Backstreet Cultural Museum

The Backstreet Cultural Museum occupies a bright yellow shotgun house with a porch painted in vibrant Mardi Gras colors. Inside, the walls hold an exhaustive collection of hand-stitched suits worn by Mardi Gras Indians and photographs documenting the history of the city's second line parades. Sylvester Francis started this collection by gathering artifacts from his own neighborhood. He spent decades recording local traditions that many outsiders never saw. His garage eventually overflowed with these materials until he officially opened the museum here.