Crescent City Classic 2014

Esplanade Avenue after the Crescent City Classic

The Crescent City Classic is an annual 10k road race that goes down Esplanade Avenue every spring.  It went by our house this morning.  This is what it was like:

1.  9:30 last night some trucks stopped in front of our house to set up an archway over the street at the 3-mile mark.  While they were setting up, a driver heading lakeside up Esplanade Avenue was gawking at the work in progress and he rear ended the car in front of him.  The police arrived and flashed their lights at least until 30 minutes past midnight. 

2.  At 5:00 this morning another work crew arrived to install a sound system and make a general racket putting the finishing touches on the archway.  They finished up about an hour later.  They enjoyed listening to classic rock while they went about their business.

3.  The race started at 8:00AM.  By 8:15 the first runners went by our house with police escort.  Motorcycle police with sirens.  It's a different layout every year.  This year we had water stations set up two houses down from us and portable toilets in the park across the street from us.  Some years, there is nobody but us and the neighbors watching the race.  This year, there was a crowd in the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, everyone cheering.

4.  The last of the walkers passed by, bringing up the lagging rear, at about 10:30.  Then the street was a wasteland of empty conical paper cups.  The sheriff's department came by and prisoners picked up all the trash.  Nice guys.  All of them smiling as they went about their assigned duties in orange OPP (Orleans Parish Prison) jumpsuits.  It was beautiful weather.

5.  By 11:30 all the trash had been picked up.  The archway was disassembled and you wouldn't have known there was a race today except for the people wearing numbers walking back to the French Quarter from City Park.  Everyone seemed to be in a good mood.

2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans

There is no parking on our street between midnight and noon on the day when the Crescent City Classic is running.  I took advantage of the lack of cars in front of our house to take a picture.  As I mentioned above, it was a beautiful morning.  It's springtime in New Orleans.

I wasn't the only person taking pictures of our house.  People are always stopping to snap a few pics.  I fit right in.  I never get tired of taking pictures of our inn and it's neighbors.  The inn is the orange building in the middle.  2216 Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119.

A closer view

The sun was so bright and the day was so cloudless that I haven't doctored the exposure or the shadows of these pictures.  This is what it looks like to live in New Orleans in the middle of April.  We love it here.  Most people do.  If you can't be happy in New Orleans... well, I don't know what to say about that.

Let's take a closer look at those three houses.  They were all built at the same time, in 1883, by the same man.  He built them for the old Creole families who were moving out of the French Quarter at the time.  The Quarter was being overrun by Sicilian immigrants and the old French families wanted a change of scenery.

2212 Esplanade Avenue

The blue house was built to be a one-family domicile.  

2216 Esplanade Avenue

The orange house was built for two families, side by side.  The actual address is 2216 on the riverside and 2218 on the lakeside of the building.

2222 Esplanade Avenue

The green house was also built for two families; one on the ground floor and one on the second story.  The addresses for this building were originally 2220 for the porch and 2222 for the balcony.

When I sit out front waiting for guests to arrive, I have the opportunity to chat with people walking by.  They all have nice things to say about the paint jobs.  These are cheerful landmarks in the middle of one of the most beautiful streets in New Orleans.  It is like magic to live here, whether you spend a lifetime or just a few nights.

We like it here.  You will, too.  If you don't... well, I don't what to say about that.

A votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.

Let's take one last look at all three:

Middle of the 2200 block of Esplanade Avenue, New Orleans