Culturally rich, but unable to rebuild

Artist Lionel Milton, a Lower 9th Ward native, grew up steps away from New Orleans royalty , R&B singer Fats Domino, whose black and yellow house stands on Fats Domino Avenue, not far from Milton’s home at 1429 Flood St. Other musicians and artists also lived nearby, all celebrities within the tight-knit Lower 9.

Usually on a warm New Orleans day, young Lionel could be found skateboarding through the streets looking for a frozen cup, playing football with friends, drawing on paper, or spraying art graffiti on abandoned walls , in the Milton style that is now well-known from Jazz Fest and Mardi Gras posters and art hung in galleries around the world.