Cuckoo for coconuts
The story goes that in 1908, a small group of African-American laborers formed a club called the Tramps. Inspired by a variety-show skit featuring actors wearing grass skirts and dressed in blackface to parody Zulus, the Tramps changed their name and took to the streets in the next Mardi Gras parade dressed as a vaudeville version of African kings with lard cans for crowns and banana stalks as scepters. In 1916, they became an official Carnival krewe known as the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club. Like all krewes, they took care of their members’ needs and carried out other benevolent acts for the community.
The Zulu parades became most famous for their coconut throws. Unable to afford the expensive glass beads then used by other krewes (today cheap plastic beads are used instead), they painted and decorated coconuts, and started slinging what became a much-desired memento. In 1987, the Zulus were denied insurance coverage because of lawsuits from coconut-related injuries. The following year Governor Edwin Edwards signed into law the “Coconut Bill,” removing liability from injuries resulting from tossed coconuts and enabling the tradition to resume.
Info
Address Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club Memorabilia Shop, 807 N Broad Street, New Orleans, LA 70119, +1 504.827.1559, www.kreweofzulu.com | Hours Memorabilia shop: Mon–Sat 10am–6pm. Club: by member-invitation only| Tip The best time to visit the Memorabilia Shop is in January and February, when it’s stocked up for Mardi Gras. Similar to the streetcars in New Orleans, which come when they come, the shop posts its hours as 10am to 6pm Monday through Saturday, but is instead open when they’re open and closed when they’re closed. Welcome to NOLA.
In 1978, the organization opened a new home on North Broad Street. The building, painted in Zulu colors of yellow with black trim, holds their offices and a lounge for both members and their guests. On the opposite side of Broad Street is the Zulu Memorabilia Shop. They sell inexpensive collectibles: beads, T-shirts, key chains, go-cups, plush toys, dress-up Afro wigs, straw skirts, and plastic Mr. Big Stuff cigars. There are more expensive one-of-a-kind objects like bobblehead dolls and ceramic and painted coconuts, plus the highest-priced item in the shop, the signed and numbered annual Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club poster.
Back
To the online map