Photo Essay: A Weekend In NOLA

[Cadenza]

Originally Posted by rhertz

The strip clubs were not too bad either!

(I only went once and it was weird, but also a memorable experience with my buddies that I won't soon forget)

I think that Antoine's relocated to Baton Rouge. But I'm pretty sure that Commander's and Brennan's have reopened.

Quite a number of NO restaurants relocated to Baton Rouge.

I know that New Orleans has a bad seamy side and laughable politics (watch a city council meeting on TV--hilarious if not so pathetic). But the two years that I lived there (Uptown between Magazine and the river) are full of wonderful memories. The city really got into my blood. This was in 1984-6 or so and ever since, going to New Orleans has felt like I'm going "home", more than going to my actual home in Texas. There were negative things like not having a driveway and being close to Magazine, sometimes having to park down the street. There are decent grocery stores now, but back then, you'd have to circle the parking lot till someone decided to leave. But the wonderful neighbors (yats) and architecture and walking in Audubon Park and the zoo with my son any time I wanted, the sound of the streetcar, going to the Quarter for the day, all of the uniqueness of this historic place...definitely worth the drawbacks back then. I had cried when my now ex-husband matched in a medical residency there. I'd been only to NO only once and only seen Bourbon St. and had a very negative impression of the city. But I cried a lot more when we moved away. For me, Katrina was heartbreaking.

[rhertz]

Please don't get me wrong. On that same trip were I saw the drunk man get pick pocketed by a juvenile, I also shopped Magazine street for antiques and junk. I ate my first bignet at Cafe DuMonde. My first Aunt Sally's Praline. My first Cafe Au Lait. My first Banana's Foster....... I even got my portrait painted. That trip may have been the most memorable of my life. I am deeply saddened by the fate that befell New Orleans. One of a kind city, that's for sure. I am even glad that I got to see one strip show pre-Katrina. I love New Orleans in my own little way just like everyone else.

[Isabella]

I hate to admit it, but I sort of agree with Joe. I visited NO about 7 years ago. It was much worse than when I visited about 20 years before that. It was so dirty and really trashy people were hanging out were the artists once were in Jackson Square. I was very disappointed. NO is not a place I want to visit again. There are many good, productive people who live there, but I am afraid there are many more people who choose to live off the government and who commit crime in that city. If I lived in NO, I would prefer these people would not return.