OUR STORY

The History of A Street Tour Named Desire

I started my first bike tour company, which was the very first in New Orleans, 16 years ago, for one reason, no one offered a tour of New Orleans that I would have wanted to take.  There were no bike tours back then, and no small group tours either, not even any independent one person companies with no budget. Luckily, post Katrina it was a time for everything and nothing in our city in the years after the storm, and I took a chance.

We grew and made so many friends along the way, but times change, even in New Orleans. A Street Tour Named Desire is back to the dream I originally had. Once a traveler who thought tours were not my style, that I could best figure things out on my own, somehow I eventually ended up on a van tour to the Colca Canyon in Peru. The guide blew my mind with all he taught me about local culture, and at 10000 feet, dizzy from being at a height 2 miles higher than my sea level house, the dream was born...show the New Orleans that was my life, the then-unknown neighborhoods and the culture of the city that was hidden. And do it the only way I ever got around, cruisers.

It took some prodding, entrepreneurialism is not my natural state, and when the first tour booked in April 2007, I tried to weasel out of it. Thrown out the door by a an exasperated girlfriend, I was shocked at how well it went. The customers loved it as did I and there was no turning back.

We reinvented what we thought a tour of our city should be so you could experience our home the best way possible and that is still what we do all these years later.

So much has changed...the neighborhoods that the old folks would come out and greet us, surprised even that visitors would find their old homes interesting, are now tourist hotspots with their names known around the world. We are still just a small group of friends gathered together, and a greater group of folks I can not imagine to share our city with you.

Occasionally people at the beginning of our tours look at the beautiful Oak trees at Washington Square Park, right off of Frenchmen Street, and ask “How did you end up starting your tours here?” The answer makes me laugh, in 2007 we wanted to find a spot so out of the way that we wouldn’t bother anybody and could bring a truck with some bikes on it and know we could park in an empty area.

New Orleans has changed, but it’s also stayed the same, and we are proud to be a part of it for you.


We bring you our life here, and cover what we enjoy. You’ll learn plenty about New Orleans, because that is our passion, all while having a great day out. We want you to leave our city filled with great memories and will do everything we can to make sure you do. .

We have an array of tours, all written by the guides taking you out, that cater to any interest. We’ve had our tours lead to marriage proposals, to folks moving to New Orleans, but mostly to many good times and great memories with customers who are now our friends.

If we sound like your kind of folks, consider booking a tour with A Street Tour Named Desire

Thanks for checking us out. – Jeff Shyman (founder and full-time guide)