Mississippi River and Bywater Self-Guided Bike Ride

Why choose this ride

This East Bank ride combines river views with the strongest variety of food, neighborhood, architecture, and music stops. It is also the natural alternative when the Algiers ferry is interrupted by fog or maintenance.

Plan the same three to four hours as the Gretna ride. With lunch, drinks, or live music, it can easily become a full-day outing.

Route sequence

How to ride it

1. Reach the river at Canal Street

Follow Iberville from the French Quarter toward the river, use the one-way turn behind Canal Place, and cross the tracks carefully at Canal Street. At the ferry landing, turn left instead of boarding.

2. Ride Woldenberg Park

Continue along the river past the steamboat Natchez, the French Quarter riverfront, and Jackson Square. Watch for pedestrians and slow down where the promenade becomes busy.

3. Continue through Crescent Park

Crescent Park occupies former industrial riverfront land and offers broad views of the river, traffic on the water, and the city from a changing angle. Its converted warehouse structures provide welcome shade in spots.

4. Exit at the downriver end

The official trail ends beside a fenced dog park. Beyond it is a wider concrete parking area. Leave through the opening in the floodwall, then descend the levee ramp toward Chartres Street. From the top of the ramp, The Joint barbecue restaurant is about a block away in its yellow-and-brown striped building.

5. Eat, drink, or listen

Continuing downriver requires crossing active but low-speed railroad tracks. Bacchanal Wine is at Poland Avenue and Chartres Street, and Parleaux Beer Lab is nearby. Opening days and hours change, so check before making one venue the purpose of the ride.

6. Return through Bywater and the Marigny

Royal Street leads naturally toward Frenchmen Street and offers more neighborhood character than Chartres, though many side streets are bumpy. Do not cross St. Claude Avenue for this ride. It is a heavily traveled corridor with truck traffic and the route is less rewarding beyond it.

At Elysian Fields, turn left and ride toward Esplanade Avenue and the Old U.S. Mint. Then turn right onto Frenchmen so you ride the entertainment blocks legally with traffic. From Frenchmen, turn left on Burgundy, continue to Esplanade, cross the median, ride one block to Dauphine, and take Dauphine back to the shop.

From the owner’s New Orleans: Matassa, WSMB, and fresh records

The return on Dauphine passes Matassa's Market. Nearby on North Rampart Street, Cosimo Matassa opened J&M Recording Studio, where Fats Domino, Little Richard, and other artists made records that helped change American popular music.

The site owner's grandfather, Marshall Pearce, was program director at WSMB radio when John Vath was the station manager. Cosimo sometimes brought Marshall freshly pressed records to put on the air. As a child, the site owner visited the studio, cued records, and experimented with the control board while his grandfather was broadcasting.

WSMB occupied the top of the thirteen-story Maison Blanche department store. The staffed elevator added to the adventure. Its operator would sometimes tease the children by stopping just above or below the studio floor. Beyond a door was an unfinished attic with rattling windows and rickety planks for walking. The former department store is now the Ritz-Carlton, and those upper reaches became some of the hotel's most valuable space.

From the owner’s New Orleans: a family surrounded by music

Music also came through other branches of the family. Great uncle John Senac led a jazz band and taught clarinet. He tried to teach the site owner, who now admits he was too stubborn to learn.

On the other side of the family, a great-grandfather and great uncle started TAC Amusement during the Depression. Family history says they bought a jukebox and carried it to parties on the back of an old Model T. The business grew into a regional network of jukeboxes, pinball machines, and later early video games such as Pong, reaching across the Gulf Coast and north to Shreveport.

Those jukeboxes always needed current music. The family home had its own jukebox and received new 45 rpm records every month. In this family, records moved from Matassa's studio to WSMB's turntables, neighborhood jukeboxes, and the living room.

From the owner’s New Orleans: a Dauphine Street home

Marshall Pearce lived down the block from Matassa's in a traditional shotgun house converted into a single-family home. The great room at the rear had once been an outdoor kitchen. After it was enclosed, its immense hearth and swinging black kettle remained as decoration, resembling a witch's cauldron to a child.

The deep yard included a working rainwater cistern used for the garden and a thicket of banana trees. A United Fruit Company executive had given Marshall one tree during the era when banana boats and New Orleans rail connections helped move Central American fruit into the country. The plant spread so vigorously that a gardener had to keep it around the edges of the yard.

Marshall later gave one of those plants to his grandson. Descendants still grow in the site owner's backyard, and he occasionally harvests their tangy fruit. The bananas make the old maritime trade visible as a living family inheritance.

Before setting out

Allow 3 to 5 hours, or a full day with music and longer stops.
Expect pedestrians in the riverfront parks and bumpy neighborhood streets.
Watch for impatient drivers using Chartres when trains block St. Claude.
Cross every active rail line slowly and as close to perpendicular as possible.
Returning through Crescent Park is also a good choice because the river and skyline look different in the opposite direction.

Questions about this ride

Can this ride replace the ferry route?

Yes. It begins from the same Canal Street riverfront area and is an excellent alternative when the ferry is not running.

Should riders use Royal or Chartres through Bywater?

Royal offers more neighborhood character. Chartres is smoother but can attract drivers detouring around a blocked train.

Can riders return through Crescent Park?

Yes. Retracing the park is simple and the opposite direction offers a fresh river and skyline view.

Useful official and related resources

Local route guidance reviewed July 2026. Conditions, hours, ferry operations, and businesses can change. Confirm time-sensitive details before departure.