If it's good enough for Sandra...

PEOPLE MAGAZINE
April 28, 2010

It's a city synonymous with rebuilding – so New Orleans seems like the perfect place for Sandra Bullock to raise son Louis.

"New Orleans is his city, and he is going to know it inside and out," she says in the exclusive PEOPLE cover story, on newsstands now.

"Without the spirit of the people who live there and take care of the city and honor its traditions, its love for music, its love for life, take those people out and you don't have why I love New Orleans so much."

Even before deciding to "find our child in New Orleans," Bullock was establishing significant ties to and a love for the Big Easy.

After Hurricane Katrina, Bullock became a major supporter of Warren Easton Charter High School, the first public high school for boys in Louisiana. The historical school sustained $4 million in damages, and the actress, who tells PEOPLE she "felt such a profound need to do something for them," has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars for renovations, new band uniforms and a new health clinic.

She has also established a $10,000 college scholarship. Not to mention, before Bullock scored a Best Actress Oscar for starring in The Blind Side, which was written by New Orleans native Michael Lewis, she used the film's New Orleans premiere as a fundraiser to benefit the school. Her generosity even earned her an induction into the school's hall of fame last year.

"She acts as if all 800-plus of these children are her own," Warren Easton's principal Alexina Medley tells PEOPLE. Adds school board member Arthur Hardy: "She has been our angel. We love her."

In September Bullock put down more permanent roots, purchasing a home in the Garden District of New Orleans. The mansion is reportedly near property owned by Treme star John Goodman and a home previously owned by writer Anne Rice, according to the Times-Picayune.

Affection for the City

She's not the only A-lister with an affection for the culturally rich city. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie also have a home there. (Several citizens even banded together last year to try to get Pitt elected mayor of the Big Easy!) The mutual love stems from the actor's dedication to rebuilding New Orleans's Lower Ninth Ward with his Make It Right charity.

"It is like a second home for us. The kids [have gone] to school here. It's a place we get back to frequently. There's a beautiful, effective quality here that I love as an influence for my kids. We can have a nice, almost normal life here," says Pitt.

Most recently the couple – joined by 8-year-old son Maddox – cuddled up at the Super Bowl to cheer the Saints to a historic victory.

"New Orleans is alive and well and entering its new glory," says Pitt. "This is because of the tenacity and the spirit of the people that has never died. And the music is still playing and you can still get a drive-through margarita. All is well."

7th Ward memories

If you are on facebook, check out "The City of New Orleans" for hundreds of posts about what makes the city so special.


From an evacuee after the storm:
These will make any New Orleans native (25 and older) smile a little.

When they mention the B.W. Cooper on the news, you're confused 'cause you know all the projects by their old names... Magnolia, Calliope, Desire, Florida, Iberville, St. Bernard, etc...

Someone has ever told you that you look like you from the 7th Ward..

You still sing "Rosenberg's, Rosenberg's...1825...Tu-lane!"--

You remember the "Seafood City" commercials...

You went to Bachemin's Meat Market on St. Bernard for hot sausage or PATTON'S on Delery Street or in the Parish!

You can't get pickled tips anywhere but New Orleans and surrounding cities...

You know what "snap beans" are...

You don't eat everybody's gumbo or potato salad (definitely)

Once you met your girlfriend's (or boyfriend's) mother or grandmother and they asked, Who's your family?" or "Is your family from the 7th Ward?"

If you or someone you know is related to a Broussard, Boutte, Pichon, or Doucette or Mercadel they or you are from the 7th Ward...

You know where the "Point" is on the Lake....

Your mama used to whip yo tail with Daniel Green slippers...

You remember Pontchartrain Beach...

How about The Bottom Line, Crash Landing and Nexus?

You still want to sing or scream "Hey Pocky Way"
You know "It Ain't My Fault" and "They All Axed for You" , "Who shot the LaLa", and Mr. Big Stuff"

You only ate Chinese food at Chinese Kitchen or Five Happiness...

