A BRIDGE'S MANY LIVES
Did you know that the historic, blue-tinted bridge spanning Bayou St. John across from Cabrini High School—colloquially referred to as...
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...
BUNDLES, BLOOMERS, AND BICYCLES
As many cities move toward more bike-friendly infrastructure, including our own, let’s take a trip back to the bicycle craze of the 1890s...
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...
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...
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...
THE SPANISH FORT AND ITS MANY HATS
In learning recently of a 2013 archaeological dig at the colloquially termed “Spanish Fort” site on Bayou St. John, my fascination with...
CLAM SHELLS AND WHITE MAN PRATTLE
In a fluid, rockless, ever-shifting landscape—formed by the warring forces of sediment accretion and subsidence—elevation is everything....
A BUNDLE OF GATOR PARTS: NO BIG DEAL
Fun fact: the historic blue-tinted bridge we all call the Cabrini bridge (above), built some time in the mid 19th century, was for many...
