Life is very short, and there’s no time
For fussing and fighting, my friend.

Pontchartrain Park and Gentilly Woods are next-door neighbors, but two very distinct New Orleans neighborhoods.

Developed to be the first neighborhood for upper and middle-class African-Americans to be homeowners, Pontchartrain Park was one of the last parts of Gentilly to be developed. It opened in 1955 and includes Southern University and a 200-acre golf course, park, and playground space. The opening of Pontchartrain Park was a massive leap in housing opportunities for African-Americans in New Orleans. There were paved streets, air conditioning, and washers and dryers. Residents who first called the area home were used to living in areas that their own children couldn’t play in neighborhood parks. Pontchartrain Park was offering a lifestyle not available elsewhere in the city for black citizens.

Housing styles included cottages, brick ranches, and even some mid-century modern homes.

Gentilly Woods was once a “white neighborhood” that was developed in the 1940s. Finished in 1950, it provided many GI starter homes. Home to many brick ranches and cottages, it provides easy access to the interstate. Not extremely walkable, residents of Gentilly Woods will need their car to get around town. This New Orleans neighborhood has most recently seen investors come in and begin to renovate properties. Still one of the most affordable places in the city, Gentilly Woods offers off-street parking and fenced yards.

Lagniappe: Gentilly Woods was built in the area of an old Native American portage with curving streets throughout. Pontchartrain Park streets are all curvilinear and do not have direct routes outside of the neighborhood. This was done to create privacy and pedestrian safety.