Moon Walk Promenade — The Name Behind the Name
The Moon Walk Promenade in New Orleans is a one-mile pedestrian walkway along the Mississippi River named after Mayor Maurice "Moon" Landrieu, who reconnected the city to its waterfront in 1970. Built opposite Jackson Square for 216,000 dollars, the walkway replaced old industrial wharves that blocked public river views. The mayor's son, Mitch Landrieu, dedicated the latest renovated version in 2018.
New Orleans · from the walk “Moon Walk: New Orleans Riverfront Revealed” · audio ~3 min · Generated
Moonwalk Riverfront Park, 453 St Peter St, New Orleans
- Mayor Maurice Landrieu legally changed his first name to Moon in 1969 before running for office.
- Crews began demolishing wharves along the Mississippi River in 1970 to build the original wooden boardwalk.
- The initial one-mile wooden walkway opposite Jackson Square cost two hundred sixteen thousand dollars to construct.
- Mayor Mitch Landrieu dedicated the latest version of the Moon Walk Promenade in 2018.
Who is the Moon Walk Promenade in New Orleans named after?
Take a deep breath and look at the Mississippi River in front of you. That brown, rolling water... for most of the twentieth century, you would Not have been able to stand here and see it. Not even close.......... You see, when Jackson Square was first laid out in the seventeen twenties, it looked straight out over the Mississippi. But over the decades, that view vanished. Levees were raised after devastating floods. Warehouses crowded the banks. And port authorities erected barriers that sealed off the riverfront entirely. The general public was separated from the water by a wall of wharves and sheds that prevented all contact... visual or otherwise.......... This promenade you're standing on changed everything. And its name? It has nothing to do with the dance move or the lunar landing. It's named after one man... Mayor Maurice "Moon" Landrieu.......... Now, even the nickname has a story. "Moon" wasn't his name at all. He was born Maurice Edwin Landrieu in nineteen thirty. The nickname actually belonged to his Older Brother Joseph, who had a big round face the boys called "Moon." Joseph eventually tired of it and started calling his little brother "Little Moon"... and it stuck for life. Maurice legally changed his first name to Moon in nineteen sixty nine, just in time for his mayoral campaign.......... But here's what makes this promenade truly remarkable. Moon Landrieu wasn't just a builder... he was a civil rights Pioneer. In nineteen sixty, as a freshly elected state legislator, he cast what was sometimes the Only vote against segregationist bills in the Louisiana legislature. They called him "Moon the Coon" to try to break him. It didn't work! He won the mayor's office in nineteen seventy with ninety percent of the African American vote, integrated City Hall from top to bottom, and then turned his attention Here... to this riverfront.......... In nineteen seventy, crews began tearing down the old wharves. The one mile long wooden walkway was completed for just two hundred and sixteen thousand dollars, built right opposite Jackson Square. It was originally a simple wooden boardwalk with shade trees and benches. Since then, it's been rebuilt Three times... the latest version dedicated in twenty eighteen by Moon's own son, Mayor Mitch Landrieu, as a tribute to his father during the city's three hundredth anniversary.......... Moon Landrieu passed away in twenty twenty two at age ninety two. But stand here, feel that river breeze, and know... this view, this moment, exists because one man believed a city should never be walled off from its own river.