The Ellis Marsalis Center for Music serves as a cultural events and seminar space for the surrounding neighborhood; a visit can give you some insight into the local arts scene. Free tours are available by appointment.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby attractions

1. St Vincent de Paul Cemetery

0.62 MILES

As New Orleans cemeteries go, this one feels completely off the tourist radar. And yet, it's as atmospheric and gloomy as any other 'city of the dead.' Be…

2. Ninth Ward Victory Arch

0.77 MILES

Walk down Burgundy street in Bywater and, seemingly out of nowhere, an Arc de Triomphe–style monument stands next to a high school football field. Oddly…

3. Markey Park

0.96 MILES

This small green space has a playground. It's a popular spot for Bywater families, and a good place to let younger kids run off some energy, especially…

4. Crescent Park

1.05 MILES

This waterfront park is our favorite spot in the city for taking in the Mississippi. Enter over the enormous arch at Piety and Chartres Sts, or at the…

5. Clouet Gardens

1.05 MILES

This formerly empty lot has been transformed by its Bywater neighbors into a neat little park filled with murals and generally appealing weirdness…

6. Press Street Gardens

1.11 MILES

The New Orleans Center for Creative Arts runs this plot of land as part of its culinary education program. You'll find wandering chickens, placid goats…

7. St Roch Cemetery

1.17 MILES

Named for St Roch, a semilegendary figure whose prayers supposedly averted the Black Death, this cemetery became popular with Catholics during yellow…

8. Plessy v Ferguson Plaque

1.17 MILES

This plaque marks the site where Homer Plessy, in a carefully orchestrated act of civil disobedience, tried to board a whites-only train car. That action…