You remember that manager (with the Jheri Curl) at Circle Food Store...

No matter what part of the Eastbank you are from, you will drive to Haynes to get seafood from Castnet's...

You remember when Harrah's Casino was at the Municipal Auditorium (calling out all casino visitors:)

You went to a St. Mary's and 35's Talent Show (to go to any school's talent show was a big deal!) - OH HELL YEAH!!!

You remember Maison Blanche, McKenzie's, Tastee Donuts or K&B (and DH Holmes)...-

You lived in Michoud and people didn't want to visit because you lived too far...

You knew what the 3rd floor at Charity was all about! - FOR REAL!

Someone asks you where you are from and you reply 9th ward, Uptown, the East, the Gentilly, Downtown or the Westbank (you never give your street name).....

You know that THE GAME at Tad Gormley was 35 vs. St. Aug, and that was a major social event, even if you didn't go to either school...

You refer to the French Quarter as "the quarters"
and really don't go to the Quarters like talkin' about it, just when you have family from out of town that want to go there...

You refer to St. Bernard Parish as "The Parish"...

You know how to pronounce Tchoupitoulas...LOL

You know that Mardi Gras really goes down on Claiborne under the bridge and not on Bourbon...

You knew if somebody important or ghetto died, there would be a 2nd Line ....

Dressing up to go "uptown" aka Canal Street.
Going to Woolworth's to eat at the lunch counter.
Eating those good donuts at Woolworth....

- OH MY GOD..THESE ARE CLASSIC!

You know what huckle bucks are...
You used to shop at Krauss...
You always got a new outfit for Easter off Canal Street....- LOL
Someone at your job used to sell "suppers"... - OH SHIT!
You know where Lincoln Beach or Little Woods is...
You know the real story behind Pat Swilling's wife and his "kids"
You remember "Buck Jump Time"

You know who Harry Lee is - so you don't hang in Jefferson Parish!

You take the Huey P. Long Bridge to get from The Westbank to the Eastbank, 'cause you don't want to pay that dollar on the Crescent City Connection...

You end each sentence with "yeah" or (now the youngens say) "ya heard me?"
Example: "It's hot out here yeah" or "Holla at cho' boy, ya heard me?"

Your maw-maw "made groceries" at Economical on Gentilly and Elysian Fields...- Y

Your maw-maw referred to mayonnaise as "my-naise"

You drank "earange juice" and got your "earl" changed in your car on the "cornder" (ok all of us has mispronounced at least one of these during our lifetime)

You went to the "Lafitte" or Orleans & Claiborne to watch the Zulu Parade...YEAH!

You remember the "Gondola" and the "84 World's Fair"

You USED to refer to Betsy as New Orleans' worst storm (not anymore)

You were looking for YOUR house on TV during the CNN coverage of Hurricane Katrina...---HA HA HA...

Understanding New Orleans through Bienville's Dilemma

By Nick Marinello for Tulane's New Wave

After the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina so badly humbled the New Orleans flood-protection system, many wondered how a major city could have been founded on such a precarious site. Those who questioned the prudence of rebuilding in so questionable a site were echoing arguments heard 300 years earlier among French colonials debating where to locate the primary city of Louisiana, suggests geographer Richard Campanella in his new book, Bienville’s Dilemma: A Historic Geography of New Orleans.

According to Campanella, associate director of the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research and a research professor with the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Bienville was forced to decide whether New Orleans should be built on the safest site or in the most strategic location. One choice would sacrifice expediency; the other would expose inhabitants to greater risk.

“It was a classic dilemma — a problem involving a difficult or unpleasant choice, which could yield undesirable consequences,” says Campanella.



Such dilemmas regarding people and place continue to challenge us. “In the case of Louisiana today,” says Campanella, “[the question is] should citizens remain in eroding marshes and continue centuries of tradition, or end their way of life and move inland so that aggressive coastal restoration may begin?”

