NEW ORLEANS From Bienville to Bourbon Street to bounce. 300 moments that make New Orleans unique.

WHAT HAPPENED A redeveloped 1718 ~ 2018 Lincoln Beach was opened on 300 May 8, 1954. TRICENTENNIAL

The beach and amusement park in Lincoln Beach was separate but definitely not equal. the eastern New Orleans area known as Little Woods started as a 2.3-acre tract deeded to the city by Sam “The A revamped Lincoln Banana Man” Zemurray in 1938 as Beach, with roller coasters and other a beach for African-Americans. In rides, between 1954 1939, the Works Progress Adminis- and 1964, tration built a sand beach and beach house at the site, but it was not the equal of the whites-only Pontchar- train Beach closer to town. Visitors had to cross railroad tracks to get to the beach, and raw sewage from nearby fishing camps made the wa- ter unfit for swimming. In 1951, fol- lowing public outrage over the con- ditions at the beach, the city and the levee board expanded it to 17 acres and built swimming pools and a new A rusted sign on Hayne Boule- bathhouse. The revamped site was vard points to the former Lin- coln Beach amusement park. opened in 1954 and leased to an in- dependent company that operated rides including a Ferris wheel and roller coaster. While it still didn’t live up to Pontchartrain Beach, the enter- tainment was top tier. Nat King Cole, June Ray Charles, Josephine Baker, Ike and Foster was Tina Turner, Fats Domino and Little crowned ‘Miss Richard were among the entertainers Lincoln who performed at the park. With the Beach’ by crooner Civil Rights Act of 1964, Pontchar- Nat King A remnant of a swimming pool at Lincoln Beach. train Beach was opened to everyone, Cole at the beach’s Lincoln Beach booked popular local and Lincoln Beach closed later that reopening and national musicians including Fats year. Efforts to reopen or revitalize in 1954. Domino and Ike and Tina Turner. the Lincoln Beach site have failed.