ParadesĪ hot spot for fun and action during Mardi Gras, Canal Street has been hosting parades since the very beginning of the local celebration in the mid-1800s. Pulsing with life, Canal Street is New Orleans in all its grit and glory. Hotels such as the Ritz Carlton, Marriott and Sheraton have found purchase and visitors can even encounter six-legged critters at the Audubon Nature Institute’s Insectarium. Holmes – are gone, but retail continues to thrive on Canal Street with One Canal Place as well as many small stores and boutiques.
Canal Street serves as a place for parading, shopping, and seeing shows at the city's newly restored theaters. The street once served as a “neutral ground” between the old families of Spanish and French descent living in the Vieux Carre and the newly arriving Americans, who preferred to settle the American Sector (today’s Central Business and Warehouse districts.) The streets opulent department stores – Godchaux’s, the Maison Blanche and D.H.
