Explore the real places in New Orleans that appear in The Moviegoer by Walker Percy. 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 Gentilly Boulevard Apartment, Saenger Theatre, New Orleans Museum of Art, City Park, Binx's Automobile and 10 more.
Gentilly Boulevard — Binx Bolling's modest rental home
Binx Bolling, the protagonist, rents this modest apartment in the Gentilly neighborhood where he lives a solitary existence. He sits in his backyard, watches the street, goes to the movies, and contemplates the 'malaise' that has seized him since returning from Korea. This apartment is his refuge from the world, where he engages in his search for authenticity and meaning through observation and cinema.
Gentilly Boulevard was developed in the early 20th century as a middle-class residential neighborhood for New Orleans. It became home to many returning World War II and Korean War veterans seeking affordable housing away from the French Quarter.
Gentilly remains a primarily residential neighborhood with modest single-family homes and small apartment buildings. The area has experienced significant demographic changes over the decades but retains its quiet, working-class character.
Rampart Street & Canal Boulevard — Binx's refuge and obsession
The Saenger Theatre is Binx Bolling's primary escape and the locus of his spiritual searching. He attends films here regularly, losing himself in cinema as a means of combating existential emptiness. The movies transport him, make him feel alive, and serve as his primary connection to meaning. Binx's moviegoing is not mere entertainment—it is his liturgy, his search for the holy.
The Saenger Theatre opened in 1927 as one of New Orleans' grand movie palaces, featuring ornate architecture and opulent interiors typical of the silent and early sound film era. It was a major cultural venue for decades.
The Saenger Theatre building still stands on Canal Boulevard and has been restored. It operates as a performing arts venue hosting concerts, theatrical productions, and special events, though no longer as a traditional cinema.
Visit: Saenger Theatre (theater)
City Park Avenue — Culture and aesthetic experience
Binx takes his secretary and love interest Kate Cutrer to the New Orleans Museum of Art, where he experiences the tension between authentic aesthetic experience and the tourist consumption of culture. The museum visit becomes a moment of shared consciousness between them, a rare instance where Binx feels genuine connection rather than alienation. The paintings and sculptures reflect his search for meaning through high culture.
The New Orleans Museum of Art was founded in 1911 and built in City Park, making it one of the South's oldest art institutions. It was designed to bring European cultural sophistication to New Orleans.
The NOMA remains one of the finest art museums in the South, housing an extensive collection of European, American, and contemporary art. It is a major cultural destination and tourist attraction in City Park.
Visit: New Orleans Museum of Art (museum)
City Park Avenue & Esplanade Avenue — Urban refuge and contemplation
City Park serves as Binx's sanctuary for solitary wandering and reflection. He walks through the park, observes other people, sits on benches, and contemplates the nature of existence and authenticity. The park represents nature's intrusion into urban life, offering respite from the commercial and social demands of New Orleans. His movements through the park reflect his broader search for meaning.
City Park was established in 1805 and is one of the oldest urban parks in the United States, predating Central Park. It has been a gathering place for New Orleanians across centuries, featuring oak trees, lagoons, and cultural institutions.
City Park remains one of New Orleans' most important public spaces, covering over 1,300 acres with museums, gardens, recreational facilities, and beautiful natural landscape. The ancient live oaks continue to define the park's character.
Visit: City Park (park)
Various streets throughout New Orleans — Movement and observation
Binx's car is almost a character itself—a space where he sits, watches the world pass, and practices his form of urban exploration he calls 'certification.' He drives through New Orleans neighborhoods, observes people and places, and attempts to make sense of the world around him. The car represents both freedom and isolation, a mobile refuge from which to witness life without fully participating in it.
Post-war American automobiles became symbols of personal freedom and mobility in the 1950s. Cars enabled the kind of independent urban wandering that Binx practices throughout the novel.
The streets of New Orleans continue to be major thoroughfares for exploration and observation, though the car culture has evolved. Modern drivers navigate similar routes through Gentilly, Metairie, and downtown New Orleans.
St. Charles Avenue — Natural beauty and family history
Audubon Park appears in Binx's reflections on family history and his ties to Old New Orleans. The park evokes memories of his Southern heritage and provides a stark contrast to his modern alienation. Walking through the park, with its ancient trees and elegant design, confronts Binx with the weight of Southern history and family tradition that he simultaneously craves and resists.
Audubon Park was established in 1871 and named after naturalist John James Audubon. It features 385 acres of landscaped gardens, oak trees, lagoons, and recreational facilities. It was designed in the Romantic landscape tradition.
Audubon Park remains one of the most beautiful parks in New Orleans, featuring the Audubon Zoo, botanical gardens, a golf course, and winding walking paths beneath ancient live oaks. It is a major tourist destination and beloved local gathering place.
Visit: Audubon Park (park)
St. Charles Avenue — Transportation and observation
The St. Charles Avenue streetcar line is one of Binx's routes for 'certification'—his practice of sitting and observing the world. Riding the streetcar through various New Orleans neighborhoods, he watches passengers, studies the architecture, and attempts to make sense of his alienation. The streetcar journey becomes a form of pilgrimage through authentic New Orleans.
The St. Charles Avenue streetcar line, established in 1835, is the oldest continuously operating streetcar line in the world. It has carried New Orleanians through the city's grandest neighborhoods for nearly two centuries.
The St. Charles Avenue streetcar remains operational and is one of New Orleans' most iconic tourist attractions, offering both local transportation and a journey through the city's history. The original Victorian and early 20th-century cars still operate on the original route.
Visit: St. Charles Streetcar (tour)
Metairie — Southern family tradition and alienation
Binx's connection to his family wealth and estate in Metairie represents his complicated relationship with Southern aristocratic tradition. He has rejected the expectations of his class and family business, instead choosing a solitary life in Gentilly. The estate symbolizes everything he has abandoned in pursuit of authenticity, yet it haunts him with its claim to meaning and belonging.
