I miss New Orleans. I walk St. Charles and miss parades. The St. Patrick’s parade was cancelled well before the stay-at-home came. Then my favorite day of the year was cancelled, Super Sunday when the Mardi Gras Indians parade Central City in elaborately beaded and feathered suits they spent a year (and thousands) sewing. As the virus spread across the country and ravaged our state, in the city we retreated to our homes and looked for tips on finding toilet paper.
New Orleans got an “A” for staying home. But our tourism-based economy is shut down. French Quarter Fest was supposed to be next week. Last year’s fest brought in $190 million and generated almost $15 million in tax revenue for state and local governments. They employed over 1,700 local musicians and host over 60 local restaurants. This time of year, we have at least 1 festival every week. Jazz Fest injects $300 million into our economy. The weekly Wednesday at the Square concerts and food booths were cancelled the week they were to start. The shut-down-indefinitely film and TV industry creates over 1 billion in annual impact that won’t come to the state. The oil industry has also tanked.
Some restaurants switched to pick-up only. For a couple of weeks, we were able to get Commander’s Palace to go. As their sign read, “Who’da thunk it?” We had fried chicken, greens, and red beans and rice from Dooky Chase for Good Friday and glazed, corned beef brisket, goat cheese grits, crawfish quiche and fruit salad from Ruby Slipper for Easter – all while sitting in front of the TV. We’ve even had paella from Lola’s. There may not be many restaurants still open and the menus usually have one family-style meal per day, but we can eat from some of our favorite places and support our neighbors and their businesses. Even the Garden District Book Shop who carries all 7 of my books (signed) offers pick-up and free shipping on orders over $25.
But mostly the city is empty streets and boarded windows. Bourbon Street looks eerily hurricane-ready. The Convention Center has been converted to a hospital. The Columns Hotel looks like a haunted house. The French Quarter is aggressively silent. As we drove past Glen David Andrews playing with his band on a balcony the other day, my heart burst with the joy of hearing live music. Normally, it’s all over the Quarter all day and night. Lately, more people we see when picking up food or going for walks have taken to wearing masks. But our new masks masks are nothing like the masks we wear for Mardi Gras, a few of us have been wearing the do-rag throws from the Krewe of Muses parade.
Easter is normally a 3-parade day including burlesque queen Chris Owens’ parade and the Gay Easter Parade – with even bigger, fancier bonnets. We were to miss those festivities for a family Easter/house warming/birthday party, but that got cancelled as well.
I don’t know how we get people to travel here again, fill our restaurants, bars and hotels. I’m not even sure how we go to outdoor festivals together, much less movie theaters and stadiums. What I know is that I miss music. I miss stopping into the book store or visiting with friends on my walks. I miss working in my industry. I miss eating at restaurants and chatting with the staff. I miss people dancing in the streets. I miss hugs. I miss New Orleans being itself.
I wore an Easter bonnet to pick up our feast and kept my eyes peeled for anyone else in a fancy hat, a seersucker suit, even a floral dress. We got all the way back to our block before I finally found what I was looking for – a Merry Antoinettes parader wearing a lavender wig topped with vibrant plumes waving from her balcony. This too shall pass and we will find our way again somehow.
In the meantime, check out my recommendations for classic comedies and great movies with great soundtracks. Enjoy photos from my near-daily walks.
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- masking
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- French Quarter weekend
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- Commander’s Palace
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- The Columns Hotel
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- The Columns Hotel
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- St Charles rush hour
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- St. Patrick’s at home
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- closed
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- Bourbon St. Saturday
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- Bourbon St. Saturday
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- Bourbon St. Saturday
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- St. Charles parade remnants
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- St. Charles parade remnants
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- St. Charles parade remnants
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- Uptown Easter decorations
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- Uptown Easter decorations
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- Elysian Fields rush hour
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- numbers rise
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- masking
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- Lola’s paella
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- in the Bywater
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- Dr. Bob’s gallery
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- Dr. Bob’s gallery
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- Dooky Chase
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- Dooky Chase
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- French Quarter Saturday
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- Canal St. Saturday
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- French Quarter Saturday
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- downtown intersection 4-directions
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- downtown intersection 4-directions
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- downtown intersection 4-directions
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- downtown intersection 4-directions
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- swollen Mississippi
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- Easter fascinator
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- Merry Antoinette
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- Ruby Slipper
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- Easter social distancing
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- Frenchmen St.
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- Frenchmen St.
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- Magazine St.
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- hope
L.A. to N.O.LA 
Pingback: French Quarter Fest, etc. And Coronavirus | L.A. to N.O.LA
Sadly exquisite set of pics. Thank-you.
Again sadly, interesting you used the phrase “I
miss New Orleans” to begin your post. As I was listening to WWOZ yesterday, a version of the song came on. And it was like a mini-explosion of awareness that, just as I have been seriously missing living in New Orleans for the last 10 years, so is the great majority of NOLAians currently “missing” the city.
And I must confess, my first thought was GOOD! Now you all can feel as bad as I have so MANY times over the last decade. My simultaneous second thought was, “WHAT a selfish idiotic d”’khead I am” for feeling that way, It’s NOT about me, it’s about US!
Forgive me my sin. It’s simply that New Orleans is part of my heart and soul. You are sooo blessed.
Keep staying safe ;>)
I try never to take our city for granted but I really couldn’t have imagined this place so “distant.”
A true is vaccine is needed to completely return the country back to normal. But it will happen. And New Orleans will return even greater then ever. ❤
From your lips to God’s ears.
Hey Laura.. Welcome to the new reality.. LA is closed up too.. restaurants, beaches,parks,museums, schools, stores.. all closed. U cant go out in public without a mask. ( Upside: no traffic! Clean air! ).. Im sure youve spoken to Angela and your friends. Were hunkering down. Trying to cook.. cleaning.. listening to old vinyls ( I dont miss live music or parades ).. but I do miss seeing friends, shopping and esp eating out at favorite restaurants. We order out here too. But its a risk.. you never know who may be sick. Please be careful. Theres so much Ive read about. For example, your mask isnt really keeping out the virus. At the very least, put a coffee filter under it! Try to get a better mask..Be careful to not touch the front when u take it off. Try to cover your hair cause the droplets can stick to it or wash hair after your walk. Yes its terrible about the economy and jobless .,The virus is airborne.. can hang in the air for hours and last 25 ft not 6 ft! So be careful. Also, when u order food or buy groceries, u need to wash all plastic containers and boxes. Leave the bag or boxes ( from Amazon for ex ) outside. It stays 24 hrs on cardboard, 72 on plastic but weeks on hard surfaces like doorknobs.. Wear gloves if going to food places..Anyway, hopefully u know all this and are staying safe. I was worried about the parades and crowds in NO. Glad to hear people r staying in and not spreading this deadly disease around. I dont see anything getting back to sort of normal till next year or whenever they get a vaccine.. Im not getting on a plane till then. My Mom turns 100 in Nov. God willing. My sister’s in NY in a high rise with crowded elevators and no food deliveries.. My nephew was supposed to get married this summer in NY and we were all planning to go to the wedding. Lots of plans cancelled.. everywhere. Hollywood’s shut down. Movie theaters r empty. All horrific.. around the country and the world. But the most important thing is to not catch this terrible disease! Nothing else matters. You and Andy stay safe🙏💕💐☹️❌‼️Ps Great photos.. xxxx
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Thank you. I’m glad y’all are well. So far so good here. Yes, it looks like our industry is down for at least a year. It’s hard to believe the photos I’ve seen of the L.A. sky beautifully blue!