Nowhere elicits the same feelings as home. We may move around our whole lives, but the moment we pull back into the city from which we hail, bliss ensues. New Orleans is that special place for me. When I drive over the I-10 – 610 split, it’s windows down and music up. There is a certain taste of culture that impregnates the air around New Orleans. Grabbing that first breath while passing through Lakeview can reinvigorate even the weariest of travelers. Although, as you delve deeper into the city, the scenes around you come alive.

First of all, Lakeview is my personal Mecca, then, Mid-City is where I go to be a bohemian for a few hours, and finally, Gentilly, more specifically Elysian Fields, was where I learned to be a man. The immediate neighborhoods around Lakeview have been my stomping grounds for more than two decades now. However, venture a little further and you’ll discover a whole new world. The Bywater gives the Marigny a run for its money: we’re talking about the highest concentration of yuppies and millennials outside of Portland, Oregon. A place where there’s a free comedy show on Wednesday nights two houses down from the crack house that’s serving a line of customers. The level of integration in neighborhoods, like the Marigny, Bywater and Tremé, has created one of the more impressive melting pots in the country. Travel east of these swanky spots and you’ll enter, quite literally, the East. It's a place unlike any other in the GNO. The East is a vicious combination of Swamp, Crime, Rich, Poor and some of the best food in the city. A location that, unfortunately, has not fully bounced back following the hurricane. Nonetheless, the East is still an important section of town, the Gateway to the East Coast. Conversely, west of these culturally confusing locations is the heart and soul of the city. Downtown, Uptown, the CBD and the Vieux Carré are what we as a city are known for.

Forget Bourbon street—the best streets don’t include topless women and huge beers. Take a walk down Magazine Street and see which one is more interesting. Go stroll along St. Charles and pick which street has better bars. Watch the live music on Frenchmen and try to say with a straight face that the street performers in the Quarter are more fun to watch. Basically, if you see Mardi Gras beads outside the month of February—run.

Now, I don’t say these things to dissuade anyone from going to the Quarter, as the Quarter is one of the best daytime spots in the City. Also, despite what I just said, Pat O’Brien’s Piano Bar, which is on Bourbon, might actually be the most New Orleans establishment in the city. To summarize, there is a sparkling diamond in every shit hole the city has to offer. No matter where you are in Orleans Parish, you are never more than four blocks from the best bars, food or experiences the city has to offer.

Maybe it’s the constant barrage of good-hearted people, maybe it’s the closeness to danger, it is certainly not the heat, but something draws us here. There is something so beautifully carnal about the pleasures this city has to offer. You can eat your heart out, drink your head into the toilet, spend all your money and sleep in the gutter, but when you wake up the city takes you back in like the Prodigal Son. Follow up the best/worst night of your life with brunch at 11 a.m. at a café that’s older than your grandparents. There is, nearly, no shame here (I’m talking to you Mitch); we accept everyone and everything about a person here. We Natives want you to feel just as happy and content here as we do. If it’s home for me, then it can be home for you.

These feelings invoked by my city are the reason that I find myself returning home, over and over again. Nothing can keep me away forever. No politician, no natural disaster, no amount of crime will ever besmirch my views of this city. I see beyond the corruption and violence of my home and I believe that this City does the soul good. So please, come visit. We are the best, I promise.