[6] The French claimed Louisiana in the 1690s and Jean Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville was appointed Director General in charge of developing a colony in the territory, and founded New Orleans in 1718.

The Spanish introduced strict new fire codes that banned wooden siding in favor of fire-resistant brick, which was covered in stucco, painted in the pastel hues fashionable at the time.

(In southeast Louisiana, a distinction is made between "balconies", which are self-supporting and attached to the side of the building, and "galleries," which are supported from the ground by poles or columns.)

During the 19th century, New Orleans was similar to other Southern cities in that its economy was based on selling cash crops, such as sugar, tobacco and cotton produced by enslaved labor.

[9] The development of New Orleans famous ornate cast iron 'galleries' began with the two storey examples on the Pontalba Buildings on Jackson Square, completed in 1851.

As the most prominent and high class address at the time, they set a fashion for others to follow, and multi-level cast iron galleries soon replaced the old timber French ones on older buildings as well as gracing new ones.

From 1884 to 1924 an estimated 290,000 Italian immigrants, a great deal of them from Sicily, arrived in New Orleans and settled in the French Quarter, which acquired the nickname "Little Palermo.

[16] In the early 20th century, the Quarter's cheap rents and air of decay attracted a bohemian artistic community, a trend which became pronounced in the 1920s.

Although nightlife and vice had already begun to coalesce on Bourbon Street in the two decades following the closure of Storyville, the war produced a larger, more permanent presence of exotic, risqué, and often raucous entertainment on what became the city's most famous strip.

[19] The plan to construct an elevated Riverfront Expressway between the Mississippi River levee and the French Quarter consumed the attention of Vieux Carré preservationists through much of the 1960s.

[3][20] After waging a decade-long battle against the Vieux Carré Riverfront Expressway that utilized the newly passed National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, preservationists and their allies forced the issue into federal court, eventually producing the cancellation of the freeway plan in 1969.

Detractors, fearing that the Vieux Carré's charm might be compromised by the introduction of too many new inns, lobbied successfully for passage in 1969 of a municipal ordinance that forbade new hotels within the district's boundaries.

However, the ordinance failed to stop the proliferation of timeshare condominiums and clandestine bed and breakfast inns throughout the French Quarter or high-rise hotels just outside its boundaries.

[22] In the 1980s, many long-term residents were driven away by rising rents, as property values rose dramatically with expectations of windfalls from the planned 1984 World's Fair site nearby.

As with other parts of the city developed before the late 19th century, and on higher land predating New Orleans' levee systems, the French Quarter remained substantially dry following Hurricane Katrina.

[25] Mayor Ray Nagin officially reopened the French Quarter on September 26, 2005 (almost a month after the storm), for business owners to inspect their property and clean up.

The Historic New Orleans Collection's Williams Research Center Annex was the first new construction completed in the French Quarter after Hurricane Katrina.

[27] Early on the morning of January 1st, 2025, a man later identified by the Federal Bureau of Investigation as Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar[28] rammed a pick-up truck into a crowd on Bourbon Street, killing 15 [29] and injuring at least 36, including two police officers who were shot.

The crime, which the FBI is currently investigating as an act of terrorism,[31] occurred during New Year's celebrations and a day before the city hosted the Sugar Bowl.

Any alteration to structures in the remaining blocks is subject to review by the Vieux Carré Commission, which determines whether the proposal is appropriate for the historic character of the district.

After the slave insurrection of 1811 during the U.S. territorial period, some of the insurgents were sentenced to death here in Orleans Parish under a justice system which had not yet been converted to American ideals, and their severed heads were displayed here.

[citation needed] The buildings were designed and constructed by Baroness Micaela Almonester Pontalba, daughter of Don Andres Almonaster y Rojas, a prominent Spanish philanthropist in Creole New Orleans.

[citation needed] Behind the Jax Brewery lies the Toulouse Street Wharf, the regular pier for the excursion steamboat, Natchez.

The historic open-air cafe is known for its café au lait, its coffee blended with chicory, and its beignets, made and served there continuously since the Civil War period (1862).

In 2005 an offshoot called Johnny White's Hole in the Wall, along with Molly's at the Market, drew national media attention as the only businesses in the city to stay open throughout Hurricane Katrina and the weeks after the storm.

Café Lafitte in Exile, located at the intersection of Bourbon and Dumaine, is the oldest continuously running gay bar in the United States.

[citation needed] New Orleans and its French Quarter are one of a few places in the United States where possession and consumption of alcohol in open containers is allowed on the street.

[citation needed] Less historic—but also well-known—French Quarter restaurants include those run by chefs Paul Prudhomme ("K-Paul's"), Emeril Lagasse ("NOLA"), and John Besh.

Port of Call on Esplanade Avenue has been in business for more than 30 years, and is recognized for its popular "Monsoon" drink (their answer to the "Hurricane" at Pat O'Brien's Bar) as well as for its food.

[citation needed] Accommodations in the French Quarter range from large international chain hotels, to bed and breakfasts, to time-share condominiums and small guest houses with only one or two rooms.