New Orleans
The Crescent City. 3/31/2010.
New Orleans is like no other American city. It is a city with a rich history and traditions, it has old world charm and a modern central business district. It has neighborhoods with multi million dollar houses close to neighborhoods with run-down structures. Its culture is a mixture of French, Spanish, English and Caribbean/African traditions.
New Orleans is a city of many celebrations, the people here celebrate almost anything with parades and music, they say "laissez le bons temps rouler." Celebrations are not the only thing that is important here. Food in New Orleans is also celebrated. The city offers an incredibly diverse choice of cuisines influenced by many ethnic groups; some remain religiously faithful to their roots and others mix in some of the local characteristics. They say some people eat to live but here they live to eat. There are so many things going on daily that it is hard to choose whether to attend an outdoor concert, spend the afternoon and evening at the racetrack watching the thoroughbreds, watch a parade, take a walking tour, visit a museum, have a drink in a French Quarter courtyard, browse through the antique shops and galleries, or eat a delicious dinner al fresco and people watch. We have done all these things and more.
But New Orleans is not without its problems. Crime, especially murders, is still very high, political corruption is ongoing, poverty is evident and rebuilding is very slow. Here in the Warehouse District some of the old damaged warehouses have been neglected for so long that they have become petrified. Do the people even notice the pot holed streets, abandoned buildings and general disrepair? In any case, repairs are disruptive, you can't have all those parades and celebrations when there is construction going on. "Don't worry, be happy," seems to be the theme embraced by all.
New Orleans' diverse culture makes it one of the most cosmopolitan and vibrant of all the American cities. All races and nationalities are included and celebrated. Old world cultures are celebrated along with its live new world culture that defines New Orleans.
Fat Tuesday. 2/17/2010.
After 65 Carnival parades plus the mother of all parades to congratulate the Super Bowl champions Saints named "Lombardy Gras," the real Mardi Gras finally arrived.
The weather has been unseasonably cold for this time of year with the 3 parades for Thursday night cancelled because of 40 degree temperatures and rain, but by Friday through Fat Tuesday the parades were back in full swing.
New Orleans knows how to put on parades. They have a whole industry devoted to it. If other cities need advice on parades they should hire the people from New Orleans; they have been doing this for over a hundred years. The Rex, king of Carnival, Monarch of Merriment krewe have been marching since 1872. As a matter of fact the newspaper USA Today ran a story about the efficient trash pickup after parades, provided by a company called SDT Waste and Debris Service owned by Sidney Tores IV. The company picks up 8,000 tons of trash from Thursday to Fat Tuesday. The company's chemist developed a fragrance with extra enzymes called "Superfresh" to kill the famous Bourbon Street stench. It sprays the concoction on the street after the trash is picked up. A valuable lesson for other cities and Washington, DC. Let free enterprise develop a solution, not burden us with needless regulations.
New Orleans is unique, I do not think any other city in the US could put up with 10 days of street closings in the central city and resulting traffic jams. But here they treat it like just another party. We are fortunate to live just 3 blocks from the major parade route so we can just walk to Lee Circle to watch, no need to drive or find parking, since parking lots around here charge $30. But this location may become inconvenient if you need to drive home during the parade.
Monday night Margee returned home from her trip to Gasparilla Island, Florida during the worst possible time, the Proteus and Orpheus parades. The freeway coming in from the airport was totally jammed up with cars trying to make it to the parades. The Cotton Mill, where we live, is completely enclosed by the parade route, so all the streets were closed. We had to snake our way through the far side of the French Quarter with the rest of the traffic and slowly try to make it to Convention Center Blvd. before that street closed for the Orpheus parade which ended there. A normally half hour trip from the airport took more than 2 hours. After we arrived home Margee rested and I walked up to Lee Circle to watch the last parade.
The last of the parades start early on Fat Tuesday, at 8 a.m., with eleven parades throughout town and the suburbs. Some people come overnight put up tents and snag a spot so that they can set up their grills, cook pots for gumbo and tables. The smoke you see in the pictures is from grilling. Where we live, the Uptown area, we have 3 parades; Zulu, Rex and Elks Orleanians, then everyone congregates in the French Quarter and Bourbon St.
