INVISIBLE ISLANDS
In 1907, then Mayor Martin Behrman made a formal offer on behalf of the city for “four small islands” in Bayou St. John. When I first...
THE MESMERISM OF VIRGINIA REED
If you take gender and race relations of early twentieth-century New Orleans and add a healthy dose of drama, you get the story of...
OLD FISH, NEW FISH
Don’t let those wind-induced ruffles on its surface fool you: our Bayou St. John doesn’t have a current of its own to speak of. Like all...
BOYS OF THE BAYOU: THEN AND NOW
While attending last week’s July 4th boat parade on Bayou St. John, led by the Krewe of Kolossos, I was reminded of a letter I came...
NEW ORLEANS' OLDEST FIRE HYDRANT
Given the recent rejection of a property tax by New Orleans residents to help fund firefighter backpay, I figured I would focus on a...
CURED MEAT & MONSTERS OF THE DEEP
Big Walking Gator at Lake Woodruff. © Andrea Westmoreland. From Wikimedia Commons This past January, I wrote a post in which I quoted...
AN INTERSECTION'S ANCIENT ENERGY Pt. 2
A couple weeks ago, I posted on my favorite New Orleans intersection: where N. Dorgenois, Bell, DeSoto, Kerlerec, and Bayou Road come...
ANCIENT AND ODD-ANGLED: THE ROAD TO BAYOU ST. JOHN
Since moving to my new address on N. Dorgenois Street, my fascination with the charming and disorienting formation of streets between...
NEW ORLEANS' FIRST CARNIVAL MASQUERADE
Imagine this: the year is 1730. You’re a 22-year-old clerk for the French Company of the Indies, and you’ve recently been sent from Paris...
LOAFING ROWDIES AND GOOSE RACES
This past New Year’s Eve, there was no shortage of conflict between revelers and police along Bayou St. John. I personally witnessed a...