Dilemmas, he says, are as intellectually stimulating and morally challenging as they are distressing.
“Dilemmatic places — cities like New Orleans that are important yet costly, strategic but troubled, triumphant yet tragic — are among the most intriguing locales on Earth.”

In the 68 articles and essays presented in Bienville’s Dilemma, Campanella takesreaders from the Ice Age to the present day, weaving into a historical narrative of New Orleans the threads of geology and topography, sociology and demography, politics and policy, and offering an explanation of how this inevitable city was indeed able to flourish in an improbable location. It commences with a detailed historical timeline of events of geographical significance, from prehistory to post-Katrina.

“The book came together as I contemplated the passage of a natural landscape to an urban cityscape,” says Campanella, who traced the transformation from the formation of the landscape through settlement, urbanization, population, environmental manipulation, devastation and finally restoration. As a geographer with a background in the mapping sciences, Campanella also included dozens of custom-made maps, graphs, computer-generated perspectives and photo montages.

When asked what he hopes readers take away from Bienville’s Dilemma, Campanella says, “On one level, I hope readers enrich their knowledge and understanding of New Orleans through the book’s analytical findings. On a higher level, I hope readers come to share my experience in viewing this city as a metaphor, a prism and a portal through which so many compelling stories about people and place may be studied.”

Next spring, Campanella will teach a colloquium course “Dilemmas of New Orleans” through the Tulane honors program.

Other books by Campanella include Geographies of New Orleans: Urban Fabrics Before the Storm, Time and Place in New Orleans and New Orleans Then and Now.


The Big Easy Keeps Rolling

At exactly 8:15 a.m. every morning, I hear the clop, clop, clop of hooves outside my window. A mule briskly makes his way to a place in line alongside Jackson Square to await his first French Quarter tour group. Sometime later in the day, I will hear the sound of a calliope, which means the Steamboat Natchez is leaving on its two-hour cruise upriver. In the afternoon or early evening, it won't be unusual to hear a brass band.

Whitney Bank celebrated its 125th anniversary with a Second Line parade yesterday. While the stock market tanks and Americans in other states are anxious about their mortgages, investments and retirement accounts, life goes on pretty much as usual here in New Awlins. We already had our disaster, so the global economic crisis has little effect here.

Post-evacuation, everyone smiles, says g'mawnin'

It is truly good to be back in the Big Easy, even with torrential rain, after visiting drought-stricken Northern California. I flew through acres of rain clouds and saw bayous below me on the plane's descent. Though Steinbeck's golden hillsides are lovely, I prefer the lush vegetation of Southern Louisiana. Two million people evacuated to avoid the fury and flooding of the "storm of the century," but they have almost all returned, glad to be home.

My second day back, I walked over to the hospital garage to retrieve my car where I'd left it. I passed doormen and just regular people, not in the hospitality biz, who smiled and frequently said, "Good mornin'." You have to love such a quaint custom, which costs so little and means so much. It is amazing how much it can help when you are feeling low, but a complete stranger meets you eye-to-eye and smiles. In the beginning here, I thought there might be something funny about my outfit - a label sticking out or my shirt on backwards perhaps - but it is just good nature. In other places, particularly when I was a younger woman, I avoided making eye contact with men on the street, worried I might invite unwanted sexual comments. Men do like women here and enjoy seeing them, but they are also just friendly. And so are the women.

When I returned to NOLA, over a year ago, I worked in a neighborhood not as gentrified as the one I'm fortunate to live in now. One day, I took a walk down Rampart to King's Po-boy shop to get a dressed oyster loaf sandwich. Passing one scary-looking man, I held my breath, wondering if it was safe to walk the neighborhood alone. As I passed, he called out loudly, "Beautiful woman! Beautiful day!" I had to laugh because there was no danger at all. On another noon-hour walk, I read an historic landmark sign on a house that was once the residence of Degas' divorced wife. When the door opened, the owner invited me to come back anytime to show me the inside.

