Located in the French Quarter, Bourbon Street has become synonymous with excess, especially during Carnival season. Seemingly named for the potent liquor (but actually named for the ruling French royal family during New Orleans' founding, the House of Bourbon) the street spans the length of the French Quarter and along its most frequented commercial stretch is dotted with gaudy t-shirt shops, cheap beer vendors, seedy strip clubs, tacky music clubs, and pavement littered from the waste of...
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Located in the French Quarter, Bourbon Street has become synonymous with excess, especially during Carnival season. Seemingly named for the potent liquor (but actually named for the ruling French royal family during New Orleans' founding, the House of Bourbon) the street spans the length of the French Quarter and along its most frequented commercial stretch is dotted with gaudy t-shirt shops, cheap beer vendors, seedy strip clubs, tacky music clubs, and pavement littered from the waste of all of the above. While most locals shun the area, it is the main destination point in the French Quarter for tourists, who drink, dance, and occasionally disrobe for Mardi Gras beads tossed from the balconies above.

Mardi Gras has been celebrated in New Orleans almost since the founding of the city by the French near the turn of the 18th century. Mardi Gras, or "Fat Tuesday" refers to the last day one traditionally ate rich foods before the beginning of Lent, a 40 day period of penitence and fasting in the Christian church. The idea of a celebration of excess precedes the church, who merely molded Roman (and prior to that pagan) spring customs to their beliefs.

Like their pagan predecessors, the city can be filled with much frivolity and reckless abandon during carnival season. For many however it is also a time for family, community, tradition, and an opportunity to celebrate their unique city.
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