Making Modern New Orleans

Every drama deserves a good backstory. For New Orleans, this narrative takes place during the "long 1970s," a time when political transformation, cultural rebirth, and urban reimagining revived a fading port city. Hosted by historian Justin Nystrom and journalist Jack Davis, each episode of the Making Modern New Orleans podcast explores how the city we know came into being through first-hand accounts of the people who made them happen.

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Episodes

Ella Brennan - Part 2

In the second part of our episode with Ella Brennan, we explore the opening of Mr. B's Bistro in 1979 and what it said about the changing dining tastes of New Orleans as the '70s came to a close, the arrival of Emeril Lagasse and how his symbiotic relationship with Commander's Palace enabled both to flourish, and Ella's reflection on the stakes of building a tourism economy in New Orleans.

Nov 11, 2024•36 min•Ep. 6

Ella Brennan - Part 1

Justin and Jack discuss their 2014 interview with Ella Brennan, matriarch of the storied restaurant family. In part one, Ella describes coming to Commander's Palace after the 1974 Brennan family split that sent them away from the Royal Street landmark and the enormous effort it took to transform the Garden District restaurant into the establishment that we would recognize today. She also talks about the changing culinary landscape of New Orleans and her relationship with the first chef to become...

Nov 04, 2024•43 min•Ep. 5

Charles Ferguson

Jack and Justin discuss their interview with Charlie Ferguson - who was once Jack's boss back in the 1970s and early 1980s when they were both at the States-Item and after when that paper's team took over the Times-Picayune. Jack suggests that Ferguson had more of a positive impact on New Orleans journalism than anyone else in the latter half of the twentieth century, a record for which this episode makes a case. Ferguson began working in journalism when he was a copy boy in his father's office,...

Oct 28, 2024•1 hr•Ep. 4

Bonus Track - Charles Ferguson

In this bonus track, Jack and Justin consider Charles Ferguson's observations about the decision to pursue convention business in New Orleans and the important legacy that it has had.

Oct 28, 2024•11 min•Ep. 4

Ben C. Toledano

This week Jack and Justin talk about their 2013 interview with self-exiled New Orleanian and iconoclast, Ben C. Toledano. Whether you agree or disagree with his point of view, it would be difficult to find a more interesting or complicated individual than Toledano. Born to one of the city's old families, he grew over time to see the failings of what he would describe as an insulated and intellectually incurious elite. He was an early Republican at a time when the Democratic Party dominated Louis...

Oct 21, 2024•55 min•Ep. 3

Robert Tucker

In this episode, Jack and Justin discuss their interview with New Orleans political insider and businessman Robert Tucker. As a young army veteran and civil rights activist, Tucker joined the 1969 mayoral campaign of Maurice "Moon" Landrieu and eventually served as the city's first African American deputy mayor. Landrieu came to rely on Tucker when it came to navigating conflict and change in the 1970s including the dramatic days surrounding the Black Panther standoff in the Desire Housing Proje...

Oct 14, 2024•58 min•Ep. 2

Lolis Edward Elie

Jack and Justin Creators & Guests Jack Davis - Host Justin Nystrom - Producer interviewed noted civil rights attorney and political observer Lolis Edward Elie at his home on Henriette DeLille Street on November 16, 2012. Born in the neighborhood known today as the "Black Pearl" in 1930, Lolis Elie grew up doing all manner of odd jobs, from waiting tables and caddying at the nearby Audubon Park Golf Course to shining shoes at the corner of St. Charles and Broadway. By his own admission, he di...

Oct 07, 2024•38 min•Ep. 1

Trailer - Introducing Season 1 of Making Modern New Orleans

Justin Nystrom introduces Season 1 of the new podcast Making Modern New Orleans, a production of the Digital Humanities Studio, Department of History, Loyola University New Orleans. Episode 1 coming October 2024.

Sep 30, 2024•4 min•Ep. 1

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