Uptown side / downtown side / lakeside / riverside
NOLA's cardinal directions — locals don't use N/S/E/W because the river bends.
Definitions
New Orleans throws out compass directions because the Mississippi bends so hard the city is a crescent — north/south/east/west stops meaning anything useful. Instead, every local navigates by four reference points: uptown (upriver, towards Audubon Park), downtown (downriver, towards the Quarter and the Bywater), lakeside (towards Lake Pontchartrain) and riverside (towards the Mississippi). Directions and even side-of-the-street get given this way: 'the lakeside corner of Magazine and Napoleon', 'the downtown side of the neutral ground'.
Uptown side / downtown side / lakeside / riverside In A Sentence
Origin & Usage
People Also Ask
What do uptown side, downtown side, lakeside, and riverside mean?
They're New Orleans' cardinal directions — locals use them instead of N/S/E/W because the Mississippi River bends through the city.
Why doesn't New Orleans use north, south, east, and west?
Because the river curves so sharply that compass directions get confusing, so locals orient by the river and the lake instead.
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