Share Your Memories of New Orleans

Regardless of how much of the city they manage to restore, the city of New Orleans will never be the same. Regretfully, I've only been to New Orleans once and only for a few days on business so I only got a small taste of the culture there. Even with my limited exposure to the city, it was clear that New Orleans and the people who live there are a unique type of their own.

I'm sure many people have been there. If you're one of them, do you have any interesting or special memories about your experience there?

I never visited -- it has been on the top of my list of places that I have always wanted to see...

Rush Limbaugh -- on a tour some years ago -- said that there are only three cities in the USA that are different from all the rest: NYC, SF, and New Orleans.

I am going on record as stating that New Orleans will be back sooner than one expects! I just saw on TV that the French Quarter -- being on higher ground -- never flooded. Even if it did flood, it must not have been the first time.

The French Quarter will probably be ready for tourists quite soon, and will be a viable destination as soon as the rest of New Orleans is cleaned up enough to allow somewhat normal business and tourism.

My guess -- up and running before New Year's Eve.

I think New Orleans will be open sooner than expected too, but I don't think the city that reopens will be the real New Orleans again for a long time. My first impressions of New Orleans were all bad. I never felt very safe at any time and the great and obvious poverty really bothered me. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to live there, but the people I met really seemed to truly love their city. The more I talked to them, the more I began to realize that there was something about this place that you wouldn't ever understand by just going down Bourbon St.

On my second day there, I ended up in a rusted old Cadillac taxi that looked unsettling on the outside and just plain scary from the inside. After I climbed in back, I took a good look at the cab driver and decided to get a different cab. I reached for the door handle, but it wasn't there. Then I felt around for the seatbelt, but that was gone too.

The driver was an elderly Black lady who hunched with bent elbows over her two wrinkly hands clinging to the steering wheel. She spoke slowly and appeared to have trouble seeing. I thought about asking her to let me out, but I didn't want to be too paranoid so I gave her my destination.

We creaked slowly away from the curb and I was off on the weirdest cab ride I've ever had. I knew I was going to get a story out of this ride so I looked around the cab for things to talk about.

Her glove compartment displayed many fading pictures of her family glued and taped to it. A plastic Jesus on a cross hung from the rear view mirror and a severely tattered copy of the Bible sat on the dashboard.

"Hey, is that your family?" I asked pointing at the photos.

"Yeah, they're my family." she replied.

I wait for her to continue, but that's all she has to say. I ask her more questions about the photos, but she answers everything by saying "yes" or "no". It's a slow conversation, and about the only thing slower is the speed of the taxi. We're traveling 20 mph down a major road in a car with that has a hazard rating instead of a safety rating.

Out of good conversation starters, I resort to questions about the weather. She perks up, but in a tense sort of way.

"We had hail the other day! It was the size of baseballs and it was coming down hard and it put these bumps on my car. I don't care because my car's not nice, but it was like...it was like...it was like the end of the world! You know, the end of the world!"

I looked at the religious symbols spread throughout her taxi and prepared myself for a sermon about Jesus returning to Earth for the faithful and leaving everyone else behind to live hell on Earth, but the conversation takes a turn more unforeseen than a lecture on the rapture. Her biggest fear was a nuclear holocaust and apparently, bad weather was a potential sign of it coming.

She became noticeably upset. "That would be horrible! It would be horrible! It'd be all gone!"

I assumed she was in distress over the future of the human race, but she was actually only talking about the City of New Orleans.

"This would be gone! The city would be gone! It would be horrible! I don't even want to think about it! Can you imagine how long it would take to rebuild New Orleans?"

The world is destroyed and this woman's biggest concern is the damage it would do to her city. It seemed humorous to me, but after a few more conversations with native residents, I got the sense they loved their city in a way that you just don't find in such measure elsewhere--at least not among the poor.

None of these people were rich and New Orleans was no sugar daddy to them, yet they still identified with it in a strong (but laid back) way. These will be the people who will be hit the hardest by the hurricane. Many will have nothing to return to or be unable to return. The water will dry, the booze will be back on tap, the party will go on, but they're not going to take place in the real city of New Orleans for a long time.

It is such a pity what has happen to this unique area of the country. When I visited New Orleans several years back it was in May. Not too hot and not rainy either. The Southern manners were abounding and many helped me with my elderly parents. I lived in the South when I was very young and remember the s-l-o-w pace.

My Dad had an artifical leg and was having a tough time of it - so I suggested a horse/buggy ride to get our lunch on Bourdon Street. Well, my Dad would have not of that - until the buggy driver got wind of it and convince him it was the best method to go around town for a gentleman! That save me a ton of struggle and my Dad a very nasty walk.
The driver even stopped and asked a few of his pals where the best place for lunch was for this ex-Naval officer. It was a if the whole street had pitched in for this conversation.
We ended up at a old fashion bar & seafood and had to walk up 2 narrow flights of stairs. The buggy driver drove back to get us after lunch and my Dad had a plate full of craw-fish to eat. These other men in town that day, who owned several businesses could not have been nicer to my Father. That I will always remember what a entertaining buggy ride and lunch on Bourdon St. we had that day.
On another day my Mom and I took a early morning walking tour and ended up at the French cafe for mochas and dessert. The folks that owned buildings do not accept Fed Funds to historical upkeep because they want to do it "their way".
Swap tours were fun to and the old historical mansions I liked the best. It reminded me of "Gone with the Wind" much of the time.

We all enjoyed the Zydeco (sp?) music and dancing. It has it's roots in the Irish and Scottish traditional dances.

Just outside of New Orleans are some very poor neighborhoods. That city has always been way below sea level and newly engineers buildings pumped even more water out as they built.

It will never be the same and I believe many years to recover a fraction of it's excitement. But the spirit is strong and folks with work hard to gain a hold of life as they know it and bring back traditions of New Orleans.

My prayers and thoughts are with them all.
I will be donating through my work because the company will match what I give and that is the best to offer.
- Love4dogs

I'm really loving these stories, everyone! Just a quick note from the resident music historian: Zydeco music sounds similar to Irish and Scottish music, but it in fact has its roots among the Creoles and the Cajuns. You can check out a really nice description at Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zydeco

It's a blend of Acadian (French Canadian) folk music and African American traditions. Great stuff! It's easy to be misled, since French Canadian folk music has some similarities to Celtic music.

If you'd like to hear some Zydeco, go to this website, http://www.bme.jhu.edu/~jrice/cz.html and click on the link to "Online Video and Audio."