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The Spectacle Blog
The Philadelphia Society’s New Orleans meeting has concluded. This was my first time to be invited. I have some impressions to report about both the society and the town. For this post, I’ll focus on New Orleans.
If I can judge from the French Quarter and the rush hour traffic, New Orleans is back. The downtown area was absolutely hopping and it wasn’t Mardi Gras time. I’ve never seen an American city other than NYC with so much night life.
However, I have to admit I was taken aback by Bourbon Street. On Saturday morning, I visited Cafe du Monde with a fellow academic who’d been a Bush appointee. After eating our beignets, we walked along the sidewalks and were nearly flooded out by a street washing machine that literally poured soapy water all over the streets and walkways. I wondered how often the city conducted that operation. My guess now is every night. By the end of Saturday, I’d seen the Quarter in operation. You run into an awful lot of questionable liquids on the street and sidewalks. Come morning, the wages of overindulgence (and a lot of horse droppings) need to be washed away.
I was stunned by “out there” nature of the sexually-oriented businesses in evidence. That takes a little doing since I live in Houston which is filled with elaborate strip clubs, but there you spin rapidly by them on elevated freeways. In New Orleans, you walk by women in lingerie standing on sidewalks and in doorways to beckon customers inside. I imagine Times Square was like that P.G. (pre-Giuliani).
Having been to 21st century Times Square and seedy Bourbon Street. I’ll take Times Square. One changed for the better. The other stayed the same. Of course, I take into account the admonition of Thomas Aquinas that you can’t use the law to abolish all vice, lest you create a backlash of total rebellion. Still, Rudy G. seems to have done a better job of locating the golden mean than his counterpart Ray N.
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More Blog Posts by Hunter Baker
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Pingback| 3.30.09 @ 12:00PM
Philadephia Society and New Orleans, Part I — But As For Me links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
doctorj| 3.30.09 @ 2:02PM
Hunter,
The answer is simple. Walk on Royal Street instead of Bourdon and your fragile sense of purity will be safe.
JWELL| 3.30.09 @ 2:49PM
Ray N isn't all that concerned about the problems of NOLA because he doesn't spend much time there. He has house in Dallas and I guess commutes to work. http://www.wwl.com/pages/4102890.php?contentType=4&contentId=3742674
tibby| 3.30.09 @ 2:58PM
That one of the reasons why it's ok for mother nature to sweep the city clean every once in a while. Those of us who live in La. didn't have a real problem with it. It's the politicians that have tried to make a buck, or make themselves look irreplaceable, who blew it so out of proportion.
Quin| 3.30.09 @ 3:09PM
Hunter,
I sure as heck hope you got out of the French Quarter at some point! I wish I had known you were going to my hometown; I would have played long-distance tour guide. The best parts of New Orleans are away from the Quarter, either Uptown or near the lake. Of course, you can't just wander around, because it's not safe, but if you know where you are going it is indeed as safe as any other big city.
Hunter Baker| 3.30.09 @ 3:53PM
Quin, I did NOT get out of the Quarter. I need to go again, sometime. I actually did think it was a beautiful downtown area. Just shocked by the ultra-decadent style of Bourbon Street.
New Orleans Ladder | 3.30.09 @ 6:26PM
Hunter, you had better come back down here! Jeez Louie! Bourbon street isn't decadent. It is... it is... well, it just ain't all that. What scares you is not "out there".
We have so much more. As the good Doctor said, just take a stroll up St Charles, or I would suggest renting a bike and riding up Prytania, stop at the cometary, maybe grab some lunch at Commanders across the street, go on up to Audubon Park from there... make sure to bring a camera.
Or just catch the frigging street car at Canal and make sure to get a window seat on the Right side. Or Catch the street car at canal up to City Park.
BTW, you can have Times Square. It is never the same Times Square from year to year and hopefully New Orleans endures Sinn Féin.
Come on back now
and bring your walking shoes.
Editilla~New Orleans Ladder
Nonnie Mouse| 3.30.09 @ 8:02PM
I just read that Mayor Nagin is in peril of losing his vacation (and evacuation) house in Texas as he is delinquent on his home owners' association dues.
Tish | 3.31.09 @ 4:58PM
Nagin's New Orleans is still pay-to-play territory, and strip clubs and flesh houses pay better than most other businesses.