Metairie developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as an affluent suburb of New Orleans, home to wealthy Creole and Anglo families. Large estates and mansions defined the neighborhood's character.
Metairie remains an affluent residential area with large homes, tree-lined streets, and country clubs. It continues to be home to New Orleans' established families and remains one of the city's most prestigious neighborhoods.
St. Charles Avenue — Education and religious tradition
Loyola University represents the Catholic educational tradition that has shaped Binx's upbringing and worldview. Though he maintains an ironic distance from the Church, his Catholicism remains embedded in his consciousness. The university stands as a symbol of the institutional religion that Binx struggles against, seeking personal spiritual authenticity beyond institutional doctrine.
Loyola University of the South was founded in 1912 as a Jesuit institution on St. Charles Avenue. It represents the Catholic intellectual tradition in New Orleans and the South.
Loyola University continues as one of the premier Catholic universities in America, with its beautiful Gothic Revival buildings still dominating St. Charles Avenue. The campus maintains its historic character while serving contemporary students.
Visit: Loyola University (landmark)
North Rampart Street — Water, contemplation, and escape
Lake Pontchartrain appears in Binx's consciousness as a boundary, a natural limit to his urban wandering. The lake represents both containment and escape, a vast natural force that persists beneath the city's human construction. Binx's awareness of the lake contributes to his sense of living in a precarious, constructed world built upon natural forces beyond human control.
Lake Pontchartrain is a brackish estuary that formed tens of thousands of years ago. Native Americans, French colonists, and later New Orleanians have all lived on its shores. It has always been central to New Orleans' identity.
Lake Pontchartrain remains the geographical boundary of New Orleans, crossed by the famous Causeway Bridge. The lakefront has been developed with parks, marinas, and recreational areas, though much of it remains relatively wild and natural.
Visit: Lake Pontchartrain (landmark)
Basin Street — Death, history, and Southern tradition
St. Louis Cemetery embodies the Southern preoccupation with death and family history that shapes Binx's consciousness. The cemetery's above-ground tombs represent centuries of New Orleans history and the weight of tradition. Though not explicitly visited in the novel, the cemetery looms in Binx's awareness as a reminder of mortality and the persistence of the past in Southern life.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, established in 1789, is one of the oldest cemeteries in the United States. It contains the graves of prominent New Orleanians across centuries and features the distinctive above-ground 'oven' tombs characteristic of New Orleans burial practices.
St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 remains a major historical site and tourist destination, operated by the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Visitors can tour the cemetery and view the tombs of Marie Laveau and other historical figures. Organized tours are required for security and preservation.
Visit: St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 (historic site)
Canal Street — Social pretense and alienation
The Pickwick Club represents the world of social clubs and established New Orleans society from which Binx has alienated himself. His encounters with society figures and social expectations occur at such establishments. The club embodies the pretense and inauthenticity against which Binx measures his search for genuine experience.
The Pickwick Club was established in the 19th century as an exclusive gentlemen's club in downtown New Orleans, catering to the business and professional elite of the city.
While specific details about the Pickwick Club's current status are uncertain, downtown New Orleans maintains several historic clubs and social establishments along Canal Street, which continue as gathering places for business and social life.
Bourbon Street, Royal Street — Tourism and authentic experience
The French Quarter represents the intersection of authentic history and tourist consumption that haunts Binx's consciousness. Walking through the Quarter, he encounters both the residual reality of Old New Orleans and its commodification for visitors. The tension between authentic local culture and touristic performance mirrors Binx's own search for genuine experience versus its artificial reproduction.
The French Quarter, founded in 1718, is the oldest neighborhood in New Orleans. Its narrow streets, Spanish colonial architecture, and cultural institutions have defined New Orleans identity for three centuries.
The French Quarter remains the heart of New Orleans' tourist industry, filled with restaurants, shops, bars, galleries, and historic buildings. It balances preservation of historical architecture with contemporary commercial and entertainment uses.
Visit: French Quarter (historic site)
Decatur Street & St. Ann Street — Coffee, contemplation, and connection
Café du Monde represents a space where Binx can sit, observe, and experience moments of connection with others. Over chicory coffee and beignets, he watches the city pass and occasionally engages in rare moments of genuine human contact. The café embodies the possibility of authentic experience within tourist New Orleans—a place where locals and visitors momentarily coexist.
Café du Monde opened in 1862 and has operated continuously on the same spot for over 150 years. It became an iconic New Orleans institution serving chicory coffee and beignets to generations of customers.
Café du Monde remains one of America's most famous cafés, operating 24 hours a day. It continues to serve its signature chicory coffee and powdered sugar beignets to thousands of locals and tourists daily, maintaining its historical character.
Visit: Café du Monde (restaurant)
St. Charles Avenue — Institutional education and privilege
Tulane University represents the educated, privileged world that Binx has rejected. His family connections to such institutions and expectations place pressure on him to pursue meaningful work and social position. Instead, he has become a stock market player of modest means, maintaining distance from the elite professional world his education and class position would normally demand.
Tulane University was founded in 1834 and is one of the South's premier private universities. Located on St. Charles Avenue, it has educated generations of Southern elites and professionals.
Tulane University remains one of America's finest universities, with distinctive Gothic Revival architecture on its St. Charles Avenue campus. It continues to attract exceptional students and maintains significant cultural influence in New Orleans.
Visit: Tulane University (landmark)
More by Walker Percy: All Walker Percy books
Other nearby maps: The Tin Roof Blowdown by James Lee Burke locations map · City of Refuge by Tom Piazza locations map · Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson locations map · Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe by Fannie Flagg locations map