Explore the real-world places that appear in Nine Lives: Death and Life in New Orleans by Dan Baum. Each location on the map shows what happens there in the novel, the real history of the place, and what's there today. Featured locations include House of Dance & Feathers, Industrial Canal Floodwall Breach Area, Louis Armstrong Park and Congo Square, Preservation Hall, Bourbon Street and the French Quarter Bar Scene and 6 more.
1317 Tupelo Street, Lower Ninth Ward — Ronald Lewis's backyard museum
Ronald Lewis, a Lower Ninth Ward streetcar-and-parade man and a leader of the Big Nine Social Aid & Pleasure Club, is one of the book's nine voices. His neighborhood world is rooted in second-line parades, Mardi Gras Indian suits, and social clubs. Baum uses Lewis's story to show how Black neighborhood traditions held together a community that outsiders mostly saw as poor. Katrina's floodwaters devastated the neighborhood and the home where Lewis kept his collection.
The Lower Ninth Ward was developed in the early 20th century as a working-class neighborhood of shotgun houses, largely populated by Black families after the Industrial Canal was dug. It was flooded in Hurricane Betsy in 1965. Ronald Lewis founded the House of Dance & Feathers in his backyard after Katrina to preserve Carnival culture.
The House of Dance & Feathers is a small community museum that displays Mardi Gras Indian suits, social aid and pleasure club regalia, and photographs. It is a rare surviving cultural landmark in the rebuilt but still depopulated Lower Ninth Ward. Visits are usually by appointment or through tour arrangements.
Visit: House of Dance & Feathers (museum)
Claiborne Avenue Bridge vicinity — where the Lower Ninth Ward flooded
The Industrial Canal's levees and floodwalls bracket the book's two storms. When Hurricane Betsy hit in 1965, Lower Ninth Ward residents believed the city had blown up a levee to save wealthier neighborhoods, a rumor that shaped the area's distrust of officials. During Katrina the floodwalls failed again, and a wall of water destroyed homes. Characters in the Lower Ninth, including Mack McClendon, were affected by both storms.
The Industrial Canal opened in 1923 and connected the Mississippi River with Lake Pontchartrain. It cut off the Lower Ninth Ward from the rest of the city and became a flood hazard during major storms. The canal's floodwalls failed during Katrina on August 29, 2005.
The area has rebuilt floodwalls and a new surge barrier, and the neighborhood has only partly recovered. The Claiborne Avenue Bridge remains a main route between the Lower Ninth and the rest of the city.
Rampart Street, Tremé — Birthplace of New Orleans rhythm
Black New Orleans music and parade traditions are central to Baum's portrait of the city, from Mardi Gras Indians to social aid and pleasure clubs. Congo Square is the symbolic heart of that history, linking the characters' cultural lives to an older African-American heritage. Baum uses these traditions to explain why residents fought to return after Katrina.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, enslaved and free Black people gathered in Congo Square on Sundays to dance, drum, and trade. These gatherings are often cited as a root of jazz and Afro-Caribbean-influenced music in America. The surrounding park was built in the 1970s and named for Louis Armstrong.
Congo Square lies within Louis Armstrong Park and hosts festivals, drum circles, and Sunday gatherings. The park's gate and statues are well-known landmarks.
Visit: Louis Armstrong Park (Congo Square) (park)
726 St. Peter Street, French Quarter — Traditional jazz
Jazz threads through the book, especially in the life of Dr. Frank Minyard, the Orleans Parish coroner who also played jazz trumpet. Baum shows how a man who spent his days among the dead found joy in the city's music at night. Rooms like Preservation Hall embody the living tradition Minyard loved.
Preservation Hall was founded in 1961 to keep traditional New Orleans jazz alive. It occupies an 18th-century building and is known for its unadorned, intimate concerts. Many veteran jazz musicians played there as the music's popularity waned.
Preservation Hall still hosts nightly traditional jazz concerts in a small, rustic room. It is among the best-known jazz venues in the world.
Visit: Preservation Hall (theater)
Bourbon Street at St. Ann — Nightlife, tolerance, and reinvention
The French Quarter's bars, clubs, and late-night life give Baum a window into the city's famous tolerance for eccentrics. The book's cast includes outsiders who found a place to live openly in New Orleans, including a transsexual barkeep. Their stories show why people devote themselves to a city that lets them be who they are.
