Katrina

On Creole Cuisine, or, What It Means To Be New Orleans, with Richard Collin

The New Orleans Underground Gourmet by Richard Collin, 1973.

The book is a battered paperback, the “New, Revised and Up-to-Date Edition” of The New Orleans Underground Gourmet (subtitled: “Where to find great meals in the city and environs for less than $3.75 and as little as 50c.”) published in 1973 and written by Richard Collin. Collin, who died in 2010, and his wife...

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The Local Molecular Supplier

Making Bloody Marys the molecular way with Purity Vodka.

While browsing Sunday’s Cocktail Bazaar at the Monteleone, Ann Tuennerman pointed out the table where the folks from the John E. Koerner Co. were displaying their goods. Koerner has been around over 100 years, with the third and fourth generations of the Koerner family now operating the business that was started in 1906. Ann...

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Gone Crabbing

This past weekend (27 degrees at dawn) I was invited to ride along with some commercial crabbers. Freezing hijinks ensued.

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Furnishing Louisiana

Furnishing Louisiana

I was lucky enough to be invited to preview Furnishing Louisiana: Creole and Acadian Furniture, 1735-1835, the latest book from the Historic New Orleans Collection. It’s been in the works for over 30 years now, as furniture collectors (and scholars) Jack Holden and Pat Bacot, along with photographer Jim Zeitz, began documenting just about...

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The Man Who Brought King Tut To NOLA

The Man Who Brought King Tut To NOLA

I remember in 1977 when The Treasures of Tutankhamun came to NOMA. It was a big expedition; it may not have been my first visit to NOMA, but it certainly was the first one that stuck. One evening Dad piled us into the old 1968 Ford Country Squire station wagon—with the big V8 engine...

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Bud’s Broiler on City Park

Bud’s Broiler on City Park

Tom Fitzmorris opined, back in 1977, that there were three restaurants he couldn’t live without: Antoine’s, Maylie’s and the Bud’s Broiler on City Park Avenue. Tom would have say whether all of that still stands today, since although Antoine’s is going strong, Maylie’s has been closed for years now (the also-defunct Smith & Wollensky...

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Tales of the Cocktail to Open at the Sazerac Bar

I’ll let the press release from Ann Tuennerman explain all the good news: TALES OF THE COCKTAIL OPENING RECEPTION TO BE HELD AT THE NEWLY RESTORED ROOSEVELT HOTEL TOAST OF THE EVENING TO OCCUR AT THE ORIGINAL SAZERAC BAR NEW ORLEANS, LA—December 1, 2008 – Tales of the Cocktail, a cocktail and culinary festival...

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Gustav, the Aftermath

It was quite the strange trip yesterday, Labor Day 2008. Gustav beat the odds and made landfall at the exact spot the models had it going to 18 hours before, and within 50 miles or so of the models from 48 hours before. It was not nearly as strong as predicted, which was the...

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Gustav: Angry Tweets & Tweets We Never Hope To Read

Well, it’s two days since the Katrina Anniversary date and here we are expecting another hurricane, Gustav. The storm’s birth and slow growth and progress in the Caribbean have been torturing us for over a week now. It’s certainly distracted me from keeping up with my promised picture-a-day Katrina memorial. The Twitter is all...

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One K A Day, Day 21: Signs

One K A Day, Day 21: Signs

One effect of the storm that couldn’t go away quickly enough for some was the proliferation of signs. In the grand scheme of things—like the large pile of debris in the background, flooded homes, lost lives—the temporary signs advertising demolition and construction services that sprouted up and covered every available inch of neutral ground...

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One K A Day, Day 20: St. Louis Cemetery

One K A Day, Day 20: St. Louis Cemetery

This isn’t a destruction photo. It’s from St. Louis No. 1 cemetery on Basin Street. Our family has a tomb there. The archdiocese opened the cemetery on Nov. 1, All Saints Day, in 2005. It was the first time since the storm it had been open to the public and would not be open...

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One K A Day, Day 19

One K A Day, Day 19

View from the roof of Harborview Condominiums. You can see where the roof was peeled off, exposing the units in the front of the condos. Out of 100 units, only a few escaped wind and rain damage. Flooding wasn’t an issue for the living units; the building’s ground level was for parking (see example...

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One K A Day, Day 16, 17 & 18

One K A Day, Day 16, 17 & 18

Alright already. So we’re running behind a bit. Can I say I spent the weekend hunting streetcars for StreetCarArt.com? Remains of the West End lighthouse and Southern Yacht Club. A view up the canal along Hwy. 11 in Slidell, you know, where Tites used to be. And, finally, I give you Boat Mountain.

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One K A Day: Day 15

One K A Day: Day 15

In the Lakeview area off of Fleur De Lis. I never paid attention before, but the car has its own rescue X heiroglyph.

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One K A Day, Day 14

One K A Day, Day 14

Boat houses along West End that line the marinas. Right after the storm, NOAA release a series of high-resolution aerial photos of New Orleans and Slidell. You could see how bad things were all around West End, the burnt remains of the Southern Yacht Club, the boats piled up in places they were never...

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One K A Day, Day 11, 12 & 13

One K A Day, Day 11, 12 & 13

Alright. The craziness has subsided at work. This should be the last multi-day posting for this series. Here are three from Slidell, where I was living at the time. I came home the last week of September. Most of the trees in the yard had been blown down, but all fell either parallel or...

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One K A Day, Day 9 & 10: Another Two-fer

One K A Day, Day 9 & 10: Another Two-fer

I’ve been remiss in my postings. I know, how long can it take to upload a picture? Well, I’m busy. Here are two more boat-out-of-place photos. The first is a boat I just couldn’t get enough of, photographing it several times until it was finally removed. It’s been tossed up at the floodwall gate...

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One K A Day, Day 7 & 8: A Two-fer

One K A Day, Day 7 & 8: A Two-fer

Since I was out of the office yesterday, I’ll make it up by posting two pictures today. The first is a photo of a Porsche Boxter UW (under water edition) that got left behind in the parking garage under my sister’s condo building near the Marina. The second shot is a view east down...

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One K A Day, Day 6: Displaced House

One K A Day, Day 6: Displaced House

Well, this one is the house that I believe once stood on the spot where I took yesterday’s picture. It ended up a few blocks down at the corner of Bellaire and 36th Streets.

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One K a Day, Day 5: Ground Zero #2

One K a Day, Day 5: Ground Zero #2

This is the side of a house on Bellaire. Its backyard was bordered by the 17th Street Canal levee; which broke directly behind it, to the right in this picture. It’s a wonder the whole thing didn’t get washed away. I’d like to be able to say something poignent, like the people looking at...

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