A Streetcar Named New Orleans
By Jay Cooke
They'd gathered at Beauregard Circle by the entrance to City Park, a crowd several hundred strong, tooting horns and shooting video, tossing beads and waving Saints hats.
The steady 'bwomp, bwah bwah' of a brass band marked the cadence we quickly fell into, dancing around the vintage St. Charles streetcar with the throng on the median, or 'neutral ground'. They'd gathered to cheer us on, a krewe of 60-odd costumed revelers, temporary freaks and ambassadors who climbed aboard the streetcar, bedecked by purple, green and gold.
We were in Mid-City New Orleans, with the Phunny Phorty Phellows social krewe, to kick off Mardi Gras 2007. It was January 6, AKA Twelfth Night, when legend says wise men bestowed gifts onto baby Jesus, and New Orleans' Mardi Gras season begins.
I was riding with Anna and Kristian, two New Orleaneans impacted by Katrina, but fighting to revive their town. We squeezed to the front of the streetcar, grabbed window space and some beads and held on as the streetcar lurched into the night. The band, stuffed in the rear of the car, kept on blowing.
In the 18 months since Katrina became a four-letter word in this town, New Orleans has struggled to recover. Despite red tape and doubters, a hearty core has returned to make a stand and rebuild this unique American city.
It's not been easy. Normalcy is hard to fathom when half a city remains uninhabited, when empty homes line once-vibrant neighborhood blocks. Crime is a major issue.
That's what makes Mardi Gras and New Orleans' spring celebrations - the French Quarter Festival, Tennessee Williams Literary Festival, and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival - so important for New Orleaneans. In the city that's mastered communal celebration unlike any other, public parties now symbolize progress, a reminder of good times past and promise of future ones to come.
We saw this first-hand in Mid-City, a broad, middle-class borough that flooded but is now returning in fits and starts. As our streetcar clanged down Carrollton St. away from the kickoff crowd, smaller groups clustered along the neutral ground, awaiting our approach. They'd wave and bellow "throw me something", we'd whoop and shower down beads in return.
We had the perfect front-window vantage of upcoming groups, some standing, some in lawn chairs, all ages and ethnicities represented. As we approached, they'd erupt in joy.
Though stereotypes
paint Mardi Gras as a raucous show of drunks going wild (which they
do, on Bourbon Street), for New Orleaneans it connotes much more.
Mardi Gras is about families, and generations, gathering for
reunions; neighbors reconnecting at favorite parade route spots, year
after year.
The conductor noticed the turnout. "So many people," he said as he worked his dual-levered magic, angling the streetcar left onto Canal Street for its dash to the French Quarter downtown. Truth told, the crowd wasn't huge, but in a city striving to repopulate, parade goers were a welcomed site.
As we rode through our final leg downtown, a king cake appeared, and we munched the ceremonial pastry of Mardi Gras. Our beads depleted, we stumbled off at Royal Street, barely noticed despite our elaborate masks and clownish costumes - which in itself, was a small symbol of normalcy returning to New Orleans again.
If You Go
The 2007 Mardi Gras season runs through Fat Tuesday, Feb. 20, when the police sweep Bourbon Street at midnight and Ash Wednesday begins Lent. Popular parades include Endymion (Feb. 17, 4:30pm), Orpheus (Feb. 19, 5:45pm) and Zulu (Feb. 20, 8am). For schedules, video and trip planning details visit www.mardigrasneworleans.com.
Festival season continues throughout spring in New Orleans. Favorites include the Tennessee Williams Festival (Mar. 28-Apr. 1, www.tennesseewilliams.net), the French Quarter Festival (Apr. 13-15, www.fqfi.org) and the granddaddy of American music happenings, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Apr. 27-May 6, www.nojazzfest.com).
Places to Eat
Down-home Mothers (401 Poydras St., 504-523-9656) dishes fluffy biscuits and 'heaping debris' po'boys. Palace Cafe (605 Canal St., 504-523-1661, www.palacecafe.com) masters horseradish oysters, velvety crusted duck and unreal desserts. The Central Grocery (923 Decatur St., 504-523-1620) birthed the muffelatta, a mega sandwich stuffed with ham, salami, provolone and olive tapenade. One fills two.
Places to Stay
A great value in the French Quarter, the 1830's-era Place d'Armes (625 St Ann St., 504-524-4531, www.placedarmes.com) features several buildings around a communal pool and courtyard. The Canal Street Guesthouse (1930 Canal St., 504-266-1930, www.bestguesthouse.com) shrugs off Katrina with its watery murals and festive traveler's ambiance.
Travels with Lonely
Planet
King Features Syndicate 2007
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