Pics of Mardi Gras, 1938

[Benzadmiral]

I wasn't sure where to put this, as it could fit under several categories. "Life" sent a photographer to Mardi Gras in February 1938: http://life.time.com/culture/mardi-gras-unpublished-photos-from-new-orleans-1938/?iid=lf|mostpop#1

The amazing thing is that not everyone is in costume . . . and those who aren't are wearing suits and hats (the men), and dresses and hats (the women). Apparently you got spiffed up when you went out in public, even if it was to ramble around and enjoy the parades!

Pic. No. 16 is located in one of the two alleys flanking St. Louis Cathedral. I can never remember which is named which, even though I grew up two blocks away.

 

[Stearmen]

Wait a minute, this cant be Mardi Gras, where is Girls Gone Wild? The closest I saw was in photo #9, and they had hairy chest and were pretty ugly!

 

[jamespowers]

My how things have changed---for the absolute worst.

 

[Benzadmiral]

My how things have changed---for the absolute worst.

Hasn't it, though.

I was flicking through them more carefully this time. In Pic 7, the guy on the right in the light-colored suit looks a lot like Jimmy Stewart in "Wonderful Life."

Pics 1 & 5 were taken at the edge of the French Quarter, at the corner of Dauphine and Canal. Both the Katz & Besthoff drug store and the Maison Blanche department store are gone now, but I shopped at both when I lived down there.

In any case, the variety of '30s hats, all worn as everyday lids, is cool.

 

[jamespowers]

Hasn't it, though.

I was flicking through them more carefully this time. In Pic 7, the guy on the right in the light-colored suit looks a lot like Jimmy Stewart in "Wonderful Life."

Pics 1 & 5 were taken at the edge of the French Quarter, at the corner of Dauphine and Canal. Both the Katz & Besthoff drug store and the Maison Blanche department store are gone now, but I shopped at both when I lived down there.

In any case, the variety of '30s hats, all worn as everyday lids, is cool.

Yes indeed. You can get yourself caught in a crossfire if you attend Mardi Gras today. The police have light armored tanks driving around there during that time every year. They prepare for it like it was the D day. :eusa_doh:

 

[4spurs]

"Pic. No. 16 is located in one of the two alleys flanking St. Louis Cathedral. I can never remember which is named which, even though I grew up two blocks away."

Benz, #16 is Pirates Alley facing Jackson Sq. you can tell by the fact that the Cathedral is on the left, and you can see that shorter alley that connects to St. Peter St. on the right, just past the house that Faulkner lived in. The alley on the other side of the Cathedral is Pere Antoine alley.

 

[Benzadmiral]

"Pic. No. 16 is located in one of the two alleys flanking St. Louis Cathedral. I can never remember which is named which, even though I grew up two blocks away."

Benz, #16 is Pirates Alley facing Jackson Sq. you can tell by the fact that the Cathedral is on the left, and you can see that shorter alley that connects to St. Peter St. on the right, just past the house that Faulkner lived in. The alley on the other side of the Cathedral is Pere Antoine alley.

Oh, I played in, and traversed, both alleys innumerable times as a kid and an adult. But I can never recall which has which name, partly because they both begin with "P" and both have an "R" in them.

 

[filfoster]

Ok, but how did the women collect bead necklaces back then?

 

[4spurs]

Ok, but how did the women collect bead necklaces back then?

"Throw me sumptin mistah!" That is the yat call of the Mardi Gras parade spectator, and how one 'collects' bead necklaces, doubloons, Zulu coconuts, and shoes from the Muses then, and today.

 

[BrooksNYC]

"Boobs for beads" is a fairly recent development. (Seems to me it started in the mid-to-late '80s......maybe even the '90s.) Tourists invented it, and tourists, by and large, keep it going. Bourbon Street is B4B Ground Zero.

Along the Uptown and Midtown parade routes, Mardi Gras is more of a neighborhood / family event. "Throw me sumptin', mistah" still works!

 

[Mario]

For some reason photo #7 made me smile.