I got to the Tulane garage Saturday and could not find my car. Convinced I'd parked it in a handicapped spot and was towed, I panicked and called security. A policeman was summoned to help me locate it. The cop found my car on another floor and wished me a good day. In Chicago, I'd have been towed and given a daily fine. He said they don't tow.

On Sunday, I visited the Aquarium and the staff was so friendly. When I was in San Francisco, the staff at the DeYoung Museum had been very discourteous. I thought: "This would never happen in New Orleans where they may be slow, but they are always nice."

It is good to be back in a forgiving place, even if it rains a lot or maybe even because there is always plenty of water.

Always a new way to celebrate

When I was in college in New Orleans decades ago, if there was a festival almost every weekend, I was not aware of it. Perhaps I was too engrossed in my studies or campus life or it might be a "new" phenomenon.

This weekend is the (combined) Louisiana Cajun-Zydeco/Creole Tomato/Seafood Festival, which mesh together nicely. Yesterday at the Old U.S. Mint, Cajun dancers were stomping, sweating and swinging to the Cajun sounds. Two Grammy Award winners - The Zydeco Experience and BeauSoleil with Michael Doucet - belted out the songs with guitars, drums, accordians and washboards. It is raining hard right now, so wonder if that will stop the fete today, but I sincerely doubt it. There is plenty of seafood - crawfish bisque, crawfish pies, crab rolls, BBQ shrimp and plenty of alcohol to keep the dancers energized.

A little late, but still fun, are photos from the Gay Easter Parade - a different twist on Judy Garland's theme.

Streetcar charmer

Last week, I decided to take the streetcar downtown to work. I had a date and didn't want to end up with two cars.

So, I boarded the St. Charles streetcar for a leisurely commute, planning to read the newspaper on the ride.

This adorable little girl who sat in front of me had her head pressed against the glass, seemingly mesmerized by the houses and scenery along the Avenue.

The cars have a gentle roll and pleasant clanging, along with breezes from the open windows that make for enjoyable ride.

I took these pictures with my cell phone. Initially shy, she quickly warmed to me. When she got off the streetcar with her mother and baby sister, she looked over her shoulder to say goodbye.

Is everyone here like this?

A visitor from D.C. asked me this question as we waited in a long line at the Prytania Theater during the Human Rights Festival.

"Pretty much," I said. When it looked like several of us would not get a seat, a couple of folks offered theirs to her. Another guy said he'd buy the CD and drop it off to us the next day to watch for free. We'd all gotten into a conversation, several noting how remarkable so many would turn out to see a film about sexual abuse in the priesthood. One latecomer said he'd assumed he'd be alone in the movie house.

I continued to counsel our visitor with alternative plans for the evening - art films at Canal Place, drinks at St. Joe's on Magazine, or Beausoleil at The columns. "What's that?" she asked. A famous Cajun band.

Most of us opted to sit on the floor or stand in the balcony for the 60-minute documentary. Then she took off to hear Beausoleil.

Nobody is like this in D.C., she said. They wouldn't talk to you. Oh, everybody talks to everybody here, I said.

I found the CD in my mailbox the next day with a business card from Green Bean spray foam cellulose insulation company.

Louisiana facts

*Louisiana has the tallest state capitol building in the nation at 450 feet.

* The Louisiana SuperDome in New Orleans is the largest enclosed stadium in the world.

* The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway is the longest over-water bridge in the world at 23.87 miles.



* Louisiana's 6.5 million acres of wetlands are the greatest wetland area in America.

* The oldest city in the Louisiana Purchase Territory is Natchitoches, Louisiana founded in 1714.

* The first bottler of Coca-Cola, Joseph Biedenharn, lived in Monroe, Louisiana and was one of the founders of Delta Air Lines, initially called Delta Air Service.

