Canal Street used to serve as an informal divider between the newcomer Americans Uptown and the old-blood Creoles of Downtown. The median in the center of the broad avenue was known as neutral ground where residents of opposite neighborhoods could meet and trade. It's the MAIN ARTERY for the financial heart of the city, running from the Mississippi to a somewhat foreboding end at a cluster of cemeteries. Canal Street is the best lit street in town.
Central Business District (CBD)
This is the financial and economic center of the city. It's one of the first expansions of New Orleans beyond the French Quarter and rose to prominence as its trade district early on. Sites of importance:
- Hellstromme Industries Tower
- First Bank of the Confederacy
- Finest Hotels
- Glitziest Nightclubs in town
Mid-City
Mid-City grew up along the main route from New Orleans to Baton Rouge. It used to be known as "the back of town" because the low-lying ground was swampy and largely unsettled. Only after Hellstromme Industries' expansion of the city's pumping operations at the turn of the century did the neighborhood begin to see major development and expansion. This section of town is a mixture of residential and professional businesses, marking the transition from the CBD to the suburbs to the north.
Warehouse District
South of Poydras Street, the business district gives over to several blocks of older warehouses, a few manufacturing sites, and a cotton mill or two. This aging industrial area continues right up to the docks, and thanks to its convenient location, many of the warehouses do a fairly steady business providing temporary storage for shipments passing through the city.
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