I’m not going down without bleeding. I’m not going down, going down without a fight.

Three former plantations, Livaudais, Delassize, and Lafayette now make up what is known as the Central City neighborhood.  This was an area that the working class built up, starting in the mid-1800s. Irish, German, Jewish, Italian, and African-American residents expanded Central City all the way to what is known as Hoffman Triangle now. When Central City peaked, they had over 200 businesses in the area and the Dryades Market was operating a public, fresh food market.

Current day, Central City can still brag about having some great restaurants and Leidenheimer Bakery still operates within its confines.

Mixed with different architectural types, you can turn in any direction and find a small shotgun home – as many were built for rental purposes when immigrants came to help build the New Basin Canal. Your eyes might also spy large mansions, apartment buildings from the 20th century, and vacant land. Tulane’s architecture school has designed and built new, modern homes in Central City as well.

Lagniappe: There are landmarks for nearly every ethnic group that made up 19th century New Orleans in Central City. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church, designed for an Irish congregation by German architect Albert Diettel in 1869, stands down the street from a shopping district that was the site of a key civil rights protest by African Americans in the 1960s. Carondelet Street has several historic orthodox synagogues. First African Baptist Church at 2216 Third St. became legendary after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke here in 1957.