* Delta Airlines got its start in Monroe, Louisiana when Parish Agent, C.E. Woolman, decided to try dusting the Boll Weevil that was destroying the cotton crops in the Mississippi River Delta from an airplane. It was the first crop dusting service in the world.

* Southern University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana is the largest predominantly black university in America.

* Baton Rouge was the site of the only American Revolution battle outside the original 13 colonies.

* The formal transfer of the Louisiana Purchase was made at the Cabildo building in New Orleans on December 20, 1803.

* The staircase at Chrétien Point, in Sunset, Louisiana was copied for Tara in "Gone with the Wind."

* Louisiana is the No. 1 producer of crawfish, alligators and shallots in America.



* Louisiana produces 24 percent of the nation's salt, the most in America.

* Much of the world's food, coffee and oil pass through the Port of New Orleans.

* Steen's Syrup Mill in Abbeville, Louisiana is the world's largest syrup plant producing sugar cane syrup.

* America's oldest rice mill is in New Iberia, Louisiana at KONRIKO Co.


* Tabasco, a Louisiana product, holds the second oldest food trademark in the U.S. Patent Office.

* The International Joke Telling Contest is held annually in Opelousas, Louisiana.

* LSU (The Ole War Skule) in Baton Rouge has the distinction of contributing the most officers to WW II after the U.S. Military academies.

* The Louisiana Hayride radio show helped Hank Williams, Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash achieve stardom. It was broadcast from KWKH Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana from 1948 to 1960.

* The term Uncle Sam was coined on the wharfs of New Orleans before Louisiana was a U.S. Territory as goods labeled U.S. Were from "Uncle Sam."

* The game of craps was invented in New Orleans in 1813 as betting was a common activity on the wharves.

* When states had their own currency, the Louisiana Dix (French for ten) was a favored currency for trade. English speakers called them Dixies and coined the term Dixieland.

* New Orleans is the home of the oldest pharmacy in America at 514 Chartres Street in the French Quarter. These early medical mixtures became known as cocktails (guess they were good for what ails ya?), Coining yet another term.

* New Orleans is the birthplace of Jazz, the only true American art form.

* Jazz gave birth to the Blues and Rock and Roll music.

Viva La Louisiane!!!

Mardi Gras: Time to costume!

During Mardi Gras season, the whole town dresses in costume. Sometimes, the costumes are not easy to make out, but they are always fun. In a segment on WWOZ-FM, Eve Abrams explains the phenomenon.

"When I came down here, I found out that there was a huge costume culture," Monique Leone said.

"You weren't the oddball if you were dressed up; you were the oddball if you didn't dress up."

"...It wasn't about changing who you were," she said. "You can be not you for the moment...It is adult playtime."

If there is a 12-Step Program to becoming a New Orleanian, another person said, it is: Step 1 - learning your limits; Step 2 - learning to dress up; Step 3 - learning to let loose and so on.

WWOZ is New Orleans' jazz and heritage station. You can listen online from anywhere in the country.

Krewe de Vieux

The first Mardi Gras parade starts Satrurday night - a foot parade through the Quarter with the folks who live there.

Mere words cannot express...the Krewe de Vieux parade.

She just keeps rolling

I remember those lyrics every time I'm up on the levee - so simple yet so profound. The constant, dependable nature of the Mississippi is that it is always there, channeling billions of gallons of water from the the Northernmost states to the Gulf of Mexico, providing commerce, transportation and recreation.

On a hike I took near Taos, N.M., a few years ago, the trail ended at the point where the Rio Grande intersects the Red River, which was thrilling, but not nearly so impressive. In fact, the Rio Grande dribbles into a mere stream before meeting the Gulf.

I can compare the Mississippi to the Golden Gate. No matter how many times I crossed that bridge, it was never less amazing - its vivid coloration, expanse and dramatic environs. Sometimes brilliant red in the sun or half-concealed in fog - it always spectacular.

