The shock of coming across their empty location was the subject of an earlier post back in September… Their website shows them now on Royal, which makes me very glad…
Author Archives
St. Joseph’s Day- March 19
Like most Americans, New Orleanians too celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, although here in New Orleans we also celebrate St. Joseph’s Day. There already was a parade through the Quarter last weekend in St. Joseph’s honor and March 19 (St. Joseph’s actual feast day) will be quite the day for viewing of the altars throughout the city. The tradition, which is Sicilian in origin but carried on locally by Italian-Americans and people of all nationalities and faiths, includes baking cookies and cakes and preparing foods for the altar. According to a legend, a drought and famine during the Middle Ages caused much suffering in Sicily. People prayed to St. Joseph, the husband of Mary, and promised to thank him with food altars on his feast day, March 19, and give away the food to all. Supposedly on midnight of March 19, it started to rain and broke the Sicilian drought. Many now create altars to thank St. Joseph for their personal prayers as well.
The altars are found in churches, businesses and homes throughout the city and when you leave after viewing, you will receive a fava bean. The fava bean will bring you luck throughout the year. Part of the tradition requires that no money be spent on the altar, so its creators must beg for all items. Once the day is over, the altar is broken down and its content donated to the poor.
St. Joseph’s Day has another connection to food: it is also the traditionally the last day to plant summer tomatoes for this region. <p><a href=’http://www.wwltv.com/news/List-of-local-St-Joseph-altars-197132801.html#.UT9OAMHCzhU.wordpress’>List of local St. Joseph altars | wwltv.com New Orleans</a>.</p>
Napoleon House
Gentrification and its Discontents: Notes from New Orleans
I’d like to call attention to this thorough piece by one of my absolute favorite thinkers in New Orleans: Rich Campanella, geographical historian and bike riding New Orleanian.
Gentrification is the opposite of community; it is the warning bugle call from those who used to wear armor and thunder into your town on horses, trampling the less fortunate and sticking their flag on your home. It’s war and those of us who want a city and not fake facades aren’t going quietly.
As you can see, my definition of gentrification is entirely negative and has to do with the imposition of new values and traditions on top of existing ones. It also is entirely tied to the commodity of place, and the dollar value rather than any other.
Love Rich’s analysis of N.O. gentrification in this piece (which sparked a very lively discussion for months around town) even though I don’t necessarily agree with his timeline. Gutter punks as the start of gentrification? I don’t think that group has anything to do with this topic) and then hipsters second? I’d say hipsters come much later in the game, maybe right after the gentry actually. The use of bourgeois bohemians is spot on (as is their attendance at the farmers market on Saturdays!), but where are the up and coming artists (who sometimes become the gentry by the next generation) or the gay urbanists or even the temporary natives who land in gentrifying spaces when they first come?
Gentrification and its Discontents: Notes from New Orleans | Newgeography.com.
Echoes of community
There is often a bittersweet air to these posts that I find reporting the loss of one of the bygone characters of the Quarter and the Marigny. When you read the details, you can almost hear and see the late nights and shared experiences in these groups of friends having fun while also struggling to find their own way. In this blog piece are the names of some of our literary folks who, back in the day, were working toward something, something that they achieved in this case.
It’s the same as when I read about the group that started the Arts And Crafts Club back in the 1920s, or the friends who began Southern Decadence or Barkus or Tiptina’s; I can hear the laughter and fun that they had while doing it.
I’m glad that camaraderie is alive and well with new groups of friends and colleagues in the Quarter working on their own future.
Lovely St. Louis Cathedral
Local photographer Roy Guste shares another gem
Super Bowl Bicycle Share · Bike Easy
Besides the many places to rent or buy a bicycle in New Orleans, it seems that bike sharing has finally come to the Crescent, at least for a short time. Check out Canal or Julia Streets for a chance to see how this works-I love using this system in cities that I visit, like Toronto and Washington DC.
French Quarter block by block 
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