re: Just how bad was early 90s New Orleans?

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Imperfectlydes

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I don't really see how it could have been any worse than NOLA is now.

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Back then, violence and crime was confined to certain areas and the thugs knew not to frick around where the tourists and tax base were located

uptown resident 84-96. It was pretty bad. I got mugged and pistol whipped outside my house on 8th street and spent the night in the hospital. Several cars stolen and/or vandalized. Home breakins were commonplace and pretty much expected

Whatever problems NOLA has now they pale in comparison

I mean i grew up on the west bank and rode my bike all over Terrytown with a couple other boys and never remember being scared. I look back fondly on drinking out of random garden hoses and hanging out at this baseball card shop and that skating rink.

I moved to New Orleans 1998, so murders had started to decline from the early 1990s heyday. Other than the post Covid spike, crime has had very little impact on my life. Raised my kids here and they have not lived in fear.

In terms of crime, I blame social media for overhyping the impacts of crime as long as you are not in the drug game.

I would argue from a livability standpoint New Orleans is much better today than it was when I moved here. Just from a dining standpoint alone, the food scene is 10x better than the 90s. Many of the worst areas of the city when I moved here have gentrified and are relatively safe.

Only thing I would concede is that the French Quarter has deteriorated and I find myself spending less and less time there.

Full disclosure, this is from an Uptown resident. People in other neighborhoods may have a different experience

Was a senior in HS in 94-95. As long as you stayed out of central city you were fine. It would bleed over every once in a while but never anything I was overly concerned about. I was also young and stupid.

Extremely bad. Crack hit this city like a whirlwind.

Way worse bro

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I don’t think it was any worse in the 90’s than it is today. Used to be a great place to go

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Look at the murder rate. Way down even if you factor in less people live there now

New Orleans recorded 121 murders in 2025, resulting in a rate of approximately 34.5 homicides per 100,000 residents. 14 of those were from Terrorist attack

In 1994, New Orleans recorded an all-time high of 424 homicides, which translated to a peak rate of approximately 86 murders per 100,000 residents.

We were in NO as group one weekend in 95. After leaving pat o’s everyone wanted to go eat some drunken pizza. All but one. He left to go to the hotel alone. Re rest of us are and heads to hotel. We get there and he wasn’t there.

About 4 hours later we hear a tap tap tap at the room door. We open it and he fall in.

Turns out he was jumped by a handful of NOs finest. The broke his ribs. Stole his wallet, boots, keys and everything but pockets. He sways he came to in a gutter. Hobbled up to a police car and they told him to go back to his hotel. Ignored the whole thing.