I would say the same of the Mississippi. Though not as flashy, the river can look as placid as a lake or black and stormy, with whitecaps like the ocean, as little red tug boats relentlessly push barges against its current. I notice people experience the river in various ways. Some sit alone on benches, just staring, trying to regain their internal clarity, I suppose. They bring books, newspapers, boom boxes and cigarettes to help in their meditations. Many walk their dogs along the top of the levee, while others settle on blankets, picnicking, waiting for sunset. Very early in the morning, there are usually one or two people who have brought folding bag chairs up to the edge to read the Times-Picayune.

In Audubon Park last summer, I spoke with a 95-year-old man, who was using a walking stick to make the tour. He told me he graduated from Tulane Medical College when it was still on the Uptown campus. (That's a long time ago.) I asked what he had found that day. First off, he said there was little chance of a freeze! Second, he said the water was still flowing downstream.

These are two facts that we can take great comfort in, despite whatever else happens.

Christmas at Tip's

While other cities were recovering from excessive consumer spending and holiday overeating, hundreds of New Orleanians found another way to celebrate the holiday at Tipitina's Christmas night with Marva Wright, the so-called Blues Queen. Tipitina's Uptown was packed with a standing-room-only crowd, literally hanging from the balconies. A dozen top-flight local performers did two songs apiece in 20-minute sets to celebrate the birth of the baby Jesus and the rebirth of New Orleans. I got choked up more than once as musicians gave thanks to be home again, performing and together.

It is so great to see a band enjoying themselves, fully engaged and appreciating the soloists. Marva ticked off the years her band members have been with her - up to 28 years. They're multicultural - black, Asian and Native American - with Marva at the front, like a soulful Oprah, her hair in pin curls and wearing a sparkling white top, she hurled pralines at the crowd, Mardi Gras style. I'm still having trouble imagining her singing at the Ritz Carlton, but she said she tones it down!

The performers were clearly her friends - and relatives - all well known to her with the exception of a rapper she'd met on MySpace. Trombone Shorty held a few notes so long, he risked passing out. And Irvin Mayfield played riffs that elicited howls. Amanda Shaw, dressed in a short, leopard-print dress and heels, looked like a baby doll, but played like a banshee. Just another amazing night in New Orleans' music scene, all for $10.

I had a neat conversation with a couple standing at the bar who have lived here all their lives and still love it. He said he'd visited Chicago in the 70s and thought, "This is the real America." New Orleans is someplace else.

The thought that kept coming to me was how authentic it all was - the enjoyment, the music and the love.

Why do we all need New Orleans?

Returning to the questions raised in my very first post - what good is this old city and why not just move it upstream, I want to quote from a recent Times-Picayune op-ed, written by Bob Thomas, director of Loyola University's Center for Environmental Communications.

Thomas recently visited the University of Nebraska at Kearney where he attempted to explain the economic and social value of New Orleans to a group of students, but the students' chaparone said he already understood:

"You don't have to convince me how important New Orleans is to Nebraska. I'm a corn farmer. When Katrina hit, we were in the middle of our harvest. We couldn't send our product past New Orleans on the Mississippi, so we filled up our silos.

About the time they were full, the bottom fell out of the market, and we lost our year's income."

Thomas itemized reasons other states' residents might care about Southern Louisiana:

1. the port receives 30 percent of all oil coming into the country
2. 40 percent of U.S. commercial fisheries reside in its wetlands - including the largest crop of oysters and half of U.S. shrimp
3. $1.7 billion in sugar and $235 million in rice shipped
4. a $30 billion economic impact and 240,000 jobs
5. its unique cultural heritage
6. the incredible food

"Steve Cheramie, a Houma Indian from Point-aux-Chen, says his tribe defines itself in terms of the place it lives," Thomas wrote in the Picayune. "He believes that if the land where he lives sinks beneath the sea, the Houma will cease to exist s a people."

