But New Orleans does them one better - they abandon the compass too. The city is on the east bank, except that the east bank is north of the river. The river runs west to east here. So guess where the West Bank (a defined area of New Orleans) is? Well, that one they made easy - it's south of the river.

I actually live not in New Orleans, but on the Northshore - of the lake that borders New Orleans to the north, on the east bank.

Get it?