Claiborne Avenue was once a neutral ground that was a main street for Tremé, the oldest African American neighborhood in the United States in New Orleans. In the 1950s, this avenue served as a community space lined with large oak trees and azalea gardens. During Carnival season, families would camp out, barbecue, and wait for the Mardi Gras parades to pass by. Due to racial segregation and Jim Crow Laws in the South, African Americans were not permitted to shop at white-owned stores. This resulted in the birth of the African American-owned business district on Claiborne Avenue.
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This historic strip included booming African American-owned businesses such as theaters, drug stores, insurance companies, restaurants, and toy stores. At the interection of St. Bernard Avenue and Claiborne was the St. Bernard Circle. The intersection bustled with activity around the famous Circle Food Store in New Orleans' historic seventh ward. This store was incorporated in 1938 and was New Orleans' first African American-owned full-service grocery store for 77 years. The Circle Food Store provided groceries, a pharmacy, a doctor, a dentist, a chiropractor, check cashing and banking, and a place to buy school uniforms.
Building the interstate
To much opposition from the neighborhood residents, a six-lane elevated Interstate-10 was constructed on Claiborne Avenue in 1969. According to residents of the area, the Claiborne Expressway is generally acknowledged as the city's most hated piece of infrastructure and is considered the primary cause of the decline of the once thriving African-American business district. The famous oak trees were removed, nearly 500 homes in the area were destroyed, families were displaced, and the businesses closed.
Revitalization
Over fifty years later, the only oak trees that line Claiborne Avenue are the ones painted on the concrete columns that support the interstate. Local artists have painted imagery on the columns that tell a story of the Tremé neighborhood's former history. In the wake of rebirth and reconstruction following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, many groups and leaders have made proposals to alter and/or remove the interstate in hopes of resurrecting the once booming strip. New programs attempt to restart economic growth, restore the area's history and culture, and create a future for young residents.