Virtual French Market -- Walking Tour

If you've got any US coins that have an "O" mint mark, they were minted in this building. The Old US Mint was active from the 1840s up to the Civil War. During the war, the CSA minted coins here, but they're quite rare, as the Confederacy didn't have that much gold or silver bullion to turn into coins in the first place.

The photo above shows the back, or Barracks Street side of the Mint. (The main entrance is around the corner on Esplanade Avenue. From where you're standing looking at the Mint, you're ready to turn around and enter the Flea Market, and start our five-block trip through the Market.

In-between the French Market and the Mint is French Market Place. French Market Place isn't really a street, but a cul-de-sac that houses several small shops and stores like the one above. The building on the corner (below) is now the French Quarter location of the Louisiana Pizza Kitchen chain, which has several restaurants in the metro area.

This open area leading into the French Market used to be the home of the streetcar used in the Marlon Brando film, "Streetcar Named Desire," but the car was removed from French Market Place some years ago by the Regional Transit Authority for conservation.