New Orleans Magazine October 2017 by Renaissance Publishing

WYES-TV PRESENTS A NEW SEASON OF MASTERPIECE “POLDARK”

october 2017

OCTOBER 2017 / VOLUME 51 / NUMBER 12 Editor-in-Chief Errol Laborde Managing Editor Ashley McLellan Art Director Tiffani Reding Amedeo Contributing Writers Mary Lou Eichhorn, Fritz Esker, Kathy Finn, Dawn Ruth Wilson, Brobson Lutz, M.D., Jason Berry, Carolyn Kolb, Chris Rose, Eve Crawford Peyton, Mike Griffith, Liz Scott Monaghan, Lee Cutrone, Dale Curry, Jay Forman, Tim McNally, Robert Peyton, Mirella Cameran Web Editor Kelly Massicot Staff Writers Kelly Massicot, Melanie Warner Spencer Vice President of Sales Colleen Monaghan Sales Manager Kate Sanders Henry (504) 830-7216 / Kate@MyNewOrleans.com Senior Account Executive Jessica Marasco Account Executives Claire Cummings, Peyton Simms Director of Marketing and Events Cheryl Lemoine Event Coordinator Whitney Weathers Digital Media Associate Mallary Matherne For event information call (504) 830-7264 Production Manager Jessica DeBold Production Designers Emily Andras, Demi Schaffer, Molly Tullier Traffic Coordinator Topher Balfer Chief Executive Officer Todd Matherne President Alan Campell Executive Vice President Errol Laborde Distribution Manager John Holzer Administrative Assistant Mallary Matherne Subscriptions Manager Brittanie Bryant WYES DIAL 12 STAFF (504) 486-5511 Executive Editor Aislinn Hinyup Associate Editor Robin Cooper Art Director Jenny Hronek NEW ORLEANS MAGAZINE Printed in USA A Publication of Renaissance Publishing 110 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005 Subscriptions: (504) 830-7231 MyNewOrleans.com

New Orleans Magazine (ISSN 0897 8174) is published monthly by Renaissance Publishing, LLC., 110 Veterans Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005; (504) 828-1380. Subscription rates: one year $19.95; Mexico, South America and Canada $48; Europe, Asia and Australia $75. An associate subscription to New Orleans Magazine is available by a contribution of $40 or more to WYES-TV/Channel 12, $10.00 of which is used to offset the cost of publication. Also available electronically, on CD-ROM and on-line. Periodicals postage paid at Metairie, LA, and additional entry offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to New Orleans Magazine, 110 Veterans Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005. Copyright 2017 New Orleans Magazine. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the consent of the publisher. The trademark New Orleans and New Orleans Magazine are registered. New Orleans Magazine is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts, photos and artwork even if accompanied by a self-addressed stamped envelope. The opinions expressed in New Orleans Magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the magazine managers or owners.

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Contents

Malone Souliers “Maureen” blush velvet pump and grey velvet “Robyn” flat at SoSusu Boutique; Loeffler Randall silver pom pom “Lulu” mules at Pilot and Powell; Grey Glitter bow sandals by Chloe at Joseph.

features

The Quiz

Last days of Storyville

Chic Street

WWI Centennial

Know your New Orleans

Shutting down “the District”

Magazine Street Fashion

A New Orleans Connection

New Orleans

By John Kemp

By Sally Asher

By Lisa Tudor

By Brian altobello

celebrates 300!

on the cover

Contents departments

Local Color Chris Rose Purge the Surge 52

Modine Gunch Mitch’s Fault 54

Joie d’Eve Imperfect Home 56

In Tune Two Festivals to Watch 58

Book Reviews A review of the latest books 60

The Beat

Jazz Life

Marquee

Home

Entertainment calendar 28

Making Music Bounce 62

Well Schooled 64

Art Local Artist Brandan Odums 30

Persona Musician Jimmy Buffett 32

Biz

The Menu

Supermarket Dot Com 36

Table Talk

Education

Brasa Bound 110

Sci High Flies High 40

Restaurant Insider

Health

News From the Kitchens 112

Pipe Dreams 42

Food

Style

Hot Boudin! 114

In the Spirit 46

Last Call

Chronicles

Devil’s Fire 116

Inside

Cross Current 48

Dining Guide

Tricentennial: The Montreal Influence 16

Plus restaurant spotlights 118

114

In Every Issue

Speaking Out Editorial, plus a Mike Luckovich cartoon 22

Julia Street Questions and answers about our city 24

Try This Rosé All Day 166

Streetcar Roffignac 168

DIAL 12, D1 Head to WYES-TV/Channel 12 and wyes.org all month long for discussions about the candidates on the ballot for New Orleans mayor. Informed Sources brings viewers a live, hour-long election special with local reporters that will take questions from the studio audience. Voters can choose topics and questions and hear from the mayoral candidates through an interactive webpage at wyes.org. WYES wants you to be informed and provides you with the tools to make an educated decision. For additional information, head to DIAL12, a special WYES section in the back of New Orleans Magazine.

inside

Tricentennial The Montreal Influence

here is a statue in downtown Montreal of Charles le Moyne de Longueuil et de Châteauguay. There he was best known as a soldier, furrier and explorer. In New Orleans he is barely known, but should be remembered as the father of two daughters and twelve sons, including two with names as long as his, but better known in history as Iberville and his younger brother Bienville. We will be hearing much about the latter in the next year. The idea of founding a city in the Louisiana territory and naming it after French regent Philippe II Duke of Orléans was not entirely his, but the decision to build that city along the big bend in the Mississippi river was his cause. There was debate about building the city elsewhere, including upriver by Bayou Manchac where the land was higher, or along the gulf coast where access to the sea was quicker. Bienville was adamant though. Not only was the water deeper at the big bend but there was a group of connecting lakes, which could provide access to the gulf. Then too there was Bayou St. John stretching from the lake toward the river. (Cynics would also suggest that Bienville was motivated because of the land grant he was given along a strip of the river.) For whatever the reason, we owe the city’s location to Iberville’s little brother. Because of his persistence, it is possible to smell the beignets within site of where the big ships glide around the curve. Here, though, is another theory of why he chose where he did. 16

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Several years ago I was in Montreal where I asked the guide if she could find the LeMoyne home. Fortunately she knew. The home no longer stands, but she showed me the site, which was in the old town section. What I remember most was looking down the street and seeing the activity from the St. Lawrence Seaway. As we toured, she noted that the town is surrounded by water with the Ottowa rivers connecting on one side and the St. Lawrence on the other. The city is referred to sometimes as the L’ isle de Montreal. Hmmmm. Where have I heard that sort of description before? How about Île d’Orléans, also bounded by a great river and then a chain of lakes? Both Bienville’s hometown and and the city he founded were inland islands. (Whatsmore, there is an island in the St. Lawrence River known as Isle d’ Orleans.) Standing along the river in the Louisiana territory he probably could not help but to think of Montreal. People still debate if he made the right decision. Was the site too low; or too far upriver? Would it be vulnerable to hurricanes? What if the levees break one day? Nevertheless, it is a site so rich in geography that it just seems right. It also had a kinship with Montreal, both in terms of their surroundings and their history. Charles LeMoyne’s greatest accomplishment may have been giving birth to a sprit of exploration.

on the web

2017 Press Club of new orleans AWARDS Ashton Phelps Memorial Award for Editorial Writing Errol Laborde Editoral Print “The T-P and The Advocate” Errol Laborde

Our Blogs Be the first to read our blogs, get the 411 on top events around the city and see the features and columns from all seven of our publications all in one place.

Special Section “People to Watch” Tiffani Reding Amedeo, Morgan Packard, Sarah Ravits

Facebook: Facebook.com/ NewOrleansMagazine Twitter: @NewOrleansMag Instagram: @NewOrleansMag Pinterest: Pinterest.com/ NewOrleansMag

Our Newletters

Layout Design “50 things every New Orleanian Should Do” Tiffani Reding Amedeo Cartoon Mike Luckovich

@NewOrleansMag 18

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@NewOrleansMagazine

@NewOrleansMag

meet the sales staff

Kate Sanders Henry Sales Manager (504) 830-7216 Kate@myneworleans.com

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Jessica Marasco

Claire Cummings

Senior Account Executive (504) 830-7220 JessicaM@myneworleans.com

Account Executive (504) 830-7250 Claire@myneworleans.com

Peyton Simms

Colleen Monaghan

Account Executive (504) 830-7249 Peyton@myneworleans.com

Vice President of Sales (504) 830-7215 Colleen@myneworleans.com

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speaking out

It Is Not About Race It is about powerlessness

ome of you might recall a television situation comedy called “Taxi.” In it, comedian Andy Kaufman portrayed a foreign- born mechanic named Latka Gravas. Latka’s native country was never revealed, though it seemed like it belonged somewhere in the Balkans at a spot out of sight from the rest of the world. In one memorable episode Latka happened to meet a woman from the old country named Simka Dahblitz (who had a strong resemblance to actress Carol Kane.) As luck, and script writing, would have it, the two fell in love. There was one serious problem, though. Although they were from the same country, each was from an ethnic group that despised the other. Simka was from the country’s mountain people, a group that to Latka’s valley-rooted

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family was decidedly underclass. A valley person dating a mountain person: What would the folks back home think? I am not sure what the grudge was that the ground folks had with the hill toppers, but I am confident that the root cause was the same that has historically created tension among people—one group feeling like their life was being compromised by the other. In this case the valley people might have felt that the mountain neighbors were tapping into their river. Or the mountain people might have worried that the people below, because they were in greater numbers, controlled the politics. That type of tension is ancient: the Jews feeling suppressed by the Romans or the Romans being thrashed by the Huns. It could probably date back to some Neanderthal swinging his club

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at a passerby who was sitting on his rock. Impoverished white southern farmers never had much of an interest in the Civil War, which they regarded as a plantation owners’ battle, but after the war, when freed blacks began competing in the agriculture market, tensions began to rise. In Southern cities during Reconstruction the local white middle class felt its autonomy stepped on by northern carpetbaggers. And so it has gone. Skin color per se is not really a cause of the tension except that, in some cases, it identifies one group to the other, but that is an imperfect measurement. In many ways the races get along better than activists and some politicians (who build a voter base off of tension) would ever acknowledge. Clouding the situation are

extremist groups, most often young men funneling their frustration into paramilitary organizations. From American extremists to those who have been radicalized in Europe and Asia, the joiners are usually in search of power and recognition in a life in which they have had neither. There is no simple solution to a problem that is so ancient and entrenched. A first step though, especially for political leaders, would be to ditch the rhetoric. (The word “racist,” or its derivatives, is a loaded term, which often relies on stereotypes, and that itself is a form of bigotry.) We need leaders with the wisdom to better grasp each other’s history, and if not to endorse it to at least understand it. Eventually all of us who live in the valley should visit the top of the mountain. •

AN ORIGINAL ©MIKE LUCKOVICH CARTOON FOR NEW ORLEANS MAGAZINE

julia street

Dear Julia, My wife is a proud product of your fine city (and as a proud Yankee I love it too in so many ways). I recently became involved with Ancestry. com. I was working on my wife’s side of the family and in the process, she related a desire to know something of her past. Her family had property in the area where the Industrial Canal was built. She was told as a child that they moved the house instead of demolishment. It was located at 4513 St. Claude. It is listed as such on the 1900 U.S. Census. Now, the house is located at 4511 St. Claude. Both of us find it somewhat hard to believe that they tried to preserve any buildings in the area, especially after asking Ursuline to move. Is there any way to find out? Perhaps Poydras could take a deep dive into the canal and find the original foundation? - Paul Forde (Argo, AL)

