Sightseeing Tips For Tourists
The city wants to get the tourist dollars flowing again in the city, but many of the favorite tourist attractions remain closed. So here are some alternate attractions for visitors:
West End:
Get off I-10 at West End Blvd. and drive up to the West End Marina. On the way, you’ll see some serious mountains of debris, I’m talking mountains of trash, seemingly ten stories high. When you get out to the lake, get out and walk around. Study the burned yacht club building, the collapsed lighthouse, the heavily damaged Joe’s Crab Shack (thank you, mother nature), and the piles of huge boats everywhere. They’re starting to clean this place up, so get there soon. Take Pontchartrain Blvd. back toward the interstate. Turn right on 38th street and park your car. Get out and walk toward the west. This is where the 17th street canal levee broke. Destruction is unimaginable, looks like Mt. St. Helens or Hiroshima photographs.
Bywater:
Check out the warehouse that exploded on Chartres St. near Clouet St. Somewhere in that rubble is a former pickup truck. Lots of great anti-looter graffiti in this area.
Uptown:
Up until a few days ago, there was still garbage everywhere around the uptown Wal-Mart, left behind by throngs of looters as they scurried away. That is now gone, but there is a large pile of free milk crates there on Tchoupitoulas for anyone who’s interested. Claiborne Avenue is a pretty good drive, start from Carrollton Ave, head downtown. Study giant upside-down root beer mug on street, flipped over truck on neutral ground, lots of other random destruction. Finish journey by inspecting roof of Superdome, now with dozens of mexican laborers walking around on it trying to patch the holes. They look tiny up there. From there:
Mid-City
Turn left on Tulane Ave from Claiborne. Tulane Ave contains absurd destruction. Study Tom Benson car dealership with empty showroom and every single plate glass window broken. Billboards, signs, buildings destroyed everywhere. Police evidence laboratory flooded. Once grand Budweiser billboard at Broad St. & I-10 is heavily contorted. Once great Blue Plate Mayonnaise sign missing the “Mayonnaise.” Awesome Crystal Preserves sign on Tulane Ave has seen better days. Venezia Pizza and Angelo Brocato signs now removed.
Lower 9th Wd & St. Bernard Parish:
Stay away from here for now.
That’s all I can think of for now. Tomorrow I hope to go exploring that vast wild kingdom known as New Orleans East. Will report back with findings & hopefully photos as well.
Related posts:
…did you notice how the big Falstaff sign on the old brewery survived intact?
I somehow find comfort in that.
Any suggestion for lunch or for a romantic dinner?
* * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * *
IMPORTANT HAPPENINGS IN NEW ORLEANS FOR OCT-NOV
Just when the rest of the planet thought NEW ORLEANS was out for the count, the great Crescent City is getting back to its feet with a brilliant line-up of LITERARY EVENTS featuring nationally & internationally acclaimed guests scheduled to appear on the weekly Thursday evening program 17 POETS! at THE GOLD MINE in the French Quarter.
“It’s events like these that cement New Orleans’ position as the literary center - not just of the South - but of the universe. No Matter what Oxford thinks.
- Chris Rose, The Times-Picayune
NOTE: ALL EVENTS listed below take place at The Gold Mine Saloon, located at 701 Dauphine Street (at the corner of Dauphine & St. Peter) in the French Quarter. For more information please call 504-586-0745 or 504-568-9125, or go to: http://www.17Poets.com. Doors open at 6:00pm with a general reception between 6:00 - 8:00pm featuring new Art installations and complimentary hot Red Beans & Rice with French Bread.
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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2005, 8:00PM
Featured guest, Johnette Downing
J o h n e t t e D O W N I N G
Poet and Performer Johnette Downing is a widely published author of literature and poetry. Her natural gift for Haiku composition is extraordinary. Her work has been recently featured in YAWP: A Journal of Poetry & Art. Johnette Downing is also an eight-time national award winning singer, songwriter & children’s musician whose original music has received rave reviews on ABC World News Now and in Booklist, Nick, Jr. Magazine, The Los Angeles Times and New Orleans Magazine.
“Energetic, charismatic, affectionate. Laissez les bon temps rouler.” - Kit Bloom
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2005, 8:00PM
Featured guest, Andrei Codrescu
A n d r e i C O D R E S C U
Andrei Codrescu is an award winning poet, translator, editor of Exquisite Corpse, best-selling novelist, correspondent for both NPR and ABC News’ Nightline, and MacCurdy Distinguished Professor of English at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His numerous books include Wakefield (Algonquin, 2004) and It Was Today (Coffee House, 2003).
“This transplanted Transylvanian with the bateau-mouche moustache always manages to create a craving for the subversive–something that is much needed in these days of ‘friendly fascism.’” - Lawrence Ferlinghetti
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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2005, 8:00PM
Featured guests, Pierre Joris and Nicole Peyrafitte
P i e r r e J O R I S
Poet/Translator/Professor at the University at Albany. Modern & Contemporary Poetry, Poetics, Theory and Practice of Translation. Pierre Joris is the 2005 Pen Award for Poetry in Translation for his translation of Paul Celan’s Lightduress (Green Integer, 2004). Also, he has translated into English, along with Jerome Rothenberg, the recently published The Burial of the Count of Orgaz & Other Poems by Pablo Picasso (Exact Change, 2005). A major collection of Pierre Joris’ works Poasis: Selected Poems 1986
That is so awesome! (oh god - am I channeling Harriet Meirs?! eek!)
Anyway - VooDoo Fest is also going to be in NOLA - I think the idea to split the show is great - Memphis gets some, NOLA gets some. A good chunk of the acts are playing both dates - excellent.
A.
p.s. the Rose quote is fantastic. I hate Ole Miss.