Decatur Street, New Orleans
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Decatur Street is a street in New Orleans, Louisiana. Named after Stephen Decatur, this street near the Mississippi River in the French Quarter was formerly known as "Levee Street".
The street starts at Canal Street (across Canal Street, the equivalent street is Magazine Street) running across the French Quarter roughly paralleling the Mississippi River, and comes to its terminus at St. Ferdinand Street in the Faubourg Marigny neighborhood. In the French Quarter, it merges with Peters Street at near Conti and St. Louis Streets, and from there the Street runs changing its name from Decatur to Peters for the next few blocks before these two streets are separated again in the lower French Quarter at just before St. Philip Street.
The most famous sights on Decatur Street are Jackson Square and nearby Café du Monde
For about a century upper Decatur Street (the portion closer to Canal Street) had many businesses catering to sailors visiting the port of New Orleans. In the late 20th century it was redeveloped and became more upscale, including the New Orleans branch of the House of Blues.
In the late 20th century lower Decatur Street became a center of local punk and goth subculture. It also has various bars and music venues, not far from the Frenchmen Street venues across Esplanade Avenue in Faubourg Marigny. The Palm Court Cafe is a famous traditional jazz venue.