After watching the parades we grabbed a beer to go, and walked to Bourbon St. You have to walk the street here with a drink in your hand otherwise the locals think you are some kind of out-of-town weirdo in the city causing trouble. Talking to old timers here, this year's festivities are more jovial than usual because the Saints won the Super Bowl. The standard greeting between people is "who dat" not hello or hi. When we arrived Bourbon St. was completely jammed with people for as far as the eye could see. The balconies in the pictures are for rent, with the ones advertising clean bathrooms more crowded than others. We threaded our way through the crowd, people-watching and encouraging people to throw us beads from the balconies. Walked as far as Toulouse St. and worked our way back on a less crowded street. Mardi Gras was quite an experience, and we're happy that we were able to be part of it, with so many people having fun without any sign of trouble or meanness. But you can only take so much celebration. so we bought a couple of drinks and walked back home.
Midnight comes and the celebration is over. The mounted police come through and clear the streets, then SDT follows with their sweepers and by Wednesday morning the French Quarter looks like nothing happened overnight. Ash Wednesday is a welcome relief for police after ten days of overtime work and I am sure for some of the citizens as life in the city is back to normal.
Les Bons Temps. 2/7/2010.
The enthusiasm in this city can be infectious. Carnival hits high gear this week with multiple parades every day. There are a total of 65 parades starting on the feast of the Epiphany and ending on fat Tuesday the day before Ash Wednesday. This year they added an extra parade on Tuesday after the Supper Bowl. The city will celebrate the football team win or lose. Geaux Saints!
Folklore states that Mardi Gras started with the LeMoyne brothers Iberville and Bienville. (1)King Louis XIV sent the brothers to defend the territory of Louisiana. They found the mouth of the Mississippi River on March 3, 1699, Mardi Gras of that year. They made camp, named the spot Point d'Mardi Gras and started a spontaneous celebration.
We are fortunate to live near the Uptown parade route, only 3 blocks from Lee Circle where the parades come by. The first one is Oshun. (1)This krewe, participant or the parade, honors Oshun, the goddess of religion practiced by descendants of West Africa Yoruba slaves in Brazil, Haiti and Cuba. Oshun represents fountains, love and wealth, and married Shango, lord of lightning, war and virility.
(1) From The Times-Picayune
Cotton Mill. 1/22/2010.
The condo complex we are staying in was renovated in 1997, used to be the Maginnis Cotton Mill established in 1882. The property is located south of the business district and 2 miles south of the French Quarter. The central location of our unit affords us to walk everywhere we need to except grocery shopping.
Cotton was king in New Orleans when Maginnis was in operation. According to historian John Kendall, New Orleans was the home of the cotton exchange. In 1884 when the World Fair was held in New Orleans one third of all cotton produced in the US was handled here.
Arthur Ambrose Maginnis II was born in New Orleans in 1848, He attended public school and joined the Confederate Guard regimental state troops at 14, and was called the "youngest confederate." Arthur's father built the Maginnis Oil and Soap Works in New York City and his son eventually became manager. Arthur Ambrose II married the daughter of one of the most powerful politicians in New York City, William Marcy 'Boss' Tweed.
In 1881 Arthur Ambrose began purchasing land for the Maginnis Cotton Mill. The factory was one of the biggest in America. At its peak, in early 1890s, the mill employed a thousand workers; men, women and children. The company operated until 1944.
Near our Condo there are several Hollywood movie crews filming theater and TV projects. On our street one crew is filming The Hungry Rabbit Runs starting Nicholas Cage. Two Blocks away another crew is shooting the HBO series 'Treme.'
Who Dat Nation. All Saints Day. 1/16/2010
The biggest news in New Orleans is the city's fascination with their football team, the Saints. For us it is unfortunate that our Packers lost to the Cardinals. It would have been exciting having them come to town to play the Saints. Now we will have to root for our new team.
According to the Times-Picayune "Who Dat" gained popularity in 1983 but the phrase is a lot older. Bum Phillips was the coach then and the team was known as the "Aints" with fans wearing paper bags. Bum had a good draft that year and the fans were starting to get hopeful. As with a lot of the culture in New Orleans "Who Dat" is traced to early jazz. The earliest known song was a vaudeville act in 1890 written by Laurence Dunbar called "Who Dat Say Chicken In Dis Crowd."
