Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
At 1618 O. C. Haley is the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center, which
presents alternative films and other art forms. The center is also home to
Church Alley Coffee Bar and the OCH Art Market, which opened in 2010 to
help bring foot traffic back to the street. Open the second Saturday of every
month, the market invites vendors to sell their crafts, and fresh produce
from the Hollygrove Market and Farm is also available.
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Continue walking to 1504 O. C. Haley, home of the Southern Food and
Beverage Museum, also known as SoFAB. The museum opened in 2008 at
Riverwalk Marketplace downtown but outgrew its space. In late 2014, it re-
opened in this 30,000-square-foot building, the former Dryades Market. In
addition to culinary-themed changing exhibits, the museum houses the Mu-
seum of the American Cocktail (hey, it's New Orleans); the Leah Chase
Louisiana Gallery (named for the legendary New Orleans chef); and the
Gallery of the South: States of Taste, where visitors can explore the cooking
cultures of other Southern states. Of course, a museum like this wouldn't be
complete without food and drink, so an abundance of space is devoted to a
cooking-demo kitchen, along with Purloo, an eatery specializing in regional
Southern cuisine.
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In the next block, at the corner of O. C. Haley and Martin Luther King
Boulevards, sits the future headquarters of the New Orleans Jazz Market, a
project of the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, which bought the 11,000-square-
foot building in 2013. The space, once the home of Gator's department store,
will offer music-education classes and performances as well as house a New
Orleans jazz archive. The complex will also have a Walk of Fame, which will
have as its first inductees trumpeter Irvin Mayfield, singer Dee Dee Bridge-
water, and jazz pianist Ellis Marsalis. The project is scheduled for comple-
tion in early 2015.
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Walk two blocks to Erato Street, cross O. C. Haley, and turn left to walk on
the opposite side of the street. The building at 1307 O. C. Haley is the old
Myrtle Banks Elementary School, which as of this writing was being conver-
ted to a fresh-food market and an office building. The building opened in
1910 as McDonogh 38 Elementary School but was closed in 2002 because of
low enrollment. Six years later, a fire swept through the building, transform-
ing it into blighted eyesore. As part of the neighborhood's revitalization,
Alembic Community Development bought and began renovating the prop-
erty in 2011. Like the New Orleans Jazz Market, this market is set to open in
early 2015.
