P.J. O’Rourke described New Orleans as a high-crime drainage ditch.
I'm old enough to remember when New Orleans was actually a very nice place to visit and even to reside. The area started it repaid descent around that time that John Fraud Kennedy became president.
Prior to the JFK administration, the Quarter, while rowdy was safe and actually family friendly to a certain extent. Stunning movie palaces and beautiful department stores (Maison Blance) lined Canal Street. The central business district was nearly theme-park clean and absolutely safe for walking. My wife and I used to stay at the Roosevelt Hotel and walked the surrounding blocks with absolutely no fear, down to Rampart Street over to Jackson Square and up to Loyola and Howard Avenues. You didn't even need to carry a gun in those days to feel safe!
Believe it or not, it was a great place for fun, food, shopping and history at one time. Then, in the early 60's, liberalism's clutches took hold and irreparably ruined the New Orleans of the 40s and 50s that I so fondly recall. The black thugs referenced in the lead article of this thread now control the once charming New Orleans and it's why it's been off my destination list for some 50 years now.
He was being kind...