The Big Easy, Part 1
New Orleans was founded on a large bend in the Mississippi River and, by compass, is actually on the north bank of the river. It was named after the Duke of Orleans, who was the leader of France at the time. In 1763 the French ceded the New Orleans colony to the Spanish and during the Revolutionary War New Orleans became a key entry point for supplies smuggled in to aid the cause against the British. New Orleans remained under Spanish control until 1803 until Napoleon took control of Spain and included the New Orleans area in the lands sold to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. The famed French Quarter of New Orleans actually mostly consists of buildings constructed during the Spanish period due to a series of fires prior to 1763. The city grew rapidly as the “golden age” of the city unfolded during the first 50 years of the 19th century primarily because of its location at the mouth of the Mississippi, a river which the entire interior of the United States depended on to get its crops to market. Of course, cotton and sugar cane dominated the trade. A cosmopolitan society developed with strict social stratum and geographic neighborhoods: white (west of the downtown area in the Garden District), French Creole (north of the French Quarter along Esplanade towards Lake Ponchartrain, mulatto, and African American (east and northeast of the French Quarter). Remnants of the “layered” society are still clearly present today. New Orleans resembles a segmented orange slice with the river running along the cut side and the pie-shaped wedges fanning out to the west, east, and north of Canal Street, which cuts north/south through the city from Lake Ponchartrain to the north and the Mississippi River to the south. The French Quarter is the first wedge east of Canal Street, further east is the 9th Ward (which we all saw devastated by Hurricane Katrina). Just west of Canal Street is the CBD (Central Business District), home to high-rise buildings, and then a wedge that splits as it widens with the Warehouse District along the river and the Garden District to the northwest. This is my first time in New Orleans and I can’t possibly do it all. The RV Park is in the far northeast part of the city along Chef Menteur Hwy (the old highway out of town before the interstate was built) in an area very similar to Portland’s Sandy Boulevard out past 122nd. The RV Park has a bus stop right in front of the gate so I can ride the bus into Canal Street, transfer to the streetcar and have the city at my feet (won’t be driving the Lunch Box down to the French Quarter!). It worked well. In Part 1 of The Big Easy, I visit the Garden District and down on the waterfront in the Warehouse District, Mardi Gras World.
The Garden District
The Garden District west of the CBD and the French Quarter seems like an entirely separate city—or time period—from the French Quarter. The district was once a separate city called Lafayette and was created by Americans after the 1803 Louisiana Purchase as a counterpoint to the Creole society of the French Quarter. The two groups were fiercely competitive, both in business and society. In an effort to protect their society, the Creoles banned Americans from living in the crowded French Quarter. The Americans responded by creating the Garden District, a residential district rife with stunning displays of wealth. Most of these homes are still private homes with several of today’s Hollywood elite in residence. Let’s walk through the Garden District. All of this was in a neighborhood roughly twelve square blocks south of St. Charles Street (easily walkable, even for me!)
Note the little square on the sidewalk in the last picture above right. It’s a step built into the sidewalk to provide assistance with stepping down from a carriage. Below is the “Benjamin Button” house, used in the Brad Pitt movie of the same name.
The most famous (and elite) restaurant in New Orleans, Commander’s Palace, sits in the Garden District across the street from Lafayette Cemetery No.1 where it has been located since 1890. The current building is an extensive renovation after the old one was devastated by Hurricane Katrina.
Because the water table is too high, in-ground burial is not possible in the New Orleans area. Thus, families purchased lots in a cemetery and built an above-ground crypt to be used for generations. There are a number of these cemeteries around the city.
Here’s an example. The close-up details the various people buried in this crypt over time.
Just a tad bit worn out, I jump on the St. Charles streetcar to head back in to town, transfer to the Canal Street streetcar and head for a totally different experience at Mardi Gras World.
Mardi Gras World
Mardi Gras (French for “Fat Tuesday”) is a celebration that precedes Lent. For about two weeks, daily parades and balls take place throughout the city. Each parade is sponsored by a “Krewe”, an association that’s kind of like a club with dues-paying members and a limited membership list. Each krewe has its own parade, consisting of music, bands and fabulous floats. Members of the krewe ride the floats and throw beads and the like to the crowds lining the streets. There are currently 50 krewes (yes, that means 50 parades in the two weeks!) Mardi Gras World is home to Blaine Kerr Productions, a family owned company that, amongst other things, makes floats for the krewes. They have a number of warehouses throughout the city and this warehouse currently has the floats from the Krewe Orpheus (sponsored by Harry Connick, Jr). They are in the process of being dismantled, parts stored, and prepared for next year’s parade.
Walking through a narrow passageway between huge characters from past parades being stored for reuse or re-purposing, I enter the ever-present gift shop and await my tour.
The tour was very interesting and we got to watch the artists at work. The figures are mostly made out of Styrofoam and then covered with paper mache before being painted. Some figures are made out of fiberglass but that doesn’t happen at this site. The process starts with the design process and then the creation of the figures (the figure on the right is done with sculpting and is ready for paper mache (note its position on the float in the sketch to the left.)
After the design stage, rough shapes are built out of sheets of Styrofoam that are glued together. Then using knives (or a heat gun as this guy was doing when I watched) the figure takes shape.
After the figures are sculpted they are then covered with paper mache (just like you did in elementary school). Several figures were being worked on (look for the brown paper strips-that’s the new paper mache).
Then the completed figures go to the paint station.
Once figures are done, they move on to the actual build of the float. Here is a float for 2016 in the beginning stages of being put together on a trailer.
We then walked past a line of floats from this year’s Orpheus Krewe in the process of being stripped down to a bare shell and painted white to form the basis for future floats.
The organized part of the tour was done, we were then able to wander through the warehouse at will. Just an amazing collections of characters being stored to be either re-used at a later date of re-purposed.
Finally, I as head out the door I pass a group of guys who are in the process of making giant flowers.
Two very different glimpses into New Orleans! More to come in Part 2.
Next up: New Orleans, Part 2
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