"I believe most citizens of south Louisiana feel the same way. If we lose our way of life, the place we live, we will not be the same people, and America will have lost its most unusual geographic and demographic area," Thomas eloquently put it.

Mourning the loss of Brunings on the lake

Responding to a column written by Errol Laboarde in New Orleans Magazine, bemoaning the loss of a beloved West End eatery post-Katrina, a friend e-mailed about her New Orleans-Acadiana buying trips for her ecclectic Chicago retail store.

"I live in Baltimore now but was known in Chicago for my straight-shot drives to NO with Brunings being my first stop...usually between 8pm and 10pm, 3-5 x's a year.

First I'd order a Sazarac and a dozen raw oysters...then I'd order a basket of fried oysters...sometimes another bourbon,then I'd figure out which way my hotel was.

The first time we went to Brunings was Mother's Day weekend, maybe 10-12 years ago. I was in a little shop in the Quarter asking where there was a place for some real great oysters and local fish...this young woman shopper said that it was tradition to take her mom to Brunings on Mother's Day and that's was the only place I needed to go...so off we went.

I remember a full parking lot and the alley cats when we drove up, and I remember the big old white house in the distance and the great sunsets over Ponchatrain...I also remember the first trip after George, after that 913 mile drive...there were no kitties and I kept trying to figure out how to jump over that little bit of water to get into the building...think it was shock...then I realized that there was a funny little building off to the right with some hurricane pictures on the windows and a sign: "Bruning's"...still had bourbon and mmmnnn, my oysters.

When Katrina hit, I figured Bruning's would be gone...just glad I have the memories, wish I had more, wish you all did too!

Sandy Lawler
Baltimore , Md.

p.s. My second stop would be the next morning to the Camellia Grill to see how many Pecan Pies I could get them to make for me in the few days I was in town to bring home...., okay, and maybe I'd eat a mushroom or chili omelette while I was ordering! WELCOME BACK!"

What's so special about New Orleans?

From Ernie the Attorney's blog in 2006.

"Here the history is not dry as dust. It is a damp, sticky, sultry vapor that you inhale with each breath.

It is the 200 year old house that your friend lives in, shaded by live oaks and festooned with night-blooming jasmine.

It is the combination of hope and despondancy, joi de vivre and awareness of mortality.

New Orleans is a semi-retired Lady of The Evening, chainsmoking on her porch while drinking mint juleps and telling tales of bedding french royals and Edwin Edwards. Aging and covered with makeup, she still sports a shapely figure and her flirtations make you pause. Now she is in intensive care, but still demands her cigarettes, coffee and booze. Between dizzy spells she still spins amazing tales, the truth of which is inconsequential."

Posted by: Loki at Sep 4, 2006 6:45:46 PM

Honor system still in tact here

While searching for Home Depot on Carrollton Sunday morning, I spied a produce cart along the road. I stopped and picked out a half dozen fruits - all at half the grocery store price - saving myself a trip to the market. The grand total was $13, but I happened to have only $11 cash on me. The vendor took the ten and told me to stop by another time to give him the rest. "Let me write you a check," I said. No - that's fine, he said. I tried, at least, to give him the remaining dollar. "What if something happened?" he asked. I assume this meant I would have money to make a phone call if I got a flat tire on the way home (as if I weren't always armed with credit cards, debit card, auto club card and every other conceivable tool - except cash.) I think this must be a throwback to the days when you kept a quarter in your sock in case you needed to make a phone call.

The produce man said he has had that spot on Carrollton for 30 years, so I could stop by any day to pay the $3 I owe. (He knows I will probably buy more and maybe become a regular - good marketing technique!)

This is not the first time in New Orleans, I've been given items I haven't paid for. In a French Quarter antique store last spring I saw a metal yard chair I wanted for my porch. The store owner didn't take credit cards - many stores and restaurants still don't after Katrina. He said, take it and bring me the money when you have it. A week later, I stopped by and handed him a twenty. He didn't remember that I'd taken the chair.

