Zion City
At six blocks by four New Orleans city blocks, you will not find Zion City on many a map. It is a real place. From river to lake, it is composed of South Broad, South White Street, and South Dupre, Gayoso, Salcedo, and Lopez Streets, and, from downriver to upriver, Earhart Boulevard, Clio, Erato, and Thalia Streets, to the Washington-Palmetto/Metairie Outflow Canal. You have never seen any place like it.
New Orleans neighborhoods are shifting things. Everyone has their own mental map. The No. 9 Bus goes past Zion City. So does the 52 Bus. Nothing goes through Zion City. It is a place where musicians are born to perform on bigger stages.
Zion City was once part of the McCarty Plantation. That name is cursed in New Orleans. It may be elsewhere. The plantation included all or parts of Carrollton, Mid-City, Hollygrove, and Gert Town, as far as Zion City. Zion City was on the edge. Most of modern day Zion City sits in what was then the Millaudon Plantation. No one notes the Millaudon name is dead. You will never meet a Millaudon in Zion City.
It wasn't until after the Melpomene Pumping Station (officially, the Broad Avenue Stormwater Drainage Station No. 1) was installed that the neighborhood started to take off. From the 1900s until the 1980s, Zion City was a self-sustaining neighborhood. Thriving is a strong word for Zion City most days, but vibrant is not too strong a word for this part of New Orleans on Sundays. Zion City is a neighborhood of churches.
More to follow in a moment.