New Orleans JCC
MENU
Celebrating 60 Years in Our Home: A Legacy of Jewish Life in New Orleans
In Dialogue with Marlene Trestman and Roberta Brandes Gratz
As we celebrate the 60th anniversary of our home on St. Charles Avenue, we invite the community to reflect not only on the building itself, but on the remarkable stories it holds. While this milestone marks six decades of the JCC’s presence in this historic building, the site’s legacy reaches back much further—as the former Jewish Orphans’ Home, a place that has long stood at the heart of Jewish life in New Orleans.
Join acclaimed authors and historians Marlene Trestman and Roberta Brandes Gratz for a compelling conversation exploring the building’s evolution, its architectural and cultural significance, and the enduring impact of the Jewish community on the city of New Orleans.
Drawing from her acclaimed works The Most Fortunate Unfortunates and Fair Labor Lawyer: The Remarkable Life of New Deal Attorney and Supreme Court Advocate Bessie Margolin, Trestman will illuminate the history of the Jewish Orphans’ Home and the lives shaped within its walls.
Roberta Brandes Gratz, an internationally recognized urbanist, journalist, and preservation advocate, will bring her expertise on historic preservation, cities, and community, placing the building within the broader story of New Orleans and its Jewish heritage. She is the author of We’re Still Here Ya Bastards: How the People of New Orleans Rebuilt Their City and her newest book, Fearless Philanthropy: Edith Rosenwald Stern’s Campaigns to Transform Lives in New Orleans. Gratz is also the author of six other books on urbanism, including The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs, which is now also available as an audiobook.
Together, Marlene Trestman and Roberta Brandes Gratz will explore how one extraordinary building reflects generations of resilience, philanthropy, community, and continuity—serving as a cornerstone of Jewish life in New Orleans while offering a lens for understanding the city’s evolving history.
Following the conversation, both authors’ books will be available for purchase through Octavia Books, with a book signing to follow.
Stressed? If you're feeling it, chances are your child is feeling it too. You know the signs; when your mind starts racing and your heartbeat starts racing, your tendency is to get louder and faster. But what you and your body and your child need is for things to slow down and start making sense.
...
Members can now access Online Member Services on mobile devices by downloading the New Orleans JCC app in the App Store or Google Play.
...