Season 2

Episode Six - I'm going for a walk; not the after dinner kind

Rather than rehash last week's espisode, I went for a walk. Here's Uptown.

I mean, I guess I could comment on the fact that I've never seen a brass band playing at Louis Armstrong Int'l (MSY), which probably happened and I'm not saying it didn't. But this week I was walking Uptown and I kept thinking about poverty, the soul of the city that apparently needed to be saved after the storm. Everything else is worthless..this city will be a chocolate city, cause it's the way god wants it to be.

Right? Who needs "those people," those Uptown types. If it's not Treme or the Marigny, it's not New Orleans, amirite?

Many New Orleans streets have these ceramic tile street names embedded in the sidewalk corners at the intersections.

Okay, now we're going to look at houses. These are all within the boundaries of Napoleon/Magazine/Calhoun/St. Charles. Uptown, basically. I'll just say this---I could've taken pictures of almost every house I saw. They're all unique. There are no tract houses.

And now I'm going to stop talking.

Ecole Francaise

One of these is not like the others...

Iconic New Orleans

Episode Five - George Bush Don't Like Black People

Yes I skipped Episode 4, much like I skip Metairie whenever possible. Bunk went to BR for the Olive Garden, who gives a shit? Certainly not my camera.

That's Algiers Point on the right of the river, and to the left is Jackson square. The big white building below the ship is the Supreme Court, which we've seen before. The Royal Orleans hotel is left of the Supreme Court. In the distance you can see the Claiborne Avenue bridge, elevated to allow industrial canal traffic underneath.

Toni went to the French Quarter NOPD district in search of Daymo, where she talked to the guard from the Green Mile.

I wonder if Batiste got a t-shirt?

Batiste needed a new bone. Hiro Doitashemashite dropped out of the sky right in front of the rising sun, and stopped by to hook Batiste up. First, they visited LaDonna's bar, where Hiro Roboto ordered a sazerac, to LaDonna's amusement.

I, on the other hand, have sazeracs. I have many sazeracs. Would you like to see a sazerac?

No, that is the eponymous bar, located in the Roosevelt Hotel.

This was Gov. Huey Long's favorite jernt. He used to hold court in his penthouse, in his robe and slippers. If you aren't familiar with Huey, check out All The King's Men, or All The King's Men, or All The King's Men.

Huey built himself a highway from Baton Rouge to the Roosevelt, so he could take a straight shot from the capitol to his digs of choice.

What's that? The Sazerac? Why yes, I am not Gigi's Bar. I have the technology. I can make you a Sazerac.

A little music on the interweb...

Perfect. A little herbsaint, a dash of Peychaud's, and viola: the Sazerac.

So the Roosevelt flooded and was closed for years after the storm. Since then, they've really done a marvelous job at renovating the place.

The elevators have classic indicators above them that light up when the doors open, illuminating a trangular "THIS CAR UP" light.

On the O'Keefe side of the hotel is the Orleans Orpheum Theater, former home of the New Orleans Philharmonic.

Shit flooded, naturally, and some guy from Texas bought it but hasn't done a goddamn thing to fix it up.

The Roosevelt took forever to renovate, so hopefully we're just around the corner from getting the Orpheum up and running.

Detail from the theater facade.

So where was I...right, new bone for Batiste. So on the other side of the Roosevelt is Baronne, and another block over is Carondelet (which turns into Bourbon once it crosses Canal into the French Quarter).

And that is where Batiste got his groove back.

Carondelet is the streetcar line, which loops around on Canal Street back to St. Charles. Almost all of the streets in the CBD--other than the major boulevards--are one way. You can see the streetcar wires hanging over the street here.

So they are walking down Carondelet, and they pass Mother Cluckers

And get to the Trading Post.

I think I see a trombone on the wall with AB engraved on it...

Maybe not. So frustrating. Like ordering a Sazerac and getting stuck with Abita...actually, I love Abita. It has a permanent place in my heart, and my fridge.

Double-fisting brings a smile to my face.

Okay, now that I'm toasted, let's get serious. Lambreaux (for those of you not quite up on your cajun/creole names, I'm talking about Lester Freamon) is on a crusade to save the projects. It seems clear that this is where we're going.

Initially, the storm forced everyone out. Naturally, the first people back were those who had the means to return--certainly not the poorest of the city. Davis calls the poor "the soul of New Orleans." Of course, those of us who aren't poor wonder what we have to contribute to such a city, other than our tax dollars, sweat and blood at work, community efforts, etc...

Whatever. The poor are the heart of the city, and the poorest who have homes live in the projects, presumably.

These are the Iberville projects. They're a stone's throw from the French Quarter, as you can see.

To the right is the quarter.

I've always been amazed at how the PJs look on satellite images. Can you spot them here???

Here's the Calliope projects, mentioned by Lambreaux as a place worth saving.

Beautiful, isn't it?

These shitholes are 50, 60 years old, and needed to be ended. The replacements are slated to be mixed income housing, so that the place looks like everywhere else, instead of a fucking hive world that nobody good would ever want to call home.

The Nolia projects--short for Magnolia Street, subject of the Nolia Clap video, home to Juvenile and officially known as C.J. Peete--were slated for demolition.

Oh no! HOW DARE YOU TEAR DOWN OUR HOME

Oh. That's not so bad. I BET THE REST IS TERRIBLE! CALL THE NAACP, ACLU, etc

See?? Terrible. Not built yet.

Literally across the street, we have the new C. J. Peete/Magnolia, known as Harmony Oaks.

Where would you rather live?

WHAT A DISASTER, HOW DARE THEY.

Anyway, let's go back to fun stuff. Creighton meets Roy Blount at Upperline, on Upperline.

Great restaurant, great food, excellent service. Highly recommended.

Also, Chef Deshautel's restaurant is filmed inside of Patois. I wanted to make sure that the restaurant is supposed to be in the same area in the narrative of the show before taking photos, but since Toni went looking for Daymo on Webster, I think we're in the clear. Patois/Deshautel's is uptown, far uptown, near Audubon Park and Magazine.

Also an excellent restaurant.

Table Seven--where chef sat Colicchio, Chang, Ripert, and Defresne--was where I celebrated my birthday dinner a few years ago.

I listened to Davis' campaign song and thought of a few things. First, the three gals singing backup are the Pfister Sisters, an old timey gaggle of gumption that spike any party with a fierce dose of swing.

Second, the song made me think of this little ditty:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTBM0nEhPQA

Makin a killin off the price of gas/he would've been up in Connecticut twice as fast

(owns, proclick, lfest, etc)

Third, BA Baracus lives in the Nola.