<GNOCDC> Hollygrove Neighborhood Snapshot

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This information is pre-Katrina.
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Hollygrove Neighborhood Snapshot

Census 2000 Data Tables: People & Household Characteristics, Housing & Housing Costs, Income & Poverty, Transportation, Employment, Educational Attainment, Immigration & Language, Disabilities, Neighborhood Characteristics

Hollygrove is one of New Orleans’ more recently developed working class neighborhoods. But with less than a century of history, Hollygrove has already been home to several major musical talents.

Some of the New Orleans musicians who come from Hollygrove

Johnny Adams, considered by many to be one of the best R&B voices of our time, was born in Hollygrove in 1932. He sang gospel for many years, touring Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi with the Soul Revivers and The Consolators. Then in the late 1950s he began to sing R&B, but despite his talent, Johnny went largely unrecognized outside of New Orleans until almost 1990.


	Promotional photos from respective artists
	Starting at top and going clockwise: Johnny Adams, Lil Wayne and Theryl deClouet are all from Hollygrove.

His career was cut short in 1998 when he lost his battle with cancer and the world was deprived of one of the greatest R&B vocalists in history.

Theryl deClouet, also known as “The Houseman”, has succeeded in becoming one of Hollygrove’s more famous offspring. He grew up jamming with the Neville Brothers and Allen Toussaint, and eventually he founded his own a cappella soul group and named it “Hollygrove”. Theryl achieved worldwide acclaim when, as a mature soul singer; he joined the young members of Galactic and gave the band a new sound. Galactic’s funky style draws crowds in local haunts like Tipitina’s and in venues as far away as Japan.

Lil Wayne is one of Hollygrove’s younger talents. Born in 1981, Lil Wayne is considered one of the top rappers in hip hop. In 1993 he appeared in his first recording, and by the age of 18 he had performed on 12 albums including 2 solo albums. In 1999, Lil Wayne received a Source Award nomination for "Best New Artist".

Read more about these musicians...

Long and good bio on Johnny Adams

OffBeat’s article covering Galactic and Theryl deClouet

A short history of Galactic

A bio of Lil Wayne

When was Hollygrove first developed?


	Image courtesy New Orleans Public Library (nutrias.org). Permission for reuse required.
	Interior of pumping station ca. 1958 New Orleans pumps were originally designed and patented in 1915 by S&WB engineer A. Baldwin Wood. Some of the original Wood pumps are still used today and new pumps are still built according to his design.[Photograph by Leon Trice. Municipal Government Photograph Collection, S&WB Series]

The area now called Hollygrove was once part of the large McCarty Plantation. In 1833 the New Orleans Canal and Banking Company purchased land and many of New Orleans’ most important railroad lines ran through what was to become Hollygrove. When the town of Carrollton, a “suburb” of New Orleans, was incorporated by an act of the legislature in 1845, the area now known as Hollygrove was a part of it.

But this part of Carrollton was low-lying and remained undeveloped and swampy until many years after Carrollton was annexed to New Orleans in 1874. The Hollygrove area finally began to be developed in the middle part of the 1900’s when many one and two family residences were built. By 1965, there was very little vacant land left in the Hollygrove neighborhood.

Hollygrove gets new canals and a pumping station

Because Hollygrove is in a naturally low-lying area, flooding is a particular problem in this neighborhood. In 1996, the federal government gave $100 million to the Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build new canals and pumping stations in five New Orleans’ neighborhoods. Hollygrove is one of the areas benefiting from these new drainage projects.

For more information about the new drainage project in Hollygrove, read about the Southeast Louisiana Drainage Program.

Carrollton-Hollygrove Multipurpose Senior Center

This multipurpose center was founded in 1977 as a community facility in which older people may come together to fulfill many of their social, physical and intellectual needs. The adult daycare program provides an array of services focused on prevention of early institutionalization.

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Last modified: October 5, 2002