Maybe it is the storm and people have lost so much, they don't mind losing more. Or maybe it is Southern hospitality. Or maybe people still just trust one other here - or prefer not to know you're untrustworthy if you're not. Anyway, I like it and will plan my route along Carrollton next week to pay my tab.

Sno-Balls keep New Orleanians cool

New Orleans has plenty of HOT days, May through September, so there's a great need for cool drinks, freezes, and snow cones - New Orleans' version of Italian ices.

Sno-Wizard was invented by George J. Ortolano, son of Sicilian immigrants after the Great Depression. The neighborhood grocer had been struggling to keep his business afloat when he was inspired to make icey treats.

Ortolano built a wooden machine to produce a fine, fluffy shaven snow, similar to that made with blocks of ice and a hand-plane ice shaver. He started getting requests for the machine to start other new businesses.

Incorporating know-how from his shipyard days, Ortolano began working on a new model built of galvanized metal. Ortolano called his invention the Snow-Wizard Snow-Ball Machine because he said it was "like magic the way it turned blocks of ice into fine, fluffy snow."

He gave up the grocery business to devote his full energies to the fledgling enterprise. Manufacturing most all of his machine parts by hand, George automated production to keep pace with sales. Blueprints were drawn to standardize the parts and automate assembly, and stainless steel replaced the galvanized metal.

Assisting George in promoting his innovative enterprise was his wife Josie. She experimented using the assortment of extracts and flavorings in their grocery store to create new and unusual flavors for his "magic" snow.

Sno-Wizard Sno Ball is at 4001 Magazine Street, Uptown New Orleans.

If you're walkin' to New Orleans, you can still resole your shoes

A shoe repair is a hard thing to find in many parts of the country, but not so in New Orleans. My mother taught me to preserve my clothes, but that has become more challenging in this disposible culture.

I had a conversation with a shoe repairman in Illinois about a year ago when I took a pair of boots in for new heels. He told me when he had a shop in the mall, teenagers would laugh at the very idea of repairing a pair of shoes. Obviously, they had shoes that could easily be exchanged, but sometimes I have a very special pair that cannot be replaced.

At Edwards on Magazine Street, they make no secret: they can and will repair anything. Every sort of shoe, belt and bag is hanging on the wall outside the store.

Now, I have never owned either a Gucci or Louis Vuitton bag, but surely hope to, and certainly would fix it if it broke.

Edwards' sign pledges:

I Will heel you
I Will save your sole
I will EVEN DYE for you.

Loretta's Praline Shop

One of the surprising delights of the Marigny neighborhood is Loretta's, a retail store on North Rampart that makes and sells handmade pralines, fudge--both chocolate and pecan, cocount balls, heavenly hash, chocolate and caramel turtles, rum pecans, caramel and chocolate praline sauce and, in season - king cakes!

She can ship gift boxes anywhere - and she does! And there is nothing like a fresh hot praline right out of the oven.

Say no more, you beg, but in addition to having the best ice coffee in the neighborhood and homemade muffins to go with, Loretta and her sons cook up fried oysters, shrimp and catfish with potato salad and macaroni salad every Friday afternoon for the locals.

Loretta's is a Christian business, which doesn't mean you have to believe in Christ to eat there, but it offers hopeful Bible quotations in a basket on the counter to sweeten your daily outlook. Check out her Web site: www.lorettaspralines.com.

A bit of history on pralines...they were created in France more than 200 years ago when Count Cesar de Plessis Praslin used them as overtures to court famous ladies. In those days, pralines were made with almonds, but when the French colonists arrived to Louisiana, they substituted native pecans. Creoles added milk to the recipe, resulting for a creamier candy.

Pralines are made from sugar, brown sugar, half and half, butter, pecans and vanilla. How can that be bad?