When you walk into Baldwin & Co., a bookstore and coffee shop in New Orleans‘s lively Marigny neighborhood, you feel not only at ease but also inspired. Owner DJ Johnson was intentional in his curation of the hybrid space, which has hosted community gatherings since it opened in early 2021. “I wanted to provide nourishment for the soul of New Orleans,” says Johnson, who spent several years in Atlanta pursuing a career in information technology before returning to the city where he grew up. He’s done just that by turning the lovingly renovated storefront, once a po’boy shop, into a hub for the city’s Black and Brown writers, artists, and creatives. Johnson finds his own sustenance in the city’s eclectic and ever-expanding art and music scenes, from dancing along to big, brassy jazz bands to visiting galleries that celebrate the city’s enduring African American heritage. Here’s how he spends 48 hours in the Big Easy.
The Power of Art
Johnson often spends his days off exploring the city’s galleries and studios—or returning to ones he’s fond of. Among these are Studio Be, helmed by the visual artist and filmmaker Brandan “Bmike” Odums, and the New Orleans African American Museum of Art, History and Culture, where curator Gia M. Hamilton is executive director. Exhibitions feature paintings of Black families and activists, and images symbolizing resistance to racism and inequality—all works that “capture the contributions of so many Black Americans to New Orleans,” says Johnson.
New Orleans’s thriving art scene isn’t restricted to the indoors. Running alongside the Mississippi River, artist Jamar Pierre’s mile-long Tchoupitoulas Floodwall Mural depicts more than 300 years of New Orleans history, from the earliest Native Americans through to the present day. Johnson likes to stroll the length of it.
Where the Music Takes You
“There’s no better place for live music” than Preservation Hall, says Johnson. The venue in the heart of the French Quarter has hosted some of the New Orleans jazz scene’s all-time greats: The Humphrey Brothers, Sweet Emma Barrett, and George Lewis. But he might catch a performance by local musicians at Kermit’s Tremé Mother-in-Law Lounge, or hit the club at Royal Sonesta to catch the hometown band Kings of Brass. When you hear them, “you won’t be able to stand still.”
Hungry City
Sundays start with brunch—either an omelet or sizzling shrimp—at the Elysian Bar at Hotel Peter & Paul, a renovated church and schoolhouse that he attended as a child. “It’s one of my favorite places to visit because of the historical context,” says Johnson. Occasionally, he’ll go to Neyow’s Creole Café for red beans and rice, or Surrey’s Café in the Lower Garden District, which has “the best pain perdu in the world.”
Take to the Streets
Johnson likes to stroll along Magazine Street in the Lower Garden District or through the historic African American Tremé neighborhood, where the iconic restaurant Dooky Chase—another favorite—has stood for 83 years. Shotgun homes and elaborate Greek Revival manses dot the route, but most transfixing, he says, is the signature ironwork. “It’s unique to New Orleans—it’s something that stands out.”
This article appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Condé Nast Traveler. Subscribe to the magazine here.
