New Orleans, Louisiana

New Orleans, Louisiana is a large city in the American South and a former seat of French-American/Cajun culture. The Pendergast Family has deep roots in New Orleans. In 1750, Augustus Robespierre St. Cyr Pendergast bought a former Carmelite monastery on Dauphine Street in New Orleans's French quarter and converted it into a mansion called Rochenoire.

Aloysius Pendergast and his brother Diogenes were raised at Rochenoire. Although the mansion burned down when he was young, Aloysius is able to reconstruct the entire contents of the house in his mind using a technique called a Memory Palace. Pendergast still owns the property, which is currently being used as a parking lot.

As an adult, Aloysius Pendergast worked for the New Orleans branch office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation before transferring to New York City.