The team also has a playoff prayer written by the Rev. Tony Richard, pastor of Our Lady Star of the Sea Parish. It goes in part "Good and gracious God...We remember the National Football League Season of 1980 and our downtrodden days of 1 and 15. We repent for our shameful past of wearing bags on our heads forgetting that you were on our side...Just like the Hebrew children our 40 years of wandering in the desert have come to an end....We can taste the Super Bowl! And, yes lord, we believe...Now, through your providence, may we, the Who Dat Nation, finally reach the Promised Land."
The party started early on Saturday morning before the game with huge crowds celebrating around the Superdome. Streets were closed for tailgating, dancing and drinking. Tailgating in New Orleans leaves a lot to be desired. Green Bay fans put the Saint fans to shame with their elaborate grilling. Open flames are not allowed for tailgating. That is a shame because barbeque is king in New Orleans. One thing Saints fans have in their favor is music; bands are everywhere.
New Orleans is an exciting and fascinating city. It has more restaurants per block than Milwaukee has taverns, though there is no shortage of bars in New Orleans. New Orleans has the most tolerant drinking law after probably Key West. It is a 24 hour city, no mandatory closing laws, with an open container law. The container must be plastic for outdoor use. It also has drive-through daiquiri bars, but if you get stopped by the police the container better have a lid.
The restaurants are amazing with a melting pot cuisine influenced by many nationalities. From our condo, within a mile radius, there are enough good to excellent restaurants from so many different regions or countries that, if we could afford it, we could eat out every night and not hit the same restaurant for the next 30 days. If we increase it to 2.5 miles we could eat at a different restaurant for the rest of our 3 month vacation. All these restaurants are within walking distance. I am still looking for a good bakery, Whole Food bread is not up to my standard. With so many Italians and French in New Orleans I am confident there is one somewhere in the city.
Cooling it in the Big Easy. 1/7/2010.
Left Wisconsin on January 5th during the national big freeze. The biggest news of the week, besides the panty bomber, was the weather south of the Mason Dixon line. It was especially amusing watching the evening news from our hotels and listening to horrifying news casts about the freezing temperatures in the coming week. In one news cast a reporter was interviewing a man in Atlanta, in sunny weather, with a new snow shovel saying he was ready if snow came that night. The people here in the south take their 1/4 inch of snow seriously. As we traveled south the noon time temperature did not reach 32 degrees until we arrived in Jericho, AR 644 miles south of our house. To contrast this temperature with the real Jericho in Palestine, according to the Ma'an news agency the temperature there was between 75 and 100. Their reporting was also a lot calmer stating that, "Temperatures will drop slightly, rendering the weather fine and not unbearably hot. Temperatures will be close to the seasonal average, and a moderate to brisk westerly wind will blow." Maybe we should consider spending the winter in Palestine but convincing Margaret will be difficult.
New Orleans is most famous as the birthplace of jazz. It was the only city in the New World where slaves were allowed to own drums and Voodoo rituals were openly tolerated. It was in New Orleans that the combination of European horns and African drums came together to create the stomping beat for the new dancing music. The local cats took the music they heard in churches and the sound they heard in barrooms, putting it together to form a wild, jubilant music that was later called Jazz. The word "jazz" was a West Coast slang term of uncertain derivation and was first used to refer to music in Chicago in about 1915. As credited by early Jazz musicians who played for him and most Jazz historians, in 1895 Buddy Bolden (1877-1931) invented Jazz. He earned that distinction as the 1st bandleader of the music in Storyville, bounded by Basin Street, Iberville Street, Robertson Street and St. Louis Street. Storyville eventually gained its name after councilman Sidney Story who advanced city legislation to quarantine, but not prohibit prostitution in 1897. Given 24-hour bordellos, lax drinking laws and visiting plantation owners, you couldn't have wine and women without a song.
New Orleans has street names in French and Spanish, and Creole architecture with its many tropical colors. The City was founded In 1718, when Sieur de Bienville founded a port city five feet below sea level, near the juncture of the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico, it had to be reclaimed from a swamp. The new city, or ville, was named La nouvelle Orleans for Philippe, Duc d'Orleans, and centered around the Place d'Arms, later to be known as Jackson Square. It was confined to the area we now call the French Quarter or Vieux Carre (Old Square). In 1762, because royal coffers were exhausted, Louis XV gave Louisiana to his Spanish cousin, King Charles III. Spanish rule was relatively short lasting until 1800. From Spain, Louisiana was ceded back to France and was finally sold by Napoleon, at a cost of fifteen million dollars, to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, effectively doubling the size of the U.S.A.
