Sitting on the Galerie and Playing on the Banquette

About the Book

One of the many unique characteristics of the City of New Orleans is the way the people speak. The historical roots of the city, with its African, French, Native American, and Spanish populations, produced everyday words that are still used by some families well into the twenty-first century. Many of these words and expressions might puzzle some people who hear them today. When choosing a title for this little book, there was no difficulty selecting the one used by this writer. Since I believe it conveys the exuberance of playing on the banquette and the tranquility of sitting on the galerie. The word banquette referred to the early sidewalks that lined the streets of New Orleans. Its origin has been attributed to the fact that, in the early French colonial period, the city was plagued with pools of water that settled into wagon tracks and holes in the muddy streets and made foot traffic very difficult.

About the Author

Roland Davidson was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in a section of the city known as the Treme. His parish church was St. Peter Claver, and he attended New Orleans public schools. He married his childhood sweetheart, Beryl Davis. He served in the army in World War II and the Korean War. The family moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1956, and he pursued a number of careers before becoming a human resources executive. He and Beryl have three children and four grandchildren. He is a board member of the Los Angeles Brotherhood Crusade. He has served as a board member of the Los Angeles Urban League; served as a board member of California State University—Los Angeles Development Board; served as a board member of the Los Angeles Project with Industry for the Disabled; Was a referee for the California State Bar Court; and was an arbitrator for the National Association of Securities Dealers. He has always maintained that if you were born in New Orleans and moved away, you never really severed your umbilical cord to the city.