Touring NOLA, Vintage Trouble, Latin Parade and More!

Having guests is always a great excuse to hit some of those tourist spots locals tend to shy from. So when my dear friend since high school finally came to New Orleans for the first time, we “toured” the sites. Angela arrived Thursday night and we headed straight for Coop’s so she could have her first jambalaya. We stayed in to catch up that night and headed to Cafe du Monde for insanely tasty beignets the next morning. On the way there, I spotted a familiar face down the street. I said loudly, “Do you know who that is? That’s the lead singer and trumpet for Treme Brass Band!” Angela looked to the t-shirt wearing, blood-shot-eyed man holding a trumpet just as he smiled.

Oyster Fest & Hollywood South Lunch

We had planned to go tubing with John Schneider near his super-cool studio outside Baton Rouge Saturday, but the river was way too high and a downpour flooded the streets of New Orleans trapping many of us in our neighborhoods. After the rain passed, we instead headed to the 6th annual New Orleans Oyster Festival in Woldenberg Park. I’ve been every year and the fest keeps getting bigger and better – even adding an additional stage for food demonstrations and live music. We stopped for a few songs from local favorites, TBC Brass Band.

The Out of Towners

I’ve had friends here for a week, a couple from L.A. in town for the librarian’s convention. Readers of this blog and web-surfers, they had a pretty long list of things they wanted to do and as a week came to close, I’d have to say they did pretty well crossing things off. We started with a walk through the French Quarter past Jackson Square and down to the river bank. The water has gone down a bit exposing slick algea-covered steps but the Mississippi continues to flow high. We moseyed past Cafe du Monde (which they visited later for some beignets and chicory coffee) and down to the French Market.

Irish Channel Parade

After attending over 20 parades during the Carnival season, I was ready for a break, but with Mardi Gras ending so late this year, we only had 3 days before the St. Patrick’s festivities began. The Irish Channel Parade is characterized mostly by drunken black-suited men carrying what look like umbrellas but are, in fact, silk flowers to be exchanged for kisses. The other distinguishing characteristic is, in addition to the beads, toys and cups thrown at Mardi Gras parades, the Irish throw cabbage, potatoes, carrots, oodles of noodles, peppers, cucumbers, Lucky Charms and Irish Spring soap. The idea is that after the parade, you would go home and turn most of those ingredients into a cabbage stew.

L.A. to N.O.LA’s Favorite Things (in NOLA) 2010

I can’t get you all of this stuff, Oprah-style, but every item has links to their site. If you’d like to know more about why each is my favorite, use the search window on the lower right to find photos, videos and stories.

I continue to accumulate favorite things about New Orleans, but here’s my first year favorites in a nutshell.

Sweet Home, Louisiana

After a week in Los Angeles, returning to New Orleans felt great. On the plane, I ran into a fellow L.A. to N.O.LA actor who I’d carpooled with to Baton Rouge. I met a woman who’d run major art museums, taught college and painted part of the Ernie K-Doe mural on the (just-shuttered) Mother in Law Lounge. She was beautiful, smart, talented, over 60 and dying of cancer. I liked knowing that we were heading to a town where being older and dying wouldn’t detract from how sexy-cool she is.