Memories of New Orleans.

[peacebuzzard]

Someone started a memories post in the lounge. Thought I would repost this one here.

This was my walk back to my hotel room after a night on the town in the French Quarter, New Orleans circa 2000.

[CC]

1. Beautiful

Watching what is happening to NO and breaking my heart. I feel for the people there. Feel for everyone affected but I fell in love with New Orleans a couple years ago. Here are a few of my pics. Hoping some of it can be saved.

Looking toward CBD and Canal Str.




Bourbon Street




Royal Street




Next three are in the French Quarter too.










Jackson Square




Two Garden district Houses







School girls




St. Louis #3

[peacebuzzard]

2. nice collection.

I know you are glad you have them.

I am going to go through some of my old storage photos to dig up some more.

It wrenches my heart to look at the happy times of that city.

[Blue_In_AK]

3. I've never spent any time in NO

but these have a nice "feel." It seems like a cross between San Francisco and Galveston, two of my favorite places. I want the people to get their city back.

[TahitiNut]

4. The comparisons are apt. NOLA is a PEDESTRIAN city.

Indeed, any degree to which it succumbs to the steel coffin mode of transport (cars) is seen by most, whether they're conscious of it or not, as dissonent with what they see and appreciate: it's pedestrian charm. The 'heart' New Orleans beats according to person-to-person contact in their motivations. The architecture and layout refect walking, horseback, carriage, and streecar ... all very low infrastructure impact and with a high degree of community interaction. It's the same with how folks view the heart of SF and (Old) Galveston. We're not looking at Detroit, Cleveland, or Houston ... all of which have totally succumbed to armored coffins on wheels -- a mode of transport that isolates and alienates. It's what makes NYC beloved to its residents, too. People.

[peacebuzzard]

6. To witness a wonderful city catapulting to hell

to a nightmarish ghoulish macabre so like the demon in chief and his freaky sidekick show of family and advisors.
I am so sorry for the people of this once sparkling gem in the mundane landscape.
Tell me one more time because I just don't get it..why was and is help stalled?
I am so downtrodden with this enormous disaster of souls and innocence of the Big Easy.

[RagingInMiami]

10. It's a crime how they let that city drown

I've been to New Orleans four times and it was one of my favorite cities. I am so angry and sad.

[RagingInMiami]

9. Awesome shots

[MissHoneychurch]

5. Here are some from my trip in 1998

The French Quarter

[RagingInMiami]

8. Very nice

[RagingInMiami]

7. That's a great photo, Peacebuzzard

Is that Bourbon Street? It's rare to catch it so vacant. I like the guy leaning on the post. Really nice photo.

Here are a few of mine from last August when I stopped in New Orleans for five days during a cross country road trip to Miami. I was traveling alone so I got to meet a lot of the locals. I was treated excellent. I hope they all survived Katrina.



Cathedral de St. Louis in Jackson Square, after an experiment with photoshop filters. I like the way it turned out -- much more interesting than the original photo.











I came across these guys on Canal and Bourbon, a bunch of musicians playing upbeat jazz, a cardboard box in front of them for money. They were so talented.


I met this group at the Alibi, a bar off Bourbon where the locals hang. Great shrimp po' boys. They had just gotten off work and we started talking. This is one of my favorite photos. I like the spontaneity of it.


This is the bartender that served me all night at the Alibi. She was a local and I couldn't get enough of her accent. The bar remained full until 6 a.m. At 7 a.m., I realized I was the only customer in the bar. She never lost her sense of humor. I had been planning on leaving town that day. I didn't.


This guy is a local artist. I got to know him over a few days at a blues/jazz bar on Bourbon. Extremely talented. That is me in his sketch.


These guys were just chilling on the riverwalk. They saw me with my camera and asked for a photo. I obliged.


This guy trying to entice me into the bar. I didn't take the bait.


An artist on Bourbon.


A cute barmaid at a bar on Bourbon.


A barmaid from the same bar. That is me in the picture. She was really nice. A Cajun from Baton Rouge. We really hit it off and she kept coming back and talking to me as she served drinks.



This guy had his chess board set up on Canal Street. I'm a chess player so I stopped and asked him what the deal was. He said I would have to pay him ten bucks to play him. If I win, I get twenty back. I lost, but I gave him a good game. No regrets there. The photo was taken by a buddy of his who was selling watches next to him. I don't usually hand my camera to strangers, especially in places where they prey on tourists, but I went with my instincts.


Here he is again. I took this photo.


This is me at Cafe du Monde on Decatur. Great beignets. The guy at the next table started talking to me and I asked him to take this photo.

[peacebuzzard]

11. I am glad you have these. I like the cathedral.

and bourbon street, and Cafe du Monde, and the city people, and my heart is so heavy right now. Just when you thought things wouldn't get worse....Katrinagate & the subsequent mismanagement rescue efforts destroys their world.( and ours)

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Raging, those are WONDERFUL photos...

You have me in tears here, and I don't even have connections to New Orleans, other than the fact that my best friend my freshman year in college (1964-65), Cindy Jones, was from Metairie and I've been worried sick wondering if she's still down in those parts. Every once in a while I'll hear a NO local on TV who has exactly her accent, and I get this crushing feeling in my heart wishing that I had kept in touch with her over the years. It's all so unbelievably sad. :cry:

[RagingInMiami]

13. It is very sad

The one thing I noticed in New Orleans and tried to capture with my photos is that despite its poverty, people were generally happy and upbeat. They are creative souls. That is the true spirit of New Orleans -- a complete contrast to what we saw after katrina.

That had been my fourth trip to the Big Easy and each one was special and memorable. Now I am so pissed off that I am going to washington DC for the war protest, where we will meet. I had not been planning on going before Katrina.

[Blue_In_AK]

14. Raging, I can't wait to meet you.

So glad you'll be there.

[RagingInMiami]

15. I'm looking forward you meeting you and intheflow as well

Are you guys bringing your cameras? I plan on getting some shots of the protests. I hope the feds don't smash my camera and throw me in jail.

[Blue_In_AK]

16. If I bring nothing else, I will bring my camera...

I've told everybody here to look for me in Gitmo if I don't come home.

[superconnected]

17. I took this in Seattle last year

It wasn't Mardi Gras but it felt like it.

Love these Beads

[regnaD kciN]

18. A Bit of the Southeast in the Northwest...

(For some reason, even though I have all my shots cataloged, it took me a couple of weeks to track down this one.)