Is Love Ever Simple?
The Pursuit of Truth and Beauty in New Orleans

Photography Exhibit by L.J. Goldstein

From October through January, 2004 a new photo exhibit showcasing the photographic works of L.J. Goldstein will be showing inside the park visitors center. These striking black and white shots capture New Orleans street scenes like second line parades and jazz funerals.

These photographs were originally published as WWOZ' s 2004 calendar as a donation for their 2003 fall fund drive, and are arranged here, right to left, in the order that they originally appear in the calendar.

Born Lawrence Jerome Goldstein in Philadelphia in 1967, L.J. was raised in Manhattan, and began making photographs in 1986. He graduated from Bard College in 1990, and moved to New Orleans’ Treme neighborhood in 1993 where he fell in love with the city’s diverse cultural offerings. In 1994 he played softball for a bar in his community called Little People’s Place, and a racially divided battle over the issue of live entertainment in the neighborhood inspired him to go to Tulane University School of Law where he graduated in 1999.

L.J. has spent the last decade taking advantage of the freedom that New Orleans offers as a lifestyle, while at the same time working hard to somehow repay the community of people that has given him so much.

As a resident of Tremé, he has served on the Board of Directors of neighborhood organizations such as the Tremé Historical Development Corporation and Greater Tremé Consortium; founded New Orleans' first Jewish Mardi Gras Krewe (the Krewe du Jieux, a sub-krewe of the infamous Krewe du Vieux); and was a member of the Tremé Sidewalk Steppers Social & Pleasure Club as well as an honorary member of the Happy House Social & Pleasure Club.

His work has been exhibited at the grand opening of the Tremé Museum of African American Art, published in a Japanese CD/Book on the music of New Orleans' children, and was displayed in the Mayor's Entrance Lobby at City Hall for many years and is a part of the city’s permanent collection.

This exhibition is a cooperative effort between the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park, WWOZ Community Radio 90.7 FM, and photographer L.J. Goldstein. Enjoy!