. and Claiborne was also a historic grocery landmark and seen on TV during Katrina. Although Circle Food Store is not in the Tremé it served many Tremé residents
Slide 70:Tremé Market
Slide 71:Oral History: Dorothy Johnson
Slide 72:Classic Recipes from Tremé
Slide 73:Bell Pepper Casserole "My family and I lived in the Tremé area where there was always great cooking, wonderful music and fun parties. This recipe came about as a result of bell pepper cost and shortage at the Treme Market and Circle Food Store. Bell peppers became very costly, so as a result, I compromised. I began to cut the bell peppers into strips placing the bell peppers strips in the bottom of the pan and covering with the stuffing mix. This recipe is my signature dish at every family gathering."
Slide 74:Holy Thursday Lamb Ingredients:
3 lb lamb (New Zealand lamb)
4 gloves of garlic
Garlic power (to taste)
Creole seasoning (to taste)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 Large oven bag Method:
Wash lamb
Stuff lamb with garlic
Sprinkle garlic power and creole seasoning on lamb
Place flour in oven bag and shake
Place lamb in bag and close
Cook for one hour and half
After the lamb is cooked and cool, slice
From Dorothy Johnson
Slide 75:Nana’s Sunday Tomato Sauce Every Sunday at 2 P.M. when my great grandmother’s Big Nana, Francesca Paola Bambino Lecce., was alive, we ate in the dining room at her house across from St. Augustine on Governor Nicholls. She’d come to New Orleans in 1910 with my great grandfather from Palermo when she was 38.
Our Sunday feast moved to my Nana’s dining room at 6720 Canal Blvd. after Big Nana died. My Nana, Elisabetta lecce, had been 18 when her family immigrated. Wherever the meal was there was always vermicelli and tomato sauce with cheese. We ate this before the main course every Sunday. At Easter we probably had ham and lamb. At Christmas there was fish. Often there was roast chicken or pork roast or eel or veal or sausages. We went crabbing a lot, so there was often crab stew or something. There was always more than enough food, so people were always welcome. Sometimes my Dad’s family would come. They thoroughly enjoyed it, because it was so different for them. My Dad and his brother grew up around Cloutierville, LA, very French, but also very much old Louisiana, and Sicilian food seemed very exotic to them.
Slide 76:July 4th Sicilian American Devilish Eggs My Nana, Elisabetta Lecce, grew up with a wonderful palette of flavors, all her own. After moving to New Orleans from Sicily as a child, she began to adapt what she thought of as American foods to her taste. One of the adaptations is her deviled egg recipe. She wanted to be assimilated. She wanted to be American. But American food still had to taste good and especially not be bland. So we ate what she called "Devilish Eggs" (deviled was a weird concept for her) at picnics, as a canape, or whenever deviled eggs were called for. She didn't change the use of the deviled egg, only refined its flavor. No one else's deviled eggs tasted like hers. Hers are still my favorite. It is a classic example of assimilation and adaptation.
Slide 77:German Bread Pudding My father, Merriald Schneider, was born into a German family on Annunciation Street. He didn't move to the fringes of Tremé until 1947 when he married my Sicilian mother, whose family had originally settled in Tremé on Barracks Street. My father's favorite foods were best when cooked in the fall months when the windows were open and the cool breeze filled the house. German foods somehow always smelled worse than they tasted. Living across from a bakery, we had an abundance of French bread and my father had a knack for bartering with the bakers to get our daily supply. Raised by Depression survivors, there was no throwing away the stale bread. Hence, French Bread Pudding.
Slide 78:Sicilian Liver Ingredients:
One calf’s liver, cleaned and cut into strips
¼ cup flour
salt and pepper
¼ cup olive oil
2 sweet onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup red wine
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 cup raisins
¼ cup balsamic vinegar Method:
Lightly dredge the liver in seasoned flour and set aside. Heat the oil in a heavy pan over low heat, then add the onions and garlic. When the onions are very soft, add the liver. When the liver is close to being cooked, add wine. As it simmers, stir to allow the sauce to develop and thicken. Add lemon zest and raisins. Cook about 5 more minutes. Add the vinegar, stir and serve.
From Meryl Schneider Leiva
Slide 79:Hungry Man Sandwich
"One day, years ago, a man from across the street came into Dooky Chase’s and asked for a Hungry man Sandwich. I didn’t have a clue as to what that was, let alone how to fix it. so I did the only sensible thing I could do. I asked him. He let me know that a Hungry Man was French fries on French bread, fully dressed. When he gave me that piece of information, I learned more than what a Hungry Man Sandwich was. I learned that I belonged to this unique community. The people were willing to share their knowledge with me. the next time someone came in and asked for a Hungry Man Sandwich, and I could fix it with confidence, I felt like a queen. It’s the little things, the simple things, more often than not, that make a place or person unique."
--From Leah Chase's And Still I Cook
Slide 80:Carrot Soufflé 3 eggs
3 tbsp. butter
3 tbsp. flour
1 cup half-and-half
23 large carrots, peeled, cooked, and mashed
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. white pepper
½ cup breadcrumbs melted butter for topping Separate egg yolks and whites. Beat egg yolks. Set aside. Melt 3 tbsp. butter in a saucepan over a medium fire. Add flour, stirring well. Cook slowly about 5 minutes, do not brown. Pour half-and-half into the flour, stirring as you pour. Cook over a low fire about 5 minutes. Remove from fire, stir in egg yolks and mix well. Stir in carrots, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Mixture should be thick and creamy. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Pour into carrot mixture. Pour carrot mixture into a well-greased baking dish. Sprinkle top with breadcrumbs. Drizzle melted butter over crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
From Leah Chase's And Still I Cook.
