Living Large in New Orleans

Cafe Dauphine, Lower 9th Ward, New Orleans

I just read an interesting article by Richard Campanella, resident geographer at Tulane University about Bourbon Street.  You can read it here.  

I don't go to Bourbon Street often, and I don't have many nice things to say about it.  I'm not a fan of strip clubs, for instance, so that limits the appeal of many of the storefronts for me.  I have never had a frozen daiquiri.  I have never drunk a hand grenade (purportedly mixed from equal parts gin, grain alcohol, melon liqueur, rum and vodka...what a recipe!!).  I have never had a Jester, which is touted as "The World's Strongest Drink."  From what I understand the Jester is a concoction of Everclear, dark rum, strawberry and kiwi liqueurs, along with some proprietary ingredients, artificial coloring perhaps. 

I have nothing against these things, per se, I just don't like crowds and Bourbon Street is usually very crowded.  When I do go, I go in August.  It's the best time of year to visit New Orleans.  There aren't any lines.  It's because of the heat.  That, and the humidity.

I don't have anything against people who go to Bourbon Street to have a good time.  I've had good times on Bourbon Street.  I have good memories that were made on Bourbon Street.  To this day, I can't hear the song Car Wash without thinking of a particular night on Bourbon Street.

Which leads us to a video interlude.  Ladies and gentlemen, the sensational Rose Royce.  Turn it up!


"You might not ever get rich, but let me tell ya it's better than diggin' a ditch.  There ain't no telling' who ya might meet.  A movie star or maybe even an Indian chief."

Tammie the Housekeeper likes to play the Car Wash soundtrack full blast when she's cleaning the house.  She shouts out the line: "The boss don't mind sometimes if you act the fool!"  Let me tell you, she sings like a bird.

Tammie the Housekeeper

Every time Tammie the Housekeeper cues up Car Wash on the hi-fi, it brings a smile to my face because I remember hearing a band cover that song one magical night on Bourbon Street.

It's the same when I watch A Streetcar Named Desire.  Here's a little speech by Harold "Mitch" Mitchell (Karl Malden):

"I was given a membership to the New Orleans Athletic Club, and it was the finest present I was ever given. I work out there with the weights and I swim and I keep myself fit. When I started there, I was getting soft in the belly but now my belly is hard." -- A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams.

Karl Malden won an Oscar for that line.  It was the first time he was nominated:

Winning it made him feel great.

The New Orleans Athletic Club is still around.

Cornerstone, NOAC, North Rampart Street, New Orleans

I'm trying to get my name on this plaque in the weight room:

Wall of Honor, New Orleans Athletic Club, New Orleans

You get a hard belly when you live in New Orleans.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.