Whiz Bang New Orleans

The uptown side of Canal Street, riverside of Carrollton Ave.

This is going to be one whiz-bang of a post as the opening photo hints.  Apparently, when I took pictures of Blue Dot Donuts the other day I also took a lot of photos while walking our dog through the neighborhood.  It isn't the most exciting part of town, but, like most parts of New Orleans, it's interesting enough.  Of course, I live here.  I find our city endlessly fascinating.

When I was picking up pastries this morning, I overheard someone standing in line say to someone else, "A pretty face can hide and evil mind."  I thought of one of my theme songs:



And, only because I like to write it this way, that song's title is: 

Secret---AGENT MAN!! 

I'm often mistaken for a man of mystery as I take the motor scooter out picking up fresh bread and pastries every morning.  One morning, one of the girls at Blue Dot Donuts said, "You must love these bacon maple johnny logs."  I had to admit that I've never eaten one.  They're for our guests.  Who can eat that many bacon donuts?  Well, I guess a lot of people can.  Then a fully dressed shrimp po' boy for lunch.

When you live in New Orleans, people from elsewhere think we walk down the street with a shrimp po' boy in one hand and a trumpet in the other.  I don't know how to play the trumpet.

I did just order an ocarina from Amazon.  I don't have enough hobbies.  It turns out the ocarina I ordered has some tie-in with The Legend of Zelda, which I understand is a video game of which I have no knowledge whatsoever.  As Frau Schmitt will tell you, I am an old fuddy-duddy.  She is usually right about these things.

This Canal Street Building is for sale

Canal Street used to be the most glorious shopping street in the South, as the Chamber of Commerce likes to brag.  All the big old-looking hotels on Canal Street towards the river used to be department stores.  Further lakeside, the architecture is a collection of 1920s manors and bungalows, and a smattering of modernist office buildings constructed in the 1950s and 60s.  It's a very interesting streetscape if you are interested in urban studies.  Canal Street was supposed to be the main business street, hence the modernist office buildings.  During the late 1970s, it was decided that Poydras Street would be the main business street in the city and that's why the tall office skyscrapers are on Poydras Street.  

Poydras Street is not very interesting for me.  When people stay at Le Pavilion Hotel, which is a beautiful building, they ask me what there is to do on Poydras Street.  My answer: "Not much."  That's changing now as some new apartment buildings are being built where there used to be parking lots, but the area still doesn't interest me much.  If you've been to another American city, you've been to that part of town.  If you want to eat at Jimmie John's or Jamba Juice, you can stay home and do that.   I have nothing against those places, or against whatever big city you live near, but you don't come to New Orleans for that.  




You could go to Memphis.

*****

Louisiana Running Company, Canal Street, New Orleans

Those are shoes handing under the Louisiana Running Company sign.  I have a close-up picture of them, but it's a picture of shoes.  I've limited myself to five illustrations for this post.

Someone wrote to me today asking if we accept guests who are 13 years of age.  The answer was yes.  We do not accept guests who are younger than 13.  I would think it should be needless to say, but I'm going to say it anyway because one never knows, guests under the age of 18 must be accompanied by at least one adult.

My ignorance of video games notwithstanding (I am an old fuddy-duddy, after all), I imagine that our inn could be very interesting to a 13 year old boy.  Not that I would encourage him to wander the lobby unattended, but there are a lot of interesting and offbeat things in the lobby, the kind of things that fire a person's imagination.  As Frau Schmitt will tell you, and she is usually right about these things, your humble narrator is an arrested adolescent in many of his preoccupations.  To see the world through the eyes of a child...  New Orleans is a magical place.  I wouldn't take a young lad to some parts of Bourbon Street, but New Orleans is a place in which one's imagination can be set free.  It is a city of wonder.

Let's change the soundtrack:

Quite the change, eh?  That's one part of Bourbon Street.  I heard that song the other morning out of one of the clubs when I was walking our dog after picking up croissants and baguettes at Croissant d'Or.  That's what made me think of it.

I can hear you, "Waitaminnut?  You were picking up pastries at 6:30 in the morning and the clubs were blaring music out the front doors?"

Welcome to New Orleans.  That's the French Quarter for you.

Of course, our house is within walking distance of the French Quarter, but ours is overall a quiet neighborhood.  There's traffic on the street on Friday and Saturday nights, but then things quiet down after 11:00.  Other nights, it's very peaceful around the clock.  At about 3 or 4 AM, if you're awake, you'll hear distant train whistles and tug boat horns.  I like it when I'm awake at that hour, listening to the nation's port going about its business in the wee small time before everyone rouses themselves for fresh daytime adventures.

Sometimes, if you're lucky, at around 5 or 6, a couple of crows will roost in the oak trees in front of our house and have a conversation for a few minutes.  They're neighbors.  Nobody minds.

Sofas & Chairs & More, Canal Street, New Orleans, LA

I like how Sofas & Chairs, Inc. doesn't leave the "and more" part of what they sell up to your imagination.  If you can't figure it out, they sell lamps too.  I always admire this sign.  It clean and crisp and uses the lack of a show window to admirable effect.  Maybe you want to shop for a sofa when you're in New Orleans.  I should pop in soon and see if they'll ship.

And that concludes this installment and I know what you're thinking.  I promised five photos to illustrate today's rambling musings.  Fear not, I've got one in reserve.  This is a restaurant on North Carrollton Avenue, a few blocks downtown of Canal Street.  We have eaten at over 300 restaurants in New Orleans but we haven't eaten on this one yet.  We're waiting for one of our guests to try it out to tell us how it is:

Yummy Yummy, North Carrollton Ave, New Orleans, LA

You didn't come to New Orleans to eat Chinese food, did you?  Maybe you did.  I'm not here to judge.  As innkeepers, our job is make sure you enjoy the city according to what interests you.  They do offer a full lunch buffet.

À votre santé,
La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.