Garden District
The 19th-century American sector where the cotton money built the houses, and the houses are still there.
Bounded by St. Charles, Magazine, Jackson, and Louisiana — twenty blocks of antebellum and Victorian mansions on streets shaded by 150-year-old live oaks. The neighborhood was built between 1832 and 1900 by Anglo-Americans who wanted nothing to do with the French Quarter Creoles, and the architectural separation tells you everything about the city's class history.
Walk First Street between Prytania and Coliseum for the most concentrated stretch of significant houses, including Anne Rice's former home at 1239 First. Lafayette Cemetery No. 1 at Washington and Prytania is open during the day and worth the half hour. Commander's Palace is across the street; lunch and a cemetery is a perfectly New Orleans afternoon.
Take the streetcar to Washington Avenue and walk in. Magazine Street, on the river side of the neighborhood, is six miles of independent shops and restaurants — the Garden District's commercial spine and a different walking experience entirely.