The French Quarter has been the city's entertainment core for generations, with Bourbon Street known for its bars and music. Its Creole architecture dates to the French and Spanish colonial eras. The Quarter has long been a haven for artists, bohemians, and the LGBTQ community.
Bourbon Street remains one of America's best-known nightlife strips, crowded with bars, clubs, and tourists. Lafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar, a historic bar nearby, is a favorite stop for visitors.
Visit: Bourbon Street (landmark)
Decatur Street, French Quarter — Center of the old city
Jackson Square and the surrounding French Quarter stand for the postcard version of New Orleans that tourists see. Baum contrasts this image with the lives of residents in neighborhoods such as the Lower Ninth Ward and the housing projects. The book argues that the city's real story is the people who live outside the guidebooks.
Jackson Square was laid out in 1721 as the Place d'Armes, the parade ground of the French colonial city. It was renamed in honor of Andrew Jackson after the Battle of New Orleans. St. Louis Cathedral and the Cabildo flank the square.
Jackson Square is a public park filled with artists, street performers, and fortune tellers. St. Louis Cathedral and the Louisiana State Museum buildings are next to it.
Visit: Jackson Square (park)
1532 Tulane Avenue — The public hospital of the poor
Charity Hospital was the city's public hospital, where poor New Orleanians were treated. During Katrina it lost power, flooded, and had to be evacuated amid heat and desperation. The hospital's fate became a symbol of the city's failure to care for its most vulnerable and of the chaos that followed the storm.
Charity Hospital's Art Deco tower was completed in 1939 and was one of the largest hospitals in the United States. Its predecessor traces back to 1736. It served as a teaching hospital and a care provider for the uninsured.
The building has been closed since Katrina and remains vacant, although redevelopment plans have been proposed. A new University Medical Center opened nearby in 2015.
1500 Sugar Bowl Drive — Shelter of last resort
As Katrina approached, thousands of residents who could not leave the city took shelter in the Superdome. Conditions deteriorated with no power, little water, and overflowing bathrooms. Baum's characters converge on the storm's chaos, and the Dome became the most visible symbol of the city's suffering.
The Superdome opened in 1975 and is among the largest domed stadiums in the world. It hosted Super Bowls, college football, and concerts. It was designated a refuge of last resort before Katrina.
The Superdome, now the Caesars Superdome, is home to the New Orleans Saints and host to major events. Tours and event tickets are available to the public.
Visit: Caesars Superdome (landmark)
900 Convention Center Boulevard — Second refuge
After the floods, thousands of stranded people gathered at the Convention Center, where they waited for days without adequate food, water, or help. Baum's account reflects the abandonment felt across the city. The scene is part of the storm's climax in the book.
The Convention Center opened in 1985 for the 1984 World's Fair site and was expanded in later years. It sits along the Mississippi River. During Katrina it became an unofficial shelter.
The center is a major convention venue hosting trade shows and events. It has been renovated since the storm.
Tulane Avenue area — Dr. Frank Minyard's domain
Dr. Frank Minyard, a physician who served as Orleans Parish coroner for decades, is one of the book's most colorful figures. He investigated deaths in one of America's most violent cities while playing jazz trumpet and loving the city's culture. After Katrina he led the grim work of recovering and identifying the dead.
The coroner's office has handled New Orleans's unusual and violent deaths for generations. Minyard served as coroner from 1974 to 2014. The city's morgue operations were disrupted by Katrina.
The Orleans Parish Coroner's Office continues its work, and the building is not open to the public.
Lakeview — Where the levee failed
Katrina's floodwaters did not come only from the Industrial Canal. Floodwalls along the 17th Street Canal also failed, sending Lake Pontchartrain's water into middle-class neighborhoods. Baum's book makes clear the disaster was largely a failure of engineering and not only of nature.
The 17th Street Canal was built to drain stormwater from the city into Lake Pontchartrain. Its floodwalls were designed and built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Investigations after Katrina found design flaws in the walls.
The area now has new gates and pumps designed to block storm surge. Lakeview has been largely rebuilt.
More by Dan Baum: Nine Lives locations map · All Dan Baum books
More novels set in New Orleans: Browse all New Orleans books on Map A Story
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