For most of its history, Bourbon was a modest residential street, populated by a mix of Creoles (New Orleanians of Franco-Spanish descent) and the successive waves of immigrants who have settled the French Quarter.īourbon began morphing into an entertainment strip in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when the Red Light District of Storyville was established a few blocks away on Basin Street. Like much of the French Quarter, Bourbon Street’s historic architecture owes far more to Spain than France most of the street’s French buildings were destroyed in the Great New Orleans Fire of 1788, when the city was a Spanish colony. The street, then located in the colony of New France, was named for the French royal House of Bourbon (which bourbon, the drink, was ultimately named for). That particular iteration of brown liquor had not even been invented when the street was laid out in 1721 by Adrian de Pauger. First, despite popular rumor to the contrary, Bourbon was not named for bourbon.
Let’s start, appropriately enough, with the history of one of the oldest streets in North America. In short, while there’s plenty to discover off of Bourbon, there’s a lot to discover on the iconic street as well that may surprise you. It’s a thoroughfare with an utterly fascinating history, home to some of the oldest bars, family-run restaurants and gay entertainment districts in the country. This street is a tourist destination for a reason.
