The ongoing marsh fire in New Orleans East is menacing many elderly and asthmatic citizens of New Orleans and may continue for another day. Rain is forecasted over the weekend, but this is a not a simple brush fire, but one that exists above and below ground, making it harder to extinguish.
This is not the first time in recent memory smoke or smells have hit the old city hard, and is at least the third major event since August 2005 (warehouse fires during the levee breaks on the waterfront and the oil spill on the Mississippi in 2008) and of course, who can forget BP’s destruction of the gulf, endangering health far and wide when their shoddy oil rig exploded in 2010.
Interestingly though, the city’s air is quite clear and clean most of the time, which makes the overwhelming smell and sight of thick smoke this week even more unbearable, especially in the drip of summer.
The French Quarter seemed to get a whole bunch of the smoke and made those old houses useful as chimneys for a few hours. Lucky for the residents of the Quarter, there are plenty of air-conditioned bars and restaurants in which to escape…
Story
Tag Archives: French Quarter
Southern Decadence is here.
The Labor Day weekend is the time to escape from most cities, heading to crowded beaches or gnat-filled cabins. In New Orleans, we will instead have costumes and parading with all of the attached pageantry, courtesy of our rainbow people. Since the early 1970s, this event has been on calendars of the chosen fey, and since the explosion of the gay rights movement in the 1980s, it has become one of the most anticipated gay community series of events for any New Orleanian. From the history page:
And so it was, on a sultry August afternoon in 1972, that this band of friends decided to plan an amusement. According to author James T. Spears, writing in Rebels, Rubyfruit and Rhinestones: Queering Space in the Stonewall South, this “motley crew of outcasts” began Southern Decadence as a going away party for a friend named Michael Evers, and to shut up a new “Belle Reve” tenant (from New York) who kept complaining about the New Orleans heat. As a riff on the “Belle Reve” theme, the group named the event a “Southern Decadence Party: Come As Your Favorite Southern Decadent,” requiring all participants to dress in costume as their favorite “decadent Southern” character. According to Spears, “The party began late that Sunday afternoon, with the expectation that the next day (Labor Day) would allow for recovery. Forty or fifty people drank, smoked, and carried on near the big fig tree … even though Maureen (the New Yorker) still complained about the heat.”
The Historic New Orleans Collection Centennial Celebration of Samuel Wilson
Saturday: Concert celebrating the life of Samuel Wilson Jr.
A Centennial Commemoration in Music Honoring
Samuel Wilson Jr.
Saturday, August 13 • 4–6 p.m.
Williams Research Center, 410 Chartres St.
Admission is free.
Call (504) 523-4662 or email wrc@hnoc.org to reserve seats or for more information.
Samuel Wilson Jr. (1911–1993), noted preservationist, architect, and architectural historian, was known as the “Dean of Architectural Preservation in New Orleans.” In celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday, The Collection is presenting a concert featuring soprano Thaïs St. Julien and pianist Peter Collins performing music reminiscent of New Orleans’s past, which Wilson strove to protect throughout his career.
Collins and St. Julien will pay tribute to Wilson with a program of music referring to places in and around the city—from the Garden District to Esplanade, from Place du Tivoli (Lee Circle) to West End. They will also “visit” the World’s Fair and Cotton Centennial Exposition and take brief excursions to Mandeville and Pass Christian.
In addition to The Collection, the American Institute of Architects, the Louisiana Landmarks Society, WLAE-TV, and the Tulane School of Architecture are also celebrating the centennial—stay tuned for upcoming programming from these institutions.
Please note, Saturday is shaping up to be a particularly busy day in the French Quarter. We suggest you give yourself ample time get through traffic and find parking.
Starting a new life in the old city
Perhaps the only Louisiana governor with a first-hand knowledge of the French Quarter-since Huey Long- is back in town and married at the Monteleone:
Edwin is back
Good luck Edwin.
A French Quarter stalwart passes on
Gerald (Jerry) Grant Wiley III passed away at home in the French Quarter on July 24, 2011 after a long illness. He is survived by his loving wife June Barrios Wiley, daughters Lisa Wiley, Lisa Jewell, Dana Brown, son-in-law Michael Brown, step-daughters Angel McCready and Darlene Wolnik, and grandchildren Brian, Lisa, Jessie, and Conner. Beloved stepson Richard Wolnik preceded him in death.
Mr. Wiley was employed for 25 years for the Delta Steamboat Company, working on all three of their New Orleans steamboats over that period. He served as chief electrician on the American Queen Steamboat from its construction until his retirement in 2007.
He was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, but moved to Lakewood, Ohio as a young boy and was in the first graduating class of the “new building” at Lakewood High School. He attended Miami University of Ohio and UCLA for architecture. He proudly served two tours in the Marine Corps stationed in Vietnam and sailed the world in the Merchant Marines.
His generous nature brought him many admirers and his unfailing high humor kept him as many friends. He will be missed on the river, throughout the French Quarter and among his friends and family. No one ever bought more rounds and few told a better story.
He requested that there be no services and will be cremated according to his wishes.
Johnny White's Bar pays tribute to their friend Jerry Wiley on July 25, 2011
Upstairs Lounge Fire June 1973
There is a plaque embedded in the sidewalk remembering the victims of the fire at Iberville and Chartres. If memory serves me, it was Councilperson-at-large Oliver Thomas who made it happen. Unfortunately, he ended his political career serving time for kickbacks from Pampy Barre over French Quarter parking lot contracts.
He is again doing good deeds with different non-profits since his release.
Joy returning to Canal Street sooner or later
As a French Quarter teenager, I might have been the last of those who saw first-run movies at the Joy Theater. It gave downtown living another facet, long before Canal Place and even way before Black Pearl’s now-defunct Uptown Square movie house. Yes we had Prytania, but that was about it.
I welcome more activity to the American Sector to build more everyday life for the French Quarter.
French Quarter block by block 
You must be logged in to post a comment.