This old predominantly African-American neighborhood has been important in the city's brass band and Mardi Gras Indian traditions.

The commercial district thrived in the first half of the 20th century, becoming the city's largest commercial district patronized by African Americans during the Jim Crow law era and a major hub for the Uptown African American community, overtaking the older South Rampart Street area in importance.

The blighted area got city attention, and the old commercial section of Dryades Street was renamed after local civil rights activist Oretha Castle Haley, who was one of the young college students who boycotted Dryades Street in 1960 (although black shoppers were welcomed, the businesses did not hire black cashiers or clerks) and participated in lunch counter desegregation demonstrations on Canal St.

As there were many vacant buildings and vacant lots in this rare piece of high dry ground, greater attention has been drawn to Central City in post-Katrina redevelopment of the city, including the redevelopment and updating of old public housing apartments built in the 1940s during segregation.

Melpomene (known as the Guste apartments) includes a multi-story building for senior citizens, as well as newer townhouses and additional new replacement units under construction in 2015.

In addition to the boycott on Dryades Street, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded with Martin Luther King Jr. in Central City in 1957.

[7] Central City was home to the civil rights movement in New Orleans in the 1960s, but fell into poverty, blight and crime in the late 1970s and into the 1980s and '90s.

It was also one of the main areas affected by the crack epidemic in the mid 1980s[8][9] The overall crime rate in Central City is 93% higher than the national average.

[13] Major streets include Baronne, Oretha Castle Haley Blvd., Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Simon Bolivar.

[14] Neighborhood businesses include Brown's Dairy and Leidenheimer Bakery, which have furnished the city with milk, ice cream and Louisiana French bread for po'boy sandwiches respectively for generations.

Central City is a designated National Register Historic District, and contains several individually landmarked buildings as well.