Slide 81:Gumbo Des Herbes Ingredients:
Method:
Slide 82:Leah Chase’s Fried Chicken Ingredients: Method:
Slide 83:Traditional Red Beans Ingredients:
1 lb. red kidney beans
2 qt. water
1 large onion chopped
¼ cup vegetable oil
1 lb. smoked ham cubed
1 lb. smoked sausage in ½ inch slices
1 cup water
1 tbsp. chopped garlic
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp. black pepper
2 tbsp. chpped parsley
1 tsp. whole thyme leaves 2 level tbsp. salt Method:
Pick through beans, removing all bad beans or any other particles. Wash beans well. Place beans in a 5 quart pot. Add the 2 quarts of water. Add onions and bring to a boil. Lower heat and let beans boil slowly for an hour. When beans are soft stir well, mashing some against side of pot. Heat oil in frying pan; add ham and sausage. Sauté in oil for 5 minutes. Then add the sausage, ham, and oil to benas. Deglaze pan with the cup of water, then pout into beans. Add all other ingredients. Let simmer for 30 minutes. Beans should be nice and creamy. Serve over rice.
From Leah Chase's The Dooky Chase Cookbook
Slide 84:White Remoulade in the style of Chez Helene Ingredients:
2 cups homemade or better store-bought mayonnaise
1 ½ cups chopped dill pickles
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
½ cup horseradish
1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley
½ teaspoon finely chopped garlic
Cayenne to taste
½ gallon boiling water
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons liquid crab boil
1 ½ pounds peeled shrimp 1 head shredded lettuce Method:
For remoulade sauce, mix mayonnaise, pickles, mustard, horseradish, parsley, garlic and cayenne in bowl. Refrigerate.
Add salt and crab boil to the boiling water. Add shrimp. When water returns to a boil and shrimp turn pink, remove and put shrimp directly into ice water to stop the cooking. Drain.
Divide the lettuce on six plates, top with shrimp and a generous amount of remoulade sauce.
From Judy Walker, of the Times-Picayune
Slide 85:Selected Bibliography
Al Rose Storyville New Orleans 1974 The University of Alabama Press.
Bounded Lives Free Black Society in Colonial New Orleans 1769-1803 Kimberly S. Hanger
Faubourg Treme: Community in Transition Early History New Orleans Tribune Brenda Marie Osbey
New Orleans Times, January 5, 1874.
New Orleans Architecture Vol. V1 Faubourg Treme and the Bayou Road Pelican Publishing Companyh Gretna 1980 Roulhac Toledano and Mary Louise Christovich
Northwestern State University of Louisiana, Watson Memorial Library, Cammie G. Henry Research Center, Federal Writers Project, .New Orleans Times, January 5, 1874.
Public Rights and Private Commerce: A Nineteenth Century Atlantic Creole Itinerary by Rebecca J. Scott Current Anthropology Vol. 48, Number 2, April 2007
Slide 86:Photo Credits The following photos are from Wikimedia Commons: LA Territory Map and Bienville, Slide 7. Galvez, Slide 8. Miro, Slide 9. Great Fire, Slide 10. French Flag, Slide 11. Jumballaya, Slide 12. LA Transfer Ceremony, Slide 43. Slaves working, Slide 15. Okra and Gumbo, Slide 16. Street vendor, Slide 32. Fava beans, Slide 45. Basin St., Slide 53. Poster, Slide 56. Dooky Chase, Slide 63. Chef Leslie, Slide 64. Willie Mae's, Slide 66.
The following photos were taken by Zella Llerena, Summer 2009: Esplanade, Slide 3. Madame Barbara, Slide 25. Okra man, Slides 27 and 28. Hall, Slide 30. St. Augustine Church, Slide 34. Marie Laveau, Slide 40. Altar pieces, Slides 44 and 45. Liquor displayed at the Backstreet Cultural Museum, Slides 61 and 62. Painting, Slide 65.
The following photographs were courtesy of the New Orleans Historic Collection: Calas seller, slide 23. Basin St., Slide 50. Secong Line, Slide 58. Market, Slide 68.
The following photos were taken from the Louisiana Division and City Archives of the New Orleans Public Library: Sales book, Slide 18. Market, Slide 42. Market, Slide 70.
The following photographs were courtesy of the Sisters of the Holy Family: Slide 29. Heriette DeLille, Slide 37. Sisters, Slide 38.
The following photographs were courtesy of St. Augustine's Church: Treme's Cooking, Slides 39 and 72.
The following photographs were courtesy of Elizabeth Williams: Italian Immigrants, Slide 41.
The following photographs were courtesy of Kelsey Parris: Altar pieces displayed in the Southern Food and Beverage Museum, Slides 46 and 47.
Slide 5 map taken from GoogleMaps 2009.
Slide 14 featured a digitally reproduced hand-colored lithography of a painting by Jean Adolph Bocquin.
Slide 19 was courtesy of J.R. Thomason.
Slide 21 was a digital reproduction of an acrylic painting by Thomas Skillern, courtesy of Barbara Trevigne.
Slide 54 was courtesy of Nite Tripper's Flikr account., found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/7388762@N03/2346222390/
Slide 57 was courtesy of Tia Vice.
Slide 60 was courtesy of Edgar Sierra.
Slide 69 was courtesy of City Pages, found at: http://blogs.citypages.com/pscholtes/2007/02/katrina_changin.php
Slide 87:Credits Bethany Bultman: Original Researcher
Freddi Evans: Author of Congo Square section
Madame Barbara Trevigne: Historian and Consultant to this project
Zella Llerena: Project Manager, Researcher, Photographer, Curator for this project
Kelsey Parris: Webpage and Layout Designer
Tulane University: Nancy Mock, School of Public Health, Newcomb College Center for Research on Women, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine
The French Consulate