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with poydras the parrot

I am not convinced the house property among her children and was relocated due to construction daughter Bertha got two lots. of the Inner Harbor Navigational In 1908, Bertha married Emile Canal, the waterway popularly Schwartz; baby Emile came along known as the Industrial Canal. the following year. The newlyweds In fact, I have reason to doubt and their baby lived for a while whether it moved at all. in Bertha’s childhood home at The Inner Harbor 4513 St. Claude but someNavigation Canal was time between 1910 and Inner Harbor Navigation in the works for years 1913, they were listed as Canal (postcard and was formally living at 4511 St. Claude. circa 1923) dedicated in 1922. The The most likely explanahuge tract on which the tion may be that the old Ursuline Convent sat was family home was replaced with a newer and presumably eventually selected as the canal larger one erected next door on site but it was not acquired until 1918. Although that tract was less lots Bertha had purchased from than three blocks away from the her mother’s estate. The couple’s 4500 block of St. Claude, canal second child was born in 1911, so construction and land acquisition did the expanding family needed does not appear to have involved more space? that block even though the bridge approach runs right in front of it. Furthermore, it seems odd that the house would be moved a few dozen feet away to the lot immediately next door to its former location years before canal site selection was finalized and the Ursuline tract was acquired. In the late 1800s, Jean Saunee and his wife, Camille Casteix, like many others in that part of the old Third District, were farmers. Dear Readers The couple raised crops and ran a dairy on St. Claude between Flying over Gentilly earlier Alexander and Josephine Streets this summer, Poydras was unable (now Kentucky and Japonica). to find an example of the LCCO Later widowed, Camille then sidewalk marking Mike Carrol wed Jean Marie Lacassagne but described in our July issue. An alert continued living at the same St. reader happened to glance down Claude location. When the 1900 while jogging through the area census was taken, Camille’s and shared a picture of the faint family, including daughter Bertha markings, which read LA.C.CO.,Inc. Saunee, lived at 4513 St. Claude. and most likely refers to the When Camille passed away in Louisiana Concrete Company, Inc. 1906, her widower quickly divided

photograph courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection

Dear Julia, I am writing in response to a question posed by Rob Pisani in the last column. Neither Julia nor Poydras had ever heard of the sparkle houses and did not know where they were. Also, because I know where they were, I suspect that Julia/Poydras was wrong about where Rob went to get his donuts. I’d bet dollars to donuts that Rob went to the Louisiana Avenue location, and not Bayou Road, because the sparkle houses “weren’t too far from Picou’s.” I went to the “new” Dominican High School on Walmsley in the mid to late 1960s. At the time, a chemical plant was located directly behind Dominican, occupying a large lot between Earhart and Colapissa Street. The sparkle houses were little one story (appeared to be on slabs), stucco-like boxes on Colapissa Street between Pine Street and Lowerline, facing the chemical plant. One was painted semi-bright yellow and one was painted a pretty Tahiti-lagoon blue. I thought there was a third or more, but I can only picture two. Embedded in the stucco was what appeared to be glitter. The entire house sparkled in the sunlight. I loved it! Now, if these aren’t the ones Rob remembers, I would love to know about others. These two were great. - Mary L. Dumestre (New Orleans, LA)

1970s, when the site became the Family Inn. The row of mid-20th century houses that stood along the 7300 block of Colapissa Street between Pine and Lowerline were razed more than a decade ago. Since I never personally saw the houses in person or in pictures, I must trust your recollection that they appeared glittery. While not close to Picou’s, the houses you recall were not terribly far away by automobile, especially if a driver used nearby Fountainbleau Drive as a shortcut to Broad Street. It is possible that you and Rob are recalling the same houses but I suspect there may have been another set of shiny houses in the general vicinity of Bayou Road and N. Dorgenois Street.

Win a restaurant gift certificate Here is a chance to eat, drink and have your curiosity satiated all at once. Send Julia a question.

I’m sorry to say you’d lose money or munchies if you actually made that wager, Mary. Unless Rob had a functional time machine, the only Picou’s location he and his pals could have patronized in the early 1970s was the one on Bayou Road. Picou’s store at 2138 Louisiana Avenue was fairly short-lived. By 1956, Cado’s Liquor Store was operating at that address and remained there until the early

If we use it, you’ll be eligible for a monthly drawing for a Jazz Brunch for two at The Court of Two Sisters. To take part, send your question to: Julia Street, c/o New Orleans Magazine, 110 Veterans Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005 or email: Errol@MyNewOrleans.com. This month’s winners are Loretta Tuminello, New Orleans and Marinus Quist, Covington, LA.

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The Beat MARQUEE . ART . PERSONA . BIZ . EDUCATION . HEALTH . STYLE . CHRONICLES

THE beat . marquee

October Our top picks for this month’s events By fritz esker

Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival October is a fine month to be outside in New Orleans, and what better way to spend your time outdoors than with music and BBQ? The Crescent City Blues & BBQ Festival is in Lafayette Square Park from Oct. 13-15. A highlight of this year’s fest will be the Como Mamas, three renowned gospel singers from Mississippi. Information, CrescentCityBluesFest.com.

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Art for Art’s Sake

New Orleans Film Festival

Day of the Dead/Fet Gede

If the heat and the crowds of White Linen Night make you stay home, try Art for Art’s Sake. There’s good art, good music and good beverages around the Julia St. and Magazine St. galleries on Saturday, Oct. 7. There’s also an after-party at the Contemporary Arts Center. It’s free and open to the public except for the after-party. Information, cacno.org/afas.

Rub elbows with actors and filmmakers at locations throughout the city from Oct. 11-19 for the New Orleans Film Festival. The festival highlights a variety of local, Hollywood, and international films. Some of last year’s selections included Oscar winners Moonlight and Manchester by the Sea. Information, NewOrleansFilmFestival.org.

Spirits and celebrations don’t stop at Halloween. On Nov. 1, the New Orleans Healing Center will host the Day of the Dead/Fet Gede. There will be a parade of the dead and ancestor altars by various artists. Attendees are encouraged to bring photos of their deceased loved ones for the main altar. It is also a potluck supper, so please bring a dish. Information, NewOrleansHealingCenter.org.

calendar Events, Exhibits & Performances

Sept. 29-Oct. 1 Treme Fall Fest, St. Augustine Church. TremeFest.com.

Sept. 30-Jan. 21 Solidary and Solitary: The Joyner and Giuffrida Collection, Ogden Museum of Southern Art. OgdenMuseum.org.

Oct. 6-7 Ponderosa Stomp 13, Orpheum Theater. OrpheumNOLA.com.

Oct. 6-8 Gentilly Fest, Pontchartrain Park. GentillyFest.com.

Oct. 6-21 Oktoberfest, Deutsches Haus. DeutschesHaus.org.

Oct. 6 The Comedy Get Down, Smoothie King Center. SmoothieKingCenter.com.

Oct. 7 Beignet Fest, City Park Festival Grounds. BeignetFest.com.

Oct. 12 Champions of Magic, Orpheum Theater. OrpheumNOLA.com.

Oct. 12 Dylan Moran, Joy Theater. TheJoyTheater.com.

Oct. 13 In this Moment: HALF GOD/HALF DEVIL TOUR, Orpheum Theater. OrpheumNOLA.com

Oct. 15 Herbie Hancock, Orpheum Theater. OrpheumNOLA.com.

Oct. 17 Roadcase Royale - Featuring Nancy Wilson of Heart and Liv Warfield, Joy Theater. TheJoyTheater.com.

Oct. 19 Lil Yachty Teenage Tour, Joy Theater. TheJoyTheater.com.

Oct. 20 Beethoven Violin Concerto with Mendelssohn’s “Reformation”, Orpheum Theater. OrpheumNOLA.com.

Oct. 20-22 Praise Fest, Bayou St. John. PraiseFestNOLA.com.

Oct. 20-22 LGBT Halloween in New Orleans, French Quarter. HalloweenNewOrleans.com.

Oct 20-28 Escape to Margaritaville, Saenger Theater. SaengerNOLA.com.

Oct. 21 Gogol Bordello + Lucky Chops, Joy Theater. TheJoyTheater.com.

Oct. 21 Cochon de Lait Festival, Palmer Park. NOLAPorkFest.com.

Oct. 21 Mac ’n’ Cheese Fest, Armstrong Park. NOLAmacNcheeseFest.com.

Oct. 21 Bruno Mars: 24K Magic World Tour, Smoothie King Center. SmoothieKingCenter.com.

Oct. 21 Krewe of Boo Halloween Parade, French Quarter. KreweOfBoo.com.

Oct. 22 Oak Street Po-Boy Festival, Oak Street. PoBoyFest.com.

Oct 27 Prieto Conducts Dvorak 7, Orpheum Theater. OrpheumNOLA.com.

Oct. 27-29 Louisiana Seafood Festival, Woldenberg Park. LouisianaSeafoodFestival.com.

Oct. 27-29 WWII Air, Sea, & Land Festival, New Orleans Lakefront Airport. AirSeaLandFest.com.

Oct. 27-29 Voodoo Music + Arts Experience, City Park. VoodooFestival.com.

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THE beat . art

Art on display local exhibits

East of the Mississippi Starting October 6

This new exhibit at NOMA explores the origins of landscape photography in the US through nineteenthcentury American works made east of the Mississippi River.

Art for Arts’ Sake October 7 5:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Art lovers will gather in the Warehouse Arts District on Julia Street, the Contemporary Arts Center and Magazine Street for the annual art season kick-off party.

City of Alchemy Visual Artist & Filmmaker Brandan Odums

By Alexa Harrison

New Orleans Film Festival

randan “B-Mike” Odums believes when you see boundaries as opportunities, the world becomes a limitless place. This power of positive thinking paired with undeniable talent is what brought the highly sought-after visual artist and filmmaker where he is today: Studio Be, a 35,000-square foot warehouse in the Bywater, the final installment of the “Be” series and his first solo show. The series started with Project Be, an illegal artistic act of painting in an abandoned building that was ultimately shut down, but not before all involved, including Odums himself, fell in love with the idea. “We took paint and created alchemy, took something painful and made it temporarily beautiful,” says Odums. Odums uses his art to introduce people to narratives in history they may not have otherwise known, and also to affirm personal value for the viewers themselves. “I hope people see themselves reflected in the paintings I create,” Odums says. “Whether it’s some giant in history, or an everyday person from New Orleans, somewhere in that affirmation of value lies the solution to the issues we see everyday in this city.” From the paintings, Odums has created a line of

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T-shirts, each with a different meaning for Odums, available at the Studio Be shop. “I Am My Ancestors Wildest Dreams, was first told to me by Mariana Sheppard, a brilliant artist here in New Orleans.” says Odums. “Those words have forever protected me during my darkest moments and I’m hoping they will provide the same feeling to others.” Prior to pursuing painting, Odums was a successful filmmaker, having founded 2cent Entertainment, a company that created music videos for Mos Def, Currency, Mannie Fresh, Juvenile, and Mystikal, among others. Odums and his contemporaries focused on creating content that empowered people to use their voice and talents to create change. The organization has since founded a summer camp, now in it’s sixth year, that teaches teenagers in New Orleans how to use digital media to speak their “2-cents,” or raise their voice in the face of issues plaguing the black community. “New Orleans is a teacher that keeps on teaching, and a lover that keeps on loving,” Odums says. “Every day I’m inspired by New Orleans’ past, present and future; the people that make the culture; the culture that makes the community; it continually informs me and equips me. We are a city of survivors... a city of alchemists.” •

October 11-19

Now in its 28th year, the festival will take place citywide, featuring documentaries, Louisiana-made films, music videos and more for $9 to $35 per event, all access passes $250-$320.

New Orleans artist and filmmaker Brandan “B-Mike” Odums.

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THE beat . persona

Jimmy Buffett Escape to Margaritaville By Ashley McLellan

immy Buffett has been making a career out of good food, good times and good music for more than 40 years. The singer, songwriter, business entrepreneur, restaurateur, and best-selling author is adding a new job to his long resume: Broadway musical composer. Escape to Margaritaville, a new musical comedy, makes is pre-Broadway debut right here in New Orleans October 20-28 at the Saenger Theater. The musical features original songs, as well as many of the tunes Parrotheads have come to know by heart. The production team also includes several Tony and Emmy Award winners. New Orleanians have a unique relationship with Buffett, embracing both his beach combing lifestyle and a mutual love of libations and festing at the Fairgrounds. We tracked the troubadour True Confession down to discuss our I haven’t been to cultural connections, confession in a long musical debuts and the time and I am not true story behind that going back now. famous cheeseburger. Why did you want to debut Escape To Margaritaville in New Orleans at the Saenger? It was not my decision, but I am overjoyed that New Orleans and the Saenger were chosen. I have a long history with both the town and the theatre. My uncle Jack Rappaport had an office in the Saenger, and I would watch movies and shows from the balcony for free as a 12-year-old. It was where I first thought about becoming a shameless entertainer. We’ve heard that the story for Escape To Margaritaville is completely original. What’s it about? Let’s just say it’s not far from one of the simple, but most important themes of mine - there are very few people who wouldn’t want to spend a few weeks on a tropical island.

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What was it like watching Escape To Margaritaville for the first time? I was a bit overcome. I had never seen a Jimmy Buffett show before. What is your favorite Broadway play? South Pacific, by far. New Orleans has a long love affair with all things Jimmy Buffett, and we hope the feeling is mutual. What brings you back to New Orleans? Gumbo, Jazz Fest, the Saints, friends and family and memories - lots of memories. Are your New Orleans fans different from other places? Not really, but we all know New Orleanians have music, food and fun in their DNA, and so do I. There’s a rumor that the famous cheeseburger from “Cheeseburger in Paradise” was inspired by a menu item at Camellia Grill in New Orleans. Is this accurate, or do you want to set the record straight? I love the Camelia Grill cheeseburger, but no, it is not accurate. The inspiration came down in the British Virgin Islands at the end of a not so glamorous sailing passage, and we found a waterfront bar with cheeseburgers. Who are you listening to you right now? Today, I was listening to Chancha Via Circuito as I made a passage from Sag Harbor, NY to Martha’s Vineyard. What is your favorite cocktail or craft beer? I am presuming tequila on the rocks is not a cocktail, so it would be a mojito with good Cuban rum and not a lot of sugar You’re an award-winning, stadium-filling musician, successful businessman, best-selling author, and now musical theater impresario. Is there something you haven’t done that is still on your to-do list? Go to space. •

At a Glance Age: 70 Occupation: Singer/Writer Born: Pascagoula, Mississippi, Dec 25, 1946 Education: B.S. from University of Southern Mississippi in History and Journalism Favorite Book: Following the Equator by Mark Twain Favorite Movie: The Man Who Would Be King Favorite TV show: Adventures in Paradise Favorite food: Gumbo Favorite restaurant: Bistro Paul Bert in Paris

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THE beat . biz

A Healthy Market whole food facts

The first Whole Foods Market opened in Austin, Texas in 1980. In 1988, a small store on Esplanade Avenue in New Orleans became the first Whole Foods Market location outside of Texas. Number of employees 87,000

Supermarket Dot Com Could Amazon-Whole Foods transform ‘makin’ groceries’? By Kathy Finn

ow cutthroat can a highly competitive industry become when a powerful new rival steps in? Customers of a large retailer with local ties may begin to see an answer to that question in coming months. For years after the 1980s startup of Whole Foods Market, retail analysts questioned whether a grocer that specialized in foods labeled “organic” and costing more than the average product sold in conventional supermarkets could succeed. Grocery stores, after all, have traditionally existed on a razorthin profit margin, which made them reliant on their ability to achieve high-volume sales. But decades later, the concept of shopping for “natural” foods

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grown or produced with few or no harmful additives had proven its staying power. As it turned out, a lot of people did want better food products, and Whole Foods was developing a loyal following. Whole Foods Market was founded in Austin, Texas, but it established a New Orleans connection at a very early stage. In 1980 – soon after Whole Foods Market started up in Texas – a New Orleans entrepreneur named Peter Roy acquired a struggling local co-op store that also was called Whole Foods. As he aimed to grow the business, he sought the help of Tulane University business professor John Elstrott to develop a business strategy. Elstrott became Roy’s first “outside” investor.

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Annual sales $15.8 billion Number of stores worldwide 460 Chief Executive Officer John P. Mackey

A short time later, as the Austin-based Whole Foods laid plans to expand outside of Texas, the little New Orleans co-op became its first acquisition target. The local store became the first non-Texas location of Whole Foods Market. After the acquisition, Roy would go on to become president of Whole Foods Market for a period of time. Elstrott, meanwhile, became one of the first shareholders in what would become one of the most successful “green” grocers in the country. Elstrott joined the Whole Foods Market’s board of directors in 1984 and 25 years later was elected chairman. During his years of leadership, the company

Shareholder information Whole Foods Markets operates stores in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Its shares trade on the NASDAQ exchange. Stock symbol WFM Price on 8/25/17 $41.99 Market capitalization $13.5 billion Net income (2016) $507,000

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expanded in three countries and grew to employ 87,000 people. It became the dominant player in a sector that had become a firmly established part of the grocery industry. But recent years have brought stiffer competition in the green grocery arena. New players have forced greater price and product competition, and Whole Foods found the going increasingly rough. Last May, as Whole Foods Market’s sales continued a decline and its stock price languished far below its previous highs, Elstrott was forced to step down from the post he had held for eight years. What followed thereafter likely marked a big turning point in the company’s evolution. Barely a month after Elstrott stepped down, a retailing behemoth swept in to take the reins at Whole Foods Market. Online retail giant Amazon announced it would buy the grocer for $13.4 billion. Moody’s retail analyst Charlie O’Shea said the deal has the potential to be “transformative ... not just for food retail, but for retail in general.” Amazon during the past decades has already drastically shaken up shoppers’ buying habits by offering an enormous range of products online, often at prices below what shoppers would pay for the exact same items in a brick-and-mortar store. The company’s efficient fulfillment operations and quick – often free – delivery, has won over buyers so successfully that some of the best-known retail stores in the country have suffered sales declines and face an uncertain future. Bringing that model to

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the sale of groceries could, indeed, prove transformative. Amazon already offered grocery-delivery services in several markets at the time of its deal for Whole Foods, and the purchase of a grocery with the broad reach of Whole Foods paved the way for a big Amazon grocery expansion. The “implications ripple far beyond the food segment, where dominant players like Walmart, Kroger, Costco, and Target now have to look over their shoulders at the Amazon train coming down the tracks,” O’Shea told an Associated Press reporter. Online delivery of groceries has developed slowly due to customers’ concerns about the quality of items such as meat and produce, but if Amazon is able to demonstrate that it can deliver the same quality and freshness available from a store, shoppers are more likely to try it out, analysts say. And the impact on traditional grocers could be significant. If, for instance, Amazon can convince 20 million members of its Prime loyalty program to pay $15 a month extra for AmazonFresh grocerydelivery service, that’s 20 million shoppers not going to traditional supermarkets, one analyst pointed out. In August, Amazon began experimenting with deep price cuts in Whole Foods stores as it planned what is likely to be a big rollout of heavily discounted online grocery shopping down the road. “The conventional grocery store should feel threatened and incapable of responding,” Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said. The process of “makin’ groceries” has turned a big corner. •

Bags, Shoes and Accessories Made Using Real Cork as a Leather

French Quarter 838 Chartres at Dumaine

Uptown 3005 Magazine at 7th

www.QUEORK.com

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THE beat . education

was retiring for the second time. The decision proved fruitful. Sci High students scored the highest average composite score on the ACT college entrance exam of any New Orleans openenrollment, public high school in the 2016-2017 academic year, according to state figures posted by Education Now!, a website that follows school trends. That

“

We opened our doors and took whoever showed up, no transcripts.”

Sci High Flies High Creativity enlivens science school By Dawn Ruth Wilson

urricane Katrina forced educators to think outside the box, and New Orleans Charter Science and Mathematics High School, nicknamed “Sci High,” still embraces unconventional thinking. Take leadership decisions as an example: After two failed attempts to replace retiring school founder Barbara MacPhee, officials gave up the typical search for an experienced outside candidate and promoted from within. Chana Benenson and another administrator, took charge. The co-prin-

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cipal team carried on MacPhee’s guiding principle that all children can succeed in the difficult subjects of math and science. “I did not think school administration would be my path,” says Benenson, “but if the school has a need, you just step up and do it.” Five years ago, when she became co-principal with then instructional coach Claire Jecklin, who has since moved on, Benenson was only 32. Formerly a French and Spanish teacher, she had been dean of students for a year when she was tapped to replace MacPhee, who

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feat becomes more striking when compared to the early days when the majority of students couldn’t read at grade level. MacPhee hired a specialist to fix that problem, she said in a 2007 New Orleans Magazine interview. The school’s origins go back to 1993 when MacPhee, a former Orleans Parish School Board administrator, opened a halfday math and science program housed at Delgado Community College. When Katrina wrecked that facility, MacPhee and supporters won a charter to open a full-day school at Allen Elementary School, located on Loyola Avenue. Benenson, a Washington state native who had been a Teach for America teacher at a different New Orleans school, was one of several teachers that MacPhee recruited. Just three months after the storm, Benenson was helping

move whatever was salvageable from the old building to the new. “We opened our doors and took whoever showed up,” she says, “no transcripts.” Now in its 25th year, the school stresses hands-on, technical training as well as preparing students for college. In addition to the usual high school courses, Sci High offers training in areas such as computer science, construction and nursing. Over the summer, Benenson says 70 students had internships in their chosen fields. Sci High is all about on-going personal growth and flexibility, she says, which is reflected in the nautilus, a sea creature housed in a many-chambered, circular shell that serves as the school’s mascot. The goal is to educate students to be as adaptable as the nautilus, which has survived and evolved in changing environments for millions of years. “Metaphorically, for our students,” Benenson says, “it represents the next phase of life.” The blue and white nautilus theme shows up all over the school, including nautilusshaped inlays in the flooring and in Benenson’s personal style. She wears nautilus-shaped earrings and blue fingernail polish. The school’s efforts are noticed. A group of 10th graders lounging outside its red-brick facade one day in August gave Sci High top marks. One described it as “fun” with “good teachers.” His two friends agreed. Is there any higher praise? •

Craig Mulcahy photo

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THE beat . HEALTH

Pipe Dreams Lead and our drinking water By Brobson Lutz, M.D.

ur bowl of a city filled with water from the skies last August. The deluges disclosed infrastructure deficiencies that our municipal government had ignored. But more than floods bombarded the Sewerage and Water Board last summer. Just before those August rains and exposed pump failures, the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s inspector general lobbed a now nearly forgotten lead balloon on that same Board. What are health concerns related to lead? Most adults with mildly elevated levels have no specific symptoms, but even minimally detected levels accelerate cardiovascular risks from raising blood pressure to increasing the likelihood of heart attacks and strokes. Higher levels cause nerve and kidney damages. Young children with developing nervous systems are more vulnerable to adverse effects at lower lead levels than adults. Toddlers, young holy priests of dirt to mouth transport, are most at risk. Mildly elevated lead levels

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can cause behavioral problems, permanent learning disabilities, and impaired development. Teenagers and young adults with documented preschool elevated lead levels are less likely to finish high school and more likely to be arrested for violent crimes. The waterworks leading to the surge in lead anxiety erupted nationally a couple of years ago after some unfortunate municipal belt tightening in Flint, Michigan. After years of piping in processed municipal water from one of the great lakes, the city switched to water from the nearby Flint River to save money. It was a costly mistake. There are chemical differences between different water sources. The Flint River water after purification was more acidic than the lake. Just as pool owners adjust acid and pH in home swimming pools, water purification plants can easily raise the pH of acidic water. Acidic water and pipes are a bad combination.

tips Get the lead out

The Sewerage and Water Board will run a free lead test on your tap water. They promise results back in less than six weeks. Call 865-0420. For faster results, buy a $8-$10 PRO-LAB Lead in Water collection kit and mailer from a hardware or big box store. Mail the lab a tap water sample with an additional $40 for the analysis. Expect results back by email in about a week. For additional online information about water and lead in New Orleans with links to national resources go to swbno.org/history_ water_lead.asp.

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The folks running the Flint water processing plant failed Waterworks 101. Releasing acidic water into the distribution system caused their old pipes and lead solder joints to corrode leaching high levels of lead into the Flint drinking water. A safe and simple adjustment would have raised their water’s pH making it less acidic.

“

I have never seen a dog with lead poisoning from drinking water. All the occasional cases we see are associated with construction and renovations” Hundreds of houses in New Orleans also have lead feeder pipes and/or pipes soldered with lead, but we don’t have acidic water. Unless these pipes are disrupted in some way, say by heavy construction, the lead stays in the pipes encased by a protective chemical oxide, sort of like the thin transparent covers used to protect cell phone screens. If you find a flyer on your door asking you to flush your inside pipes, you may have a lead pipe. Nearby street construction might also trigger more line flushing than usual. Replacement of any lead pipes from your water meter to inside your house is on your dime. The United States banned lead-based paints in 1978 and gasoline with lead additives in 1995. Since these bans, and with necessary precautions with sanding and removing both exterior and interior lead based paint, lead levels in both children and adults plummeted. As lead levels fell, the definition of what is elevated also fell. For children, what was once elevated

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was dropped to a level of concern at 10 and further decreased to needs further investigation for any level of five or more. Dogs serve as canaries in the coal mine for households with lead problems. If a dog has elevated lead levels, small children in that household are at high risk. But what about dogs and drinking water? “I have never seen a dog with lead poisoning from drinking water. All the occasional cases we see are associated with construction and renovations,” said Dr. Gordy Labbe, an LSU graduate veterinarian from Alexandria at Metairie Small Animal Hospital. “In dogs, lead poisoning causes vague symptoms, such as decreased appetite, vomiting, diarrhea and weight loss. With higher levels in the nervous system, seizures can occur,” he said. “In suspicious cases, we ask about any nearby house renovations. Dogs can also get lead poisoning from eating chews, toys, plumbing supplies, and even fishing tackle containing lead.” It is unlikely that our municipal water supply is associated with any real lead-related health risks for humans and pets. After I voiced this opinion last July as part of a weekly WVUE health segment, a representative of the city’s inspector general’s office called. She disagreed with my viewpoints on this matter, but vacation plans on my part postponed me hearing more from their perspective. The lingering presence of lead feeder lines in our water distribution system is, however, a marker of an infrastructure in distress. I do not believe our drinking water is at risk unless these pipes are disrupted by replacement or construction. The real lead epidemic in New Orleans involves lead bullets, not our water supply. •

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THE beat . style

In the Spirit Our spooky style picks are all treats, no tricks for Halloween. By Mirella Cameran

Compression leggings, and sports bra with built-in shape-wear; King Cake Baby green glitter nail polish by Native â&#x20AC;&#x201C; all from Angelique Stores, 891-8992, instagram/shopangeliqueboutique. Sheer, star patterned top from The Elizabeth Chronicles, TheElizabethChronicles.com. Spider veil Halloween headband; lavender and sage scented soy from Fleurty Girl, 309-3944, FleurtyGirl.net.

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THE beat . chronicles

Cross Current When Ferries Were A Fleet by Carolyn Kolb

p until 1935’s Huey P. Long Bridge opening, there was no way to cross the Mississippi River near New Orleans, except by boat. From the earliest years of the city, boats were regularly available for hire to ferry passengers and freight across. In fact, part of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans involved getting reinforcements to Jackson’s force on the West Bank. According to Stanley C. Arthur’s 1915 book The Story of the Battle of New Orleans, troops were ordered “to hasten across the river by the ferry.” The first steam ferry was established in 1820, with a license given to a group including future Governor Pierre Derbigny, according to Joseph Dawson, III’s 1990 book The Louisiana Governors. Regular service from Canal Street to Algiers began circa 1827, according to websites FriendsoftheFerry.org,

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and NewOrleansHistorical.org, a service of U.N.O.’s Midlo Center for New Orleans Studies. Since that time, ferries have served the city well. Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson is rumored to have taken the long-closed Walnut Street ferry to Westwego to sing at her relatives’ church. The river ferry support structure can still be seen in Westwego at Sala Avenue, and Westwego has in recent years explored setting up a service across to Audubon Park at that spot. Another remnant of ferries past is Ferry Place, one block long, running from Willow to Plum Street uptown between General Ogden and Monticello Streets, marking an approach to the old Oak Street to Nine Mile Point ferry. As late as 1931, there were ferries at Kenner and Harahan, and seven ferries in New Orleans, plus two railroad ferries. The New

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Orleans ferries were near Oak 1870, he bid on a ferry contract. He Street, Walnut Street, Napoleon won it, and soon began enlarging Avenue, Louisiana Avenue, his local ferry empire. Jackson Avenue, Canal Street Pickles improved the ferry landand Esplanade Avenue. ings, the passenger terminals, The number of New Orleans and the vessels. One catamaran ferries greatly increased toward (two hulled) ferry, built in 1892, the end of the nineteenth century, was named the Thomas Pickles. and that was due to one man: Although Pickles died in 1896, Thomas Pickles. Pickles and his namesake boat continued his wife, Ema, immiin service until it sank Thomas grated from England near the Gretna ferry Pickles could landing in 1965, to New Orleans in be called the “Ferry 1840. Pickles soon during Hurricane Godfather” of New began practicing Betsy. Orleans. His company, his profession Today, there are and namesake boat, kept cross-river only two ferries - pharmacy. By traffic going. the 1850s, he had a operating in this drugstore and, besides area: Canal Street to advertising a disinfectant Algiers, and lower Algiers and supplying that to the city on to Chalmette. Both still provide a monthly contract, he also began a pleasant river cruise. You could supplying oil for street lamps. even take the ferry to the Algiers Since his business was located Courthouse for your wedding – and near the riverfront, he became enjoy a honeymoon coming back! • familiar with shipping, and, by

photos Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans Collection

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Local Color CHRIS ROSE . MODINE GUNCH . JOIE Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;EVE . IN TUNE . BOOK REVIEWS . JAZZ LIFE . HOME

The Killers

LOCAL COLOR . CHRIS ROSE

Purge the Surge And other calendar needs By Chris Rose

hese are messy times. But you don’t need me to tell you that. It seems like no one can get along. No one can agree on anything. We divide ourselves over every decision, conundrum and conflict. But I think, after the events of recent weeks, I can put forth an initiative that we can all agree on. At least all of us in south Louisiana. And it is this: Let’s change the calendar. Let us dispense with the date of August 29. Permanently. I realize this could pose a threat to the social and political order of the rest of country, particularly if they do not go along with this idea, but hear me out. To my knowledge, three of the last four major hurricanes to hit Louisiana, made landfall or its headway on August 29. Katrina, Gustav and Harvey. (And the other was Rita, which technically hit in September but which was basically 52

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just Katrina’s younger sister.) The only relief I can draw from this statistic is that every couple of years we don’t have to go through Katrina remembrances and memorials because we are running - or driving, I guess would be more accurate – for our lives again on that date. It is a date on the calendar that is messy, painful and a harbinger of dread. And yet, it’s when the storms keep coming. So think about it. What if we swapped out August with February. Give it 28 days only. And cancel Leap Year – or give February 32 days every four years. Anything but another August 29. No more flashbacks. No endless news cycle to haunt us. No communal PTSD. Just jump straight into September and get on with our lives. We could be relieved, as Franklin Roosevelt once said, of our day that will live in infamy. You have to admit: the idea

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might be a little out of the box, but it certainly has some appeal. In an era in which we seem more inclined than ever to erase the past -- from Confederate monuments to civil rights advances -- why not erase August 29. Understand, I mean no disrespect to the victims or the survivors of victims from any of those significant storms. Obviously, we will never forget. We will never retreat. We will never surrender. But I cannot be the only person who really dreads that date on our calendar. We either relieve the pain or we experience a whole new portfolio of it. Now, meteorologically speaking (and I am no meteorologist, by any means) I suppose the obvious counter argument to this would be that now September 1 would just be the worst day of the year instead. And maybe that is so. In fact,

very likely so. But at least it would be a fresh slate. And then if Mother Nature refuses to cooperate, we can just start September on the 2nd. And so on. Watching all those images from Texas, and then Florida, just a few weeks ago (hell, even now still) was and is a jarring experience of déjà vu all over again. I wish our mayor and our city had been more aggressive in inviting Houstonians and East Texans in general to our city for relief. Remember, there was no city in this country that stepped up more, and suffered the consequences for, our communities’ devastation, than Houston. Remember the bumper stickers: “Thanks Houston!” We owe them. Big time. I have talked with friends about heading over there one of these weekends, or maybe even weeks, to try and help out and pay back what they did for us. I suppose I would need to do that sooner than later. While they are still mucking and tearing out sheetrock and carpets. Because one thing I have learned in this life about myself it is this: I am much better at destroying things than building them. I’ll knock it down. Someone handier than me can rebuild it. We must never forget what happened to us here 12 years ago, and we must never stop searching for ways to thank the people who saved us. We survived by the triumph of the human spirit. Not just our own, but that of those hundreds of thousands if not millions who came to our rescue in our time of need. So fetch your shrimp boots and go Oilers! Er, Texans, l mean. (I’m still not used to that name.) Except when you are playing the Saints of course. The state motto is “Don’t mess with Texas.” Well Texas is a mess. It’s our time now. • Jason Raish Illustration

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LOCAL COLOR . modine gunch

Mitch’s Fault Getting the wake-up call By Modine Gunch

y sister-in-law Gloriosa is pg again. She blames Mayor Mitch Landrieu. Not that he done the deed. But she says it’s his fault. I got to explain. Gloriosa controls her life with a iron fist. Her flowers bloom on schedule; her garden don’t dare sprout weeds; her canned goods are alphabetized, and her children, exactly one boy and one girl, were each born in April, when the weather would be perfect for their future birthday parties. Her family was complete. Even though she is saying that #3 will round off the family, whatever that means, everybody who knows Gloriosa realizes that this is a my-gawd-how-did-that-happen blessed event. I know how it happened. Remember back in August, when we had the flood, and then four days later, when things had started to dry out, everybody in New Orleans was catapulted out of bed at 3 a.m. because our phones was blaring like foghorns gone berzerk? I myself grabbed my cell phone

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and saw a message I couldn’t read, and when I snatched up my glasses, the message disappeared, so I was wide awake with my glasses on and my eyes bugging out. I looked out the window and saw no rain, no tornado, no flash flood, so I decided that it must be a boil-water advisory. I dumped out the water in the glass on my bedstand and poured me some wine instead and went back to sleep. I found out the next day, from a lot of grouchy people drinking a lot of coffee at CC’s, the message was from Mayor Landrieu, who acted out of “an abundance of caution.” It said, “S&W Board reported power outage causing lower pumping capacity for East Bank of New Orleans, west of industrial canal. In the event of rain, move cars to high ground and stay off roads…” So some pumps weren’t working. In New Orleans, we all know that if the pumps don’t work, we flood. But what we don’t know is which way is “west.” We

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don’t use that kind of language here. We say “Uptown side.” Or “below.” Nothing complicated like “west.” But like I said, lots of us never read this message. My mother-inlaw Ms. Larda thought it was a very loud text. She had been dreaming about her old Uncle Fogarty in Texas, so she assumed he finally croaked. She immediately texted condolences to his wife, Mabel. Mabel woke up to the “ping” on the phone by her bed, looked at it, and texted back, “Fogarty alive and snoring.” Ms. Larda texted, “A miracle! Thank the Lord!” and went back to sleep. Mabel stayed awake. Meanwhile, my brothers-in-law Leech and Lurch, who live on the other side of Ms. Larda’s double, were sneaking in late. They lost their key, and were trying to climb in the window when the phone blared. They thought Ms. Larda had installed a burglar alarm, so they spent the night in their car. My friend Awlette had cleaned up floodwater inside her house,

and was sleeping in a bed raised up on cinder blocks, in case it happened again, when the message blasted her awake, and disappeared. She couldn’t decide whether to crawl under the bed, in case a Korean missile was coming, or climb in it, in case it was a flash flood. Finally she climbed back in and pulled the covers over her head. Gloriosa and her husband Proteus assumed it was the Koreans. Gloriosa then leapt to the conclusion that it was probably the end of the world. Proteus saw his chance, and told her if it was the end of the world, they might as well go out happy. So they got happy. And they did not use an abundance of caution. She ain’t had the test to see what sex the baby is, but if it’s a boy, her husband wants to name him Flash. Evidently Kim Jong Un is not an option Anyway, I got some advice for the new mayor: Don’t send no disappearing messages at 3 a.m. But if you do, tell us which way is west. •

LORI OSIECKI ILLUSTRATION

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LOCAL COLOR . JOIE D’EVE

hy do we live here if the taxes are high but the schools are crap? Why do we live here when crime is so bad I feel scared sometimes just taking the garbage to the curb at night? Why do we live here when an actual headline from the newspaper was: “Four vehicles were moved to avoid flooding; then they were stolen”? Why do we live here when we are holding our breath every year from June to November hoping the hurricane gods pass us by? And why on earth do we live here when the pumps don’t work and the officials lie and the city floods, ruining our property and inconveniencing us all? I wrote this seven years ago, and it’s still true: I still remember that night late last year. It was mid-December, the night of New Orleans Magazine’s Best of Dining party at Muriel’s, and the Saints had just eked out a last-minute win against Atlanta, making them 13-0. My friend Vera and I were on top of the world as we drove to the party, and our collective jubilance was only enhanced when we found the perfect parking spot just a block from Jackson Square. She and I breezed into Muriel’s, helped ourselves to glasses of champagne and wandered out onto the balcony. The night was balmy, maybe in the low 60s, and fog was rising up around the banana trees. White Christmas lights were twinkling everywhere. “Seriously, Vera,” I said, raising my glass. “Why does anyone live anywhere else?” She shook her head, as mesmerized by the night as I was. “I have no idea,” she said, clinking her glass against mine. “I have no idea.” Not to take anything away from that night –– it was an amazing night, culminating in live jazz at 56

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time. But should anyone outside of the Kidd family say an unkind word about him, I am hugely offended. And it’s much the same way with New Orleans. I hate that the streets flood to the point that my car may be destroyed, but when my sensible Midwestern friends express chagrin over this fact, I get defensive. “Who cares if the stupid streets flood?” I think to myself. “Clearly they’ve never been here on a gorgeous December night when the fog is rising up around the banana trees in Jackson Square and white Christmas lights are twinkling everywhere and the Saints won’t stop winning football games. Why would anyone ever want to live anywhere else?” And my love affair with the city begins all over again. Now, seven years later, the problems are more or less the same, but I see the city more as a child than a drunk uncle. Sometimes it’s inconvenient. Sometimes it’s messy. Sometimes Our flawed, beautiful, broken, wonderful city I’m proud of it. Sometimes I’m embarrassed by it. By Eve Crawford Peyton When the lights went out in the Superdome during Super Bowl XLVII, I felt exactly the same way Fritzel’s at around 1 a.m. –– but it to the shop. yesterday morning, when I went to I was briefly bitter about the I did when Ruby forgot a line get in my car after a heavy summer whole thing. “Why the hell do I during the school talent show rain and the floor mat squished live here? This city is such a mess. and froze on stage. But my kids are what they beneath my feet, I knew why at What a pain in the ass.” And so least some people, practical people, on. But then, when I was telling are. New Orleans is what it is. I people who don’t like living in a my friend in Omaha, can expect better from them when they let me city that’s prone to flooding with Neb., about the situpumps and drains that are prone ation, she said, “God, Excerpted from Eve down; I can hold them to not functioning, don’t feel a how can you stand it to higher standards and Crawford Peyton’s blog, Joie d’Eve, burning desire to live here. there?” And I got mad demand accountability. which appears It remains to be seen if my at her. But I also have to accept each Friday on car will have lasting mechanical I have a beloved certain things that are MyNewOrleans.com damage, but I know for a fact but dysfunctionally never going to change. that the upholstery is ruined. alcoholic uncle who has, among And I’m not about to move any And instead of my usual pleasant other things, drunkenly ridden more than I’d disown my kids. morning routine of iced coffee and his moped into a satellite dish Why do I live here? The answer e-mail, I spent the morning pulling –– the old-school huge ones –– is honestly not that complex at about 70 pounds of sodden books, and gotten his pants cut off in all. It’s ridiculously simple. toys, clothes and disintegrating a bar fight. I make fun of Uncle I live here because it’s home. • Cheetos out of my car and taking Chippee, as he’s known, all the

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Imperfect Home

jane sanders illustration

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LOCAL COLOR . in tune

calendar must-see music

October 4 The folk trio Joseph will be at Tipitina’s

October 6 Avant garde bassist Thundercat at Tipitina’s

Foo Fighters

Two Festivals to Watch Voodoo and Ponderosa By Mike Griffith

Voodoo Fest

scene and have had a triumphant summer on the festival circuit. We’ll have an interview with them closer to the festival. Voodoo Fest takes place Oct 27-29 at the City Park Festival Grounds

October in New Orleans means the return of Voodoo Fest to City Park. As usual, the organizers have done a great job with Kendrick Lamar, Foo Fighters, The Killers and LCD Soundsystem sitting in the headlining spots. Kendrick Lamar is touring on his recent Ponderosa Stomp seminal release Damn. This record is insanely good and Lamar is known for his high intensity live sets. If you’re looking for something a bit more classic, This performance will make the weekend by itself. the Ponderosa Stomp comes to the Orpheum Theater For their part, LCD Soundsystem not just reunited October 5-7. This festival is a celebration of the but have released a new record this year. Dave Grohl unsung heroes of southern music with a focus on and company in the Foo Fighters continue to deliver blues, jazz and swamp music of all stripes. If it is legendary sets and are celebrating a new played in the south it is represented at The record as well. In addition to the strong Stomp. The festival is paired with a music Playlist of crop of headliners, Voodoo has a deep list history conference at the Ace Hotel. Taken mentioned of up and coming acts joining the festival together these events turn the first week of bands available this year as well. Andrew McMahon in the October into a music lover’s dream. This year at: http://bit.ly/ Wilderness, Whitney, Strand of Oaks and you can catch performances by Billy Swan, InTune10-17 Mondo Cozmo will all deliver sets over the Wendy Rene, Lil Buck Sinegal and many, course of the festival. Keep a particular eye on the many more. Part of the fun of The Stomp is learning Chicago based indie folk ensemble Whitney. This the deep history behind performers you might not group has been getting a lot of attention around the have otherwise known much less seen live. •

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myneworleans.com

October 12 British indie rockers Glass Animals at Mardi Gras World

October 13 Alt hip-hop impresarios Run the Jewels at Joy Theater

October 14 The Canadian dream pop of Alvvays at One Eyed Jacks

October 17 Alt rock legends Spoon House of Blues

Dates are subject to change; email Mike@ MyNewOrleans. com or contact him through Twitter @Minima.

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LOCAL COLOR . book reviews

All Dat New Orleans by Michael Murphy Just in time for New Orleans’ 300th birthday, New Orleans author Michael Murphy explores the sights, sounds and spices of the city. Murphy, who fell in love with New Orleans after a series of vacations, moved here from New York in 2009. His unique insider-outsider take on all that the city has to offer will guide visitors and staycationers alike to the best fests, music, food, shopping, celebrating and more. Important lessons for visitors include: how to pronounce Tchoupitoulas, the difference between Cajun and Creole, and the meaning of “open carry” (booze not bullets) and go-cups. Locals may enjoy reading profiles of New Orleans neighbors like Sidney Smith, founder of the Haunted History Tours; writer and author Bunny Matthews; and vegetable entrepreneur Arthur Robinson, a.k.a. Mr. Okra.

The Other Girl by Erica Spindler

FANtastic Saints by Ron Calamia

New York Times bestselling author and, maybe more importantly, UNO graduate, Erica Spindler’s latest thriller involves two very different murders with one thing in common: small town detective Miranda Rader. As the detective’s shady past comes back to haunt her, will she be able to track down the murderer before she herself becomes unraveled? An edge-ofthe-seat page-turner at its best.

Photographer Ron Calamia captures the “Who Dat” spirit with a portrait gallery of some of the Saints’ most recognizable, rambunctious and rowdy fans. Dressed to the nines, for Number 9, in their Saints garb and costume get-ups, Calamia pays tribute to more than 45 super fans who want to be in that number, win or lose (but really win). Published locally, the book is available at the Garden District Bookstore, the Who Dat Shoppe in Slidell or online at FantasticSaints. com. Who dat!

By Ashley McLellan, Please send submissions for consideration, attention: Ashley McLellan, 110 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Suite 123, Metairie, LA 70005

H = Did not finish

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HH = Sort of ok, but kind of meh

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HHH = Enjoyable HHHH = Really, really liked it HHHHH = Loved it; a new favorite!

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LOCAL COLOR . jazz life

“Party Town” off the recent Peace, Love & BBQ cd.

Making Music Bounce Marcia Ball takes Santa Fe by storm By Jason Berry

s New Orleans reeled from the August floods, the distant mountain city of Santa Fe, New Mexico, was serene with blue skies, cool nights and the plaza near the Cathedral, not unlike Jackson Square, held a magnet for the people with a concert stage for musicians. The crowd was thick when Marcia Ball, the rhythm-andblues chanteuse, poised at her seat behind the keyboard, got the masses moving with a rippling tempo on “Right Tool For the Job,” and witty double-entendre lyrics about whether big boy has the equipment it takes to satisfy some kind of woman. My, my, my, the people loved it. Marcia Ball grew up in the small town of Vinton, Louisiana, 62

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west of Lake Charles, just shy of the Texas border. A Cajun swing sound echoes in her song bag. That said, Marcia Ball, long based in Austin, is best known for a magical pulse that extends the long line of New Orleans R&B piano singers - Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Dr. John, Art Neville, James Booker, Huey “Piano” Smith and such latter day lights as Harry Connick, Jr., Jon Cleary, Davell Crawford, David Torkanowsky and the ever-soaring Tom McDermott. Am I missing another woman in this vibrant lineage? Dancing is the heart’s blood of a tradition that takes the rhythms of the streets - as Fess did in “Go To The Mardi Gras,” or Artie in his take on “Iko Iko,” an Indian tune on The Wild Tchoupitoulas – and

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channels the cross-current of feet on the street into a keyboard stride that roams while yielding space for horns as in a vocal chorus, and the rocking backbeat on drums. The taproot is a second line sound, a parade beat, but it’s only as rich as the imagination of a given lyricist. There is a more delicate side to the tradition, as Toussaint furnished in moody waltzes like “With You in Mind,” among many one could name. One feat for an artist seeking a place in the tradition is to show the chops to do justice to core songs, like “Tipitina.” But the larger challenge in this line of singing piano players is how to rework pieces of the tradition into something new. You can rock on past midnight to Ball’s high-kicking

There’s dancing in the street There’s magic in the air Everybody’s having fun Just when you think the party’s over Another’s one just begun In New Orleans, oh New Orleans, That’s where I want to be The poetry in another one, “Down in the Neigborhood,” is more universal, yet a sonorous echo of Vinton - or Bywater, New Orleans. I found just the other day You been cheating While I looked the other way I been trusting You been up to no good You can’t have any secrets Down in the neighborhood. In Santa Fe she had the crowd in her hand, ranging along through numbers old and new; she stopped, with a lowered octave to shift the mood. “We’re thinking about New Orleans, again, what people are going through” – cataclysmic rains, a haunting Katrina refrain. Then she sang Randy Newman’s flood song, “Louisiana 1927” with a catch in her voice to match the moment. •

LOCAL COLOR . home

Well Schooled Former school transforms into a chic condo By Lee Cutrone

ach day, while sitting in the carpool line for her daughter’s school, Pam Dongieux admired a large, two-story brick structure with a modern industrial feel, unlike the traditional homes that surround it. Built in the 1930s as a part of the Soule secretarial trade school that also occupied the historic antebellum home next door on Jackson Avenue, it had huge windows, a lush side yard and a brick privacy wall with an intriguing entrance gate. The previous owners, an artist and his wife, used the upstairs as living quarters and the ground level as his art studio. Dongieux mused about turning the then-vacant building into a condo 64

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duplex with separate living spaces for her family (including three kids ages, ages 11, 14 and 19, and three dogs) and her mother. In 2012, she purchased the property and spent a year and a half transforming it into an elegant urban showplace. “I had sold the house I’d previously remodeled and thought ideally my mom would find a place with me,” says Dongieux, who loved the size, abundant natural light and privacy that the school-turned residence offered. “I looked at this and considered making a home for her downstairs.” The plan called for gutting the space, which has just under 10,000 square feet. Partitions, used to delin-

eate the loft-style living quarters were removed, and Dongieux and her then-husband, Duke Dongieux, configured a new floorplan that includes living and dining spaces, a den, a bar, a large kitchen, four bedrooms, three and a half baths and an art studio for their oldest son. The main portion of the ground level was turned into a spacious condominium for Pam’s mother, and the rear of the ground floor into a one-bedroom apartment. Having renovated other homes together, the Dongieuxs had worked closely with architects and designers before. This time, they enlisted the help of renovation expert Michael Carbine, Will Ericson of Yazoo

Above: The large, rectangular room overlooking the street is used for both living and dining; a marble fireplace added during the renovation delineates the various areas; as elsewhere in the home, antique chandeliers light the space; antique sofas on far ends of room from Karla Katz Antiques; the grand piano belonged to Dongieux’ parents.

Greg Miles photographs

Left: The dining table is from Uptowner Antiques, chandelier from Empire Antiques and sideboard from Wirthmore Antiques. Top, right: Landscaper Greg Porter renewed the side garden with flowering shrubs, fruit trees, potted plants and other greenery. Middle, right: The two-story building was originally part of the Soule Secretarial School. Bottom: Homeowner Pam Dongieux

Facing page: Top, left: The cozy family room has a vaulted wood ceiling; chairs and sofa from Villa Vici. Top, right: The kitchen was designed with Cabinets by Design. Bottom, left: Mirrored panels on the lower half of the windows provide privacy in the master bath. Bottom, right: Dongieux took the idea of the built-in bar from one her previous homes; artist Gretchen Howard painted the bar a rich red trimmed with gold. Left: The hall is treated like a living space, with seating and a glamorous built-in bar. Right: Dongieux turned a sunny room near the entrance of the condo into an art studio for her oldest son.

Restorations, interior designer Ann Villere, and landscapers Greg Porter and Tucker Fitzhugh. The couple brought to the table things they knew they loved (ebony wood floors and a full bar, like those they’d had in other houses) and cherished things they already owned. Since the space was a downsize from their previous house, they were able to fill it with furnishings, antique chandeliers and art from the larger home and required only a few new purchases. They also used the renovation as a laboratory for trying out new ideas. The striking master bath was a collaboration of ideas from both Dongieuxs. He suggested the warm cypress paneling; she suggested the marble mosaic floor and the mirrored privacy paneling that covers the bottom half of the windows. The gleaming side hall that runs

through the residence is treated like living space with seating and a glamourous built-in bar. At the end of the hall, a rectangular room with soaring arched windows overlooking the street is used as the formal living and dining areas. The open flow and multiple seating arrangements of the large living/dining space work well for entertaining, which Dongieux does often for local organizations and family get-togethers, while the close proximity of the kitchen is suited to catering and bar services. On the opposite end of the condo, a cozy family room, centrally located between the bedrooms, offers a respite from the home’s windows and a quiet place to lounge or watch TV. A florist by profession, Dongieux loves color and indulges her passion in a variety of ways, including

painted finishes, fabrics, tiles and paintings, which she’s collected for two decades. She’s especially fond of finding emerging artists at art school sales and of paintings of local scenes. “Color makes a room interesting,” she says. “I think all colors and patterns can work together.” Outside, Dongieux had the shaded side garden, patio and existing cocktail pool refurbished with citrus trees, camellias, philodendron, hydrangea, elephant ear and other greenery and flowers, making it one of her favorite places to spend time. “I’m so grateful that my family, my biggest supporters, were on board with me to do this project,” she says. “I love that I can be there for my mother and still have my own place.” •

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New Orleans! Merely mentioning the city’s name conjures up cast iron-laced romantic images of a Gallic-Hispanic and Caribbean city on the southern edge of a predominantly Anglo North American culture. Famed New York journalist A. J. Liebling once described New Orleans as the northern most Caribbean city, a cross between Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Paterson, New Jersey. He was right. New Orleans was founded by the French, later ruled by the Spanish, regained by Napoleon, and sold to the United States. For three centuries, it has survived epidemics, wars, economic depressions, hurricanes, floods, the American and French revolutions, Civil War and Reconstruction, riots and oppression, political corruption and intrigue, crime, and, finally, Americanization. New Orleans ranks among the most multi-cultural cities in the nation. Its earliest populations consisted of lesser French and Spanish gentry, criminals, soldiers, debtors, tradesmen, merchants, prostitutes, priests and nuns, German and French farmers, Acadian exiles, Canary Islanders, Native Americans, Africans, Englishmen, Irish, even more Germans, and Anglo-Americans from the British colonies and later American states along the Atlantic seaboard. Then came the Sicilians, Greeks, Eastern Europeans, Cubans, Indians, Pakistanis, Middle Easterners, Central Americans, Chinese, Vietnamese and others from every corner of the Earth. How did all of this get started? On the eve of the city’s tricentennial celebrations, New Orleanians with a bit more knowledge of the city’s beginnings will fare far better at parties if they can offer up a few facts about early New Orleans. Answer these basic questions and impress everyone. Don’t panic. We give you the answers.

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K n ow Your T ricen ten n ial New Orleans 1718-2018

By John R. Kemp

photographs courtesy of the historic new orleans collection

There’s a place down river from New Orleans called English Turn. Other than a beautiful golf course, what’s that all about? A few months after the French arrived in 1699, Bienville was off exploring the river just below present day New Orleans when he came upon a British ship. Bienville told the captain to leave or face a French fleet just up river. The captain left but threatened to return with more war ships. To this day, that spot on the river is called English Turn. The French wasted little time in building posts along the Mississippi and Gulf Coast, including what is today Mobile, Alabama, and Biloxi, Mississippi. (photo of Bienville on previous page)

Why was New Orleans sold to the United States? In 1800 Napoleon forced Spain to return Louisiana. The news didn’t sit well with President Thomas Jefferson, who feared war with France was inevitable. He also wanted free navigation of the Mississippi from the Ohio and Illinois territory to the river’s mouth. To solve both problems, he offered to buy New Orleans and a portion of West Florida bordering the Mississippi River, including Baton Rouge. This would put the entire east bank of the river in American hands. Napoleon had a better deal in mind. Having failed to defeat the rebels in Haiti and needing money to fight Great Britain, Napoleon decided in early 1803 to sell the Americans all of Louisiana, including New Orleans, from the mouth of the Mississippi north to Canada and west to the Rocky Mountains.

What Native Tribes lived in the New Orleans area before the arrival of Europeans? The Bayagoulas lived just upriver below today’s Baton Rouge. The Chitimacha and Houmas tribes also lived in the region and the Acolapissas along the Pearl River. To the east along the Gulf Coast were the Biloxi Indians.

Tribes living up and down the river had various names for it, including the “MissiSipy,” “Michisipy,” “Mississippi,” “Malybanchia” and “Malabouchia.” The first Spanish explorers called it the “Rio Del Espiritu Santo.”

In the early 1690s, France wanted to protect and expand its colonial possessions and to block the British moving west from the Atlantic seaboard. In September 1698, the crown dispatched Canadians Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d’Iberville, with his younger brother, Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, and five small ships. After a brief encounter with the Spanish in Pensacola, the expedition dropped anchor near the mouth of the Mississippi on March 3, 1699. It was Mardi Gras and New Orleanians have been celebrating ever since.

The Bayagoulas Indians, and later Choctaws, and Germans who settled upriver in the 1720s provided New Orleanians with fresh food. In the very early years, local Indian tribes saved French colonists from starvation and acted as guides into the back wilderness.

How did the Mississippi River get its name?

Why did France establish a colony in Louisiana and who was sent to plant the flag?

What role did Germans and Native Americans play in the early days of New Orleans?

What did early New Orleans look like in the 1720s? Pauger’s 1721 plan called for New Orleans to be laid out in a grid around a parade ground called the Place d’Armes (now Jackson Square). Behind the square was space for the parish church. In the early 1720s, carpenters, soldiers and African slaves built sturdier houses and buildings with a “bousillage” of clay and moss stuffed between framed timbers. The exteriors were covered with wide clapboards. After the first brick kiln was built in 1724, bricks-between-posts replaced the clay and moss. In 1728, a young Ursuline nun described New Orleans in a letter to her father in France: “Our city is very pretty, well constructed and regularly built. The people have worked and still work to perfect it. The streets are very wide and are laid out in straight lines . . . .The houses are very well built of ‘collombage et mortier.’ They are white washed, paneled and filled with sunlight. The roofs of the houses are covered with tiles which are pieces of wood in the shape of slate . . . . It suffices to say that there is a song sung openly here in which the words proclaim that this city is as beautiful as Paris.”

Why was New Orleans placed on a muddy crescent in the Mississippi? Bienville chose to establish New Orleans on a low-lying, flood-prone bend in the river. The site had its advantages. It was close to the mouth of the Mississippi and Bayou St. John, which provided easy access to Lake Pontchartrain and the Gulf Coast. Company officials, however, wanted to plant the city farther up river where Bayou Manchac entered the Mississippi just below today’s Baton Rouge. Defying company orders, Bienville built the settlement where it now stands. Apparently, Bienville did what he wanted to do and sought permission later.

John Law was an important figure in the settlement of the River Parishes and New Orleans, but who was he? In 1712 French officials granted the wealthy Frenchman Antoine Crozat an exclusive charter to develop the Louisiana colony. After five years of losing money, the Duc d’Orléans, then regent for the young Louis XV, relieved Crozat of his burden. Along came Scotsman John Law, who had formed the “Banque Générale” of France in 1716. The industrious Scot convinced the duke that Louisiana had potential for great wealth. In 1717 Law formed the Company of the West as a joint stock company and sold shares to finance his Louisiana scheme. Two years later, he reorganized his holdings as the Company of the Indies. With his charter, Law sent hundreds of settlers and African slaves to Louisiana. To encourage farmers to move to Louisiana, Law inundated southern Germany, Switzerland and France with handbills, promising free land. Thousands took him up on the offer and settled the “Côte des Allemands,” the German Coast, in today’s River Parishes. For a brief time, convicts and prostitutes were given their freedom if they married and settled in Louisiana. Another group, the “Casket girls,” so called for the government-issued chest of clothes and linen, also went to Louisiana to marry local men. By the early 1720s, Law’s so-called “Mississippi Bubble” was in deep trouble. He barely escaped Paris alive. In 1731 the reorganized company petitioned the crown to take back the colony. Historian Lawrence Powell describes Law’s adventure as a “Ponzi scheme of mind-boggling proportions.” Though a financial failure, the company firmly established the Louisiana colony, including New Orleans.

After Bienville chased off the British, Iberville erected Fort de Mississippi or Fort de la Boulaye, near the mouth of the river in 1699. It was abandoned by 1707.

The first Africans arrived in the colony as slaves between 1719 and 1721.

What was the name of the first French settlement near the mouth of the Mississippi?

Much has been said about the first Europeans to settle in New Orleans, but when did the first Africans arrive?

The French engineer Adrien De Pauger, who arrived in the colony in 1721, designed the first church facing the Place d’Armes (Jackson Square) and dedicated it to Louis IX, the saint King of France. On March 21, 1788, a fire destroyed the original church and much of the city. Rebuilding soon began, thanks to a sizable gift from benefactor Don Andres Almonester y Roxas. Designed by colonial architect Gilberto Guillemard, officials dedicated the new church – now St. Louis Cathedral – on Christmas Eve 1794. By the 1840s, the building was in bad shape and too small for its growing congregation. Between 1849 and 1851, the cathedral – the one we now see – underwent a major facelift and expansion under the direction of New Orleans architect J.N.B De Pouilly.

Both were designed by Gilberto Guillemard and constructed mostly during the Spanish era. The Cabildo, named for the Spanish council that met there, was built between 1795 and 1799 after the Great Fire of 1788. The fashionable Mansard roof was added in 1847. One of the most important events in the city’s history took place in the Cabildo’s second floor “Sala Capitular.” It was there that the Louisiana Purchase transfer ceremony took place in 1803. The Presbytère was originally meant to be a residence for the Capuchin monks. By 1798 only the first floor had been completed. The second floor was added in 1813 and, like the Cabildo, the Mansard roof in 1847. Despite its name, the Presbytère was never used as a clerical residence. Both buildings are now part of the Louisiana State Museum

They didn’t. Laid out in the 1720s as the Place d’Armes, the public square was a popular place where people met, public executions took place and the militia drilled. In the 1850s, the city renamed it Jackson Square in honor of Andrew Jackson, the hero of the Battle of New Orleans and president of the United States. Jackson’s statue is one of three designed in 1856 by Clark Mills. The second one stands in Lafayette Park in front of the White House in Washington, D.C., and the third in Nashville, Tennessee, Jackson’s hometown.

When was St. Louis Cathedral built?

How old are the Cabildo and Presbytère?

Why would the French name Jackson Square for Andrew Jackson, the seventh president and hero of the Battle of New Orleans?

When was New Orleans founded and how did it get its name? An exact day for the founding of the city remains illusive, though Wikipedia gives the undocumented and often quoted date of May 7, 1718. Most historians agree, however, that Bienville and his men began clearing the land between mid-March and mid-April 1718. By the end of May, they had thrown up a few small palmetto huts. In naming the city, company officials chose “La Nouvelle Orléans” for Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, with street names to honor members of the royal family, their ancestors, patron saints, cousins, and major stockholders. As a result, French Quarter streets now bear pedigrees such as St. Ann, St. Louis, Royal, Bourbon, Chartres, Conti, Dauphine, Burgundy, Du Maine, Orleans, and Bourbon (the royal family, not the whiskey). In 1719 a flood wiped out all that stood. Little progress was made until March 1721 with the arrival of French engineer Adrien de Pauger who was sent to oversee construction. That same year the company moved the capital from Biloxi to New Orleans. The following year another hurricane struck, and in 1727 the Ursuline nuns arrived. The city’s destiny, despite its miserable start, was not lost on a French Canadian priest who visited the village in 1721: “I have the best grounded hopes for saying that this wild and deserted place, at present almost entirely covered with canes and trees shall one day . . . become the capital of a large and rich colony. . . . Rome and Paris had not such considerable beginnings.”

16.

How did Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas get their names? In 1699 Iberville named the larger of the two lakes for France’s Minister of Marine, Jérôme Phélypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, and the smaller body of water for his son, the Comte de Maurepas.

17 .

Who gave Louisiana its name? Europeans had known about the Mississippi as early as the 1500s, thanks to Spanish explorers who traveled through the region but moved on. In 1682 the French Canadian Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, became the first known European to descend the Mississippi to its mouth and claim the region for King Louis XIV of France – hence “La Louisiane,” or Louisiana. La Salle failed to establish a colony and was assassinated by his own men on a later expedition. Actual colonization was left to two other French Canadians.

Is the architecture in the French Quarter today really French?

18.

How did New Orleans end up in Spanish hands? During the 17th and 18th centuries England, France and Spain competed for dominance in North America. In 1754 war broke out in North America and quickly spread to Europe. Called the French and Indian War in the British American colonies and the Seven Years War in Europe, the British defeated France and Spain in 1763. In the resulting treaty, France ceded to England all of Canada and French territory east of the Mississippi River, keeping two small islands in the St. Lawrence Seaway. Spain lost Florida to England. New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi, however, were not included in the package. In 1762, Louis XV convinced his cousin, King Carlos III of Spain, to enter the war. In appreciation, Louis gave him New Orleans and Louisiana west of the river.

No. Most buildings in the French Quarter date from the 19th and early 20th centuries with a few from the late 18th century Spanish era. Devastating fires in the 1780s and 1790s destroyed most of the city’s French colonial architecture. The only building remaining from French days is the former Ursuline Convent on Chartres Street, completed in the early 1750s. Another colonial building is Madame John’s Legacy, which derives its name from New Orleans-native George Washington Cable’s 1874 fictional short story “Tite Poulette.” Constructed in approximately 1788, Madame John’s is a rare example of the city’s 18thcentury raised and galleried Creole colonial house.

That ends our tricentennial quiz. You probably know the rest. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 came the slow Americanization of New Orleans, the Battle of New Orleans, Civil War and Reconstruction, the Gilded Age and Storyville, all that took place in the 20th and now 21st centuries, Hurricane Katrina, and finally the most unexpected historical event of all – the New Orleans Saints won Super Bowl XLIV in 2010.

Last Days Of Storyville Shutting down “The District” a century ago was no easy trick b y s a l ly a s h e r

From 1897 to 1917, Ordinance No. 13032 established 16 square blocks in New Orleans for “lewd women” to ply their vocation. The area featured the most ornate mansions and ramshackle lean-tos and was called “the district,” “red-light district,” “Tenderloin,” or “Storyville.” The latter was a backhanded compliment to Alderman Sidney Story who introduced the ordinance, claiming it served three purposes. One, the city reclaimed valuable commercial property and received taxes for its true value. Second, it removed “temptation and open insult from the path” of the city’s respectable females. Third, it protected the prostitutes from persecution and violence. Story admitted that calling the district Storyville was a “pseudo-compliment” and was initially touchy about it, but grew to see it as a “reward” for his efforts to better New Orleans. Story’s purposes, however benevolent, had the exact opposite effect due to greedy landlords, violent underworld figures and spectacularly corrupt police and city officials.

New Orleans photographer E. J. Bellocq took this photograph of a prostitute in Storyville around 1912. Photograph by E.J. Bellocq ÂŠ Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

The Miser King And Mother Beer Rents in Storyville were exorbitant. Houses and businesses that once rented for $8 to $10 a month went for $100 to $150 a month once the ordinance went into effect. Many rented on a nightly basis in a system known as “Jackal Landlordism,” when property owners, for example, portioned off a sixroom house into three “cribs” or “huts” rented nightly (in advance) for $3 to $4. The king of the jackals was Ike Herdman, the “Miser King of the Tenderloin.” Herdman, originally from Russia, had abandoned his family 35 years earlier and come to the U.S. Finding his way to New Orleans, he worked as a glazier, saved his money, and bought property in Storyville, unconcerned about the moral stain. At the time of his death in 1916, Herdman owned over two dozen properties. His Storyville properties alone cost about $60,000 and had yearly rental income of $27,000. Assessors records were an easy way to keep business owners honest as newspapers published lists of Storyville property owners. Those who wished to profit from prostitution but were concerned about their social standing continued operating brothels outside of Storyville in what was the city’s worst-kept secret. Upon Storyville’s opening, the TimesPicayune believed that suddenly ejecting lewd women from their residences and corralling them within a regulated district was not enough. Their presence around the city created a moral virus. The Picayune believed any former brothel outside of Storyville needed to be purified by tearing it down and building factories and businesses in their place. But many illegal brothels remained; their owners couldn’t see the purpose in paying higher rents and openly operating under a scarlet drapery. Their regular customers were grateful, wishing to maintain a hypocritical discretion and keep their vice palaces lit by genteel soft white lights – not red. The newspapers continually blasted the police department for ignoring the illegal brothels. In 1902, Mrs. Mary Pullen was arrested for operating an illegal brothel on Elks Place. Numerous neighbors complained but Pullen was found not guilty, primarily thanks to police incompetence, not her innocence. This evoked a closer investigation. For weeks after the Pullen verdict, various illegal brothels (most operated by married women) were exposed. One of the most habitual offenders of operating outside of Storyville was Anna “Mother” Beer, a widow

in her 60s, who resided on St. Louis Street. The city directory listed her as renting furnished rooms but she furnished much more. Beer specialized in a particular commodity – shop girls. Her male clients picked out shop girls they liked and Beer invited them to a supper party at her house. There, she would either bribe or threaten them with the loss of their reputations if they did not acquiesce. Newspapers constantly ran addresses of illegal brothels throughout the city, calling for their closure. Still, most were tenderhearted about the fate of the women living in them. In 1917, Commissioner of Public Safety Harold Newman enacted a massive city-wide “cleanup campaign” shutting down over 60 illegal brothels from City Park to the fashionable Octavia Street. As a result, 300 women found themselves out of work with no welcome in respectable neighborhoods and no room in Storyville. Only two houses in the district were for rent – at the inflated price of $150 a month. Just weeks earlier, the mugshots are of prostitutes Newman had banned the who were arrested. The crib system, ordering that middle is Alice women had to live in the Monahan - the first female police houses they used instead of officer in NOLA and who was assigned renting them nightly. Days to Storyville. after their eviction, nearly two dozen women, many young and from the district, begged between Lee Circle and Poydras Street. Even the staunchest reformers were sickened by the prostitutes’ sudden eviction with no provision made for their well-being. Prostitutes weren’t welcome in respectable neighborhoods but most believed they needed to be welcomed somewhere, and Storyville was at full capacity. Sisters Of Storyville Instead of removing prurient temptation (Story’s second purpose), it only created more. Dance halls and cabarets sprang up in and around Storyville, and as such so did varied employment opportunities for women. Dance hall girls were paid to dance with men, and table girls solicited drinks from men in cabarets. Superintendent Frank T. Mooney described a cabaret as “an establishment where there is music, singing and dancing, and which is frequented by men and women of questionable character.” A strict caste system existed: prostitutes and table girls mingled with each other, but they never associated with dance hall girls – they were considered the lowest of the low. Table girls worked primarily on commission. Drinks ranged from 15 to 20 cents; most girls had to sell over 100 drinks a night before they

Basin Street, received their split. A good table girl earned $15 to $25 their only “accessory” being the dirt underneath their fingers. postcard, 1910-1917. dollars nightly. Considering prostitutes’ prices ranged from Madams Josie Arlington, Annie Decker, Press Meyers, and Courtesy of the New Orleans Jazz Belle Maynard felt so at home that they sent their coachmen change to five dollars a trick, it was a substantial income Club Collections of the Louisiana State with fewer stigmas. Many prostitutes excelled by being out for champagne, drinking heavily from the front row of Museum blunt, standing half-naked in doorways or forcefully grabbing the spectators’ area. Despite testimony from other officers men, but table girls required more subtlety and surreptitiousness. and male saloonkeepers, the police commissioners believed the While prostitution was considered a “necessary evil,” b-drinking prostitutes, and the officers were dismissed from the force. was not and their jobs were continually threatened by reform waves. Prostitutes were labeled as shameless and vile outcasts, but preying One table girl interviewed by the Item after another attempt to ban on them, be it by police officer or pimp, was the lowest thing a man them said, “You think it is pretty low in weaning a dollar bill out of could do. John Journee was the police inspector from 1901 to 1905 some fellow who thinks he knows it all, and treats you like a dog. before he was dismissed amidst charges of incompetency. The DailyYou think it’s pretty mean to fix a college boy’s tie, or his scarf pin Picayune revealed that the workings of the police force “shocked so he will spend another fifty cents. Maybe it is all that… But what even men who thought they knew all about the dark and devious we get don’t pay us for the stabs at the heart we get, the beasts we methods of the half-world. It revealed a condition of affairs in this meet. And the money comes to use cleaner than it does to a lot of city,” the newspaper said, “which should bring the blush of shame people in this town who bark at us a lot.” While table girls weren’t to every man.” The depraved details, the newspaper claimed, were the scarlet women prostitutes were, they existed in grey shades, in a unfit for publication. It was charged that under Journee’s tenure an intricate “pimps culture that valued the purity of white. and procurers club” existed. The club held weekly meetings and had official officers and members. Sam Felix, (“Boss P[pimp]”), was its The Boss Pimp And The $6,000 Inspector Police and prostitutes had been intertwined in New Orleans for years. leader and ruled with an “iron hand”; a hand he used against women, Before his assassination in 1890, chief of police David Hennessy was many of whom were illiterate and/or under-aged, brought from the a member of the Red Light Social Club, an organization that threw East Coast under false pretenses of respectable work. Pimps paid carnival balls complete with prostitutes. But not all associations $20 a month to a police captain and a sergeant and $10 a month to a were friendly. New Orleans’ police were drastically underpaid and corporal and the patrolmen in the Tenderloin to give them protection many supplemented their incomes via prostitutes. In 1893, several and immunity from arrest. officers were charged with arresting 21 women who failed to pay their Merchants who lived in the district also had to join the club. Ike blackmail. Over 100 prostitutes gathered at City Hall to testify and Schimsky, who owned a grocery store and primarily sold to prostitutes, support each other. They represented the range of the demimonde: was told that if he wanted to continue he had to become a “member” some dressed in silk and satin with diamonds and jewels wedged and pay $1 a week. Schimsky eventually became treasurer and collected on their fingers and nestled in their cleavage, others dressed in rags, a $1 a week from at least fifty other members. The money went to

pay members’ arrest fines and engage defense lawyers. Felix’s “law” demanded that every woman had a member of his pimp club who was her Fides Achates – faithful protector. Prostitutes were ordered to beat women who refused to pay for the pimps’ protection. But who’d protect these women from their barbaric protectors? One of the reasons for Journee’s dismissal was he was viewed as respectable but with absolutely no control over the police force; many took money from pimps to look the other way. Enter Judge Whitaker. After Whitaker’s appointment to police chief, he vowed “kind treatment” for women of the Tenderloin but this quickly proved false. He earned the nickname “the $6,000 Inspector” for spending 1/3 of his time at the racetrack while collecting a $6,000 annual salary. As Chief of Police, Whitaker apparently could not police himself. His order of a census of Storyville in 1906 was met with outrage. By early 1917, it appeared that Story’s three purposes were all failing miserably. Still, Mayor Martin Behrman was determined to hold onto Storyville. After Newman attempted to crack down on liquor laws, eliminate the cribs, close illegal brothels, he enacted his “third step” in cleaning up the restricted district – segregating it.

Many wishing for the segregation of Storyville shot themselves in the foot. In the spring of 1917, the Negro Women’s Christian Temperance Union argued that the Fisk School was now in the new “Black Storyville.” Louis Armstrong, who attended the school, stated that Fisk was located “in the heart of it all,” meaning in the middle of saloons, cabarets, and prostitution. The school had been a source of complaints for years and in August 1917, the board of school directors ruled that McDonogh 13, which had been an all-white school for more thirty-five years, would be converted into a black school at the start of the school year. White parents were outraged. More than 500 parents and neighborhood property owners signed a petition against the change. Hundreds of parents and “lusty-lunged” children protested at the school board meeting but to no avail. The board had already decided to create a black high school and did not have the funds to do so – moving the children to McDonogh No. 13 solved both problems. The school was renamed McDonogh No. 35, becoming the first black high school in New Orleans – and another unexpected outgrowth of Storyville. “Single Men In Barracks Don’t Grow Into Plaster Saints” – Rudyard Kipling. In April 1917, the United States entered the war. President Woodrow Segregation In February 1917, Newman proposed Ordinance No. 4118, which Wilson called for volunteers with a goal of enlisting 2,000,000 men in two sought to establish the city’s first residential segregation ordinance years. Three weeks later, only 32,000 had volunteered. In New Orleans, by requiring that all prostitutes of “colored or black race” move into only 134 men enlisted on the first day. Wilson made the controversial a separate vice district across Canal Street from Storyville. The city decision to implement a draft, requiring all men between the ages of informed black prostitutes and madams that they had to vacate by 21 and 30 to register for military service. Men were also required to reform for the war. Secretary of War Newton the end of February. The NAACP supported Baker was charged, by any means necessary, the ordinance, saying it would “redound to the benefit of both races and to the city’s to suppress and prevent brothels from setting reputation” and pledged its “active and moral up near any military camp, station, fort, post, support.” One who did not support it was cantonment, training, or mobilization place. madam Lulu White. Raymond Fosdick, Chairman of the War and White was one of the most notorious and Navy Department, stated that the American Navy lost almost 142,000 working days to powerful madams in the district, advertising venereal disease, which meant that every day herself as the West Indian octoroon “Queen an average of over 450 men (enough to crew a of the Demi-Monde.” She had been arrested for carrying concealed weapons, violating battleship) were incapacitated by the ravages various liquor laws, harboring a young female of vice. Anxious mothers were more concerned for immoral purposes, and trafficking young that their sons returned from war with scars girls from Alabama. White immediately filed from brothels – not bayonets. a writ of injunction against the city to avoid Fighting immorality at home, the War moving, arguing that it deprived her of the use Department reasoned, better prepared soldiers of her property without due process of law, to battle the enemy abroad. Many city and constituted unnecessary and arbitrary abuse government officials across the country immeof police power, and violated the constitution diately closed their red-light districts to protect by denying her equal protection under the soldiers. But “the Gibraltar of commercialized law. After filing the writ, the Louisiana Supreme Court held vice,” New Orleans’ Storyville, remained. Fosdick called Blue Book cover, circa 1913-1915. the ordinance unconstitutional. The city then drafted a new Storyville “one of the most vicious red-light districts I have Courtesy of The Historic New Orleans ordinance, No. 4485, aimed at the same goal, and White ever seen,” calling it a mecca for men in uniform. “If the Collection supplemented her petition accordingly. A temporary injunction New Orleans district is closed,” Fosdick wrote, “it will have was soon granted and other black madams followed suit, including a far-reaching effect on the whole problem in the South. It is the last Willie Piazza, Sweetie Miller, Lucille White, and Minnie Williams. In stronghold of the old regime.” But Mayor Behrman was determined the end, more than twenty property owners (primarily black women to hold on strong. but also two white brothel owners), filed suit. The cases went all the way to the Louisiana Supreme Court, which ruled that the city was Storyville’s Champion “powerless” to prevent women of color from living and working in “New Orleans,” Behrman said, lamenting the city’s reputation, “has Storyville. The court held that the ordinance was in violation of the not only been unjustly dealt with in these matters, but vilified without 14th Amendment, which held that one of the essentials to liberty was provocation and seemingly with malice afterthought.” In July of 1917, the right of an individual to reside where they desired. Behrman denied rumors that the troops were going to be removed

Left: a cartoon by from Camp Nicholls for failure to close Storyville. In early collect insurance on buildings which “immorality has given John Churchill Chase August, Behrman received a letter from Secretary Baker who drew the district. a value largely fictitious.” There was also fear of evicted right: the cover for asking him to close Storyville. Behrman didn’t respond. In the prostitutes burning buildings out of hatred and revenge. Mascot newspaper - this contained August, Bascom Johnson, counsel to the American Social Vacate notices were sent out to owners and landlords and the first article to Hygiene Association and with the rank of Major in the “For Rent” signs littered the district. Rents dropped more suggest a red-light district in New Sanitary Corps, visited New Orleans and inspected Storyville Orleans than 75 percent. Various church groups and women’s - much of the himself, reporting on numerous instances of soldiers and Storyville ordinance is organizations vowed to help women get off the road to based on this article. sailors openly drinking and carousing in brothels. He bought ruin and onto the pathway of sanctity. There was talk of a map drawn to scale demonstrating that the Naval Station, Jackson obtaining a plantation house and fixing it up as a dormitory to train Barracks, Camp Nicholls, and the new Naval Training School being any former Storyville resident who wished to lead a better life in built were all within 5 miles of Storyville. Behrman called Johnson hairdressing and manicuring. a subordinate who had no authority. Behrman then travelled to Prostitutes moved out gradually, with all their possessions in the world Washington D.C. to assure Secretary Baker that no soldiers were ever in two-wheeled carts and wheelbarrows. The more affluent prostitutes admitted to Storyville and warn that scattering prostitutes across the and madams had their maids carry their personal belongings as they city like buckshot would make it more difficult for police surveillance. walked ahead with their small dogs on leashes and canaries in cages Behrman’s persuasiveness allowed Storyville’s continuation. However, while black jazz bands played “Nearer My God to Thee.” Storyville’s on September 24th, Secretary Josephus Daniels wrote a letter to last night was quiet; the press reported there were no “wild orgies,” Governor Ruffin Pleasant and Behrman insisting that Storyville close. just a “typical” suicide attempt from Edna Morris, a former prostitute. On October 6, 1917, Congress extended the draft law to include the Three weeks after the closure of Storyville, 60 women were charged Navy. Behrman was reportedly told, “close the red-light district or the with living in an immoral house, 17 with conducting immoral armed forces will.” In October, the city council voted to end Storyville, houses, and 52 with “street walking.” A little over a year later it was setting a closure date of November 12th. Mayor Behrman, unwilling discovered that some New Orleans police officers were attempting to to admit total defeat, released a statement saying that legislative drive “respectable” people out of old Storyville and re-establish the recognition of prostitution was a necessary evil in a seaport the size once-profitable vice district. of New Orleans and that the city government believed it could be The oft-romanticized image of beautiful women dressed in silk and easily and safely controlled in a prescribed area. “Our experience lounging on velvet chaises with the sounds of clicking champagne has taught us that the reasons for this are unanswerable; but the glasses and jaunty jazz music flowing out the windows of a three-story Navy Department of the federal government has decided otherwise.” mansion, was more fantasy than the reality of Storyville. The pleasure This legislation meant that ordinances defining the red-light district district, on so many levels, wasn’t. The social stratification was as and segregating whites and black prostitutes were repealed. It was extreme in the underworld as in was among the upper classes and also stated that prostitutes could remain in Storyville, just not practice very distinct rungs existed on all levels. There was a wide spectrum of their former profession. madams, prostitutes, and others, all trading their services on sliding scales. Although the creation of Storyville was primarily meant to protect women (albeit white women) and property owners, it ultimately Dimming Of The Red Lights Shutting down Storyville was not a matter of locking doors and flipping left those most vulnerable exposed to corruption and violence. The off the red lights. After the vote for its closure, fire marshals were red lights of the district may have finally dimmed in 1917, but its ordered to carefully watch the district. The time was “propitious” to legacy and legend have lasted for a century since. •

Maison Mayle “Commandante” silk trench and “Saint Phalle” lariat necklace at Pied Nu; Raquel Allegra “Black Dahlia” sleeveless crochet dress and Prada velvet sandals at Joseph.

Chic Street Distinctive boutique brands, store signs in new spots and famous local favorites are in the mix and making news on Magazine Street. Uniquely New Orleans, the meandering six-mile retail district is polishing its reputation as a destination for the discerning, design-savvy shopper.

