Little Palermo Immigrant History

The Hotel Monteleone stands out with its intricate, oversized clock embedded directly into the sidewalk-facing facade, a massive bronze face that signals the lobby entrance. Antonio Monteleone, a Sicilian shoemaker, bought the original…

The Napoleon House carries a heavy, weathered yellow stucco facade that distinguishes it from the surrounding brick and ironwork. Nicholas Girod, a wealthy merchant and one-time mayor of New Orleans, built this home at the turn of the…

Central Grocery and Deli occupies a narrow storefront on Decatur Street, marked by a faded yellow sign and large, dusty windows filled with Italian imports. In nineteen oh six, a Sicilian immigrant named Salvatore Lupo opened these doors…

The French Market sits under a long, low roof of copper and iron that stretches six blocks along the Mississippi River. This row of open-air stalls began as a Native American trading post where tribes exchanged furs and food long before…

The steeple of Saint Mary's Church rises above the intersection of Chartres and Conti streets with a crisp, white clock tower that dates back to the eighteen forties. This building served as the primary place of worship for the…

The Croissant D'Or Patisserie occupies a narrow, deep building on Ursulines Avenue with a distinctive blue and white tile entrance floor. Originally a nineteenth-century drugstore, the space still holds its original marble counters and…

Matassa's Market displays a bright red brick exterior with the name painted in bold letters above the entrance. It began in nineteen twenty-four as a grocery store for the families living in the surrounding blocks. John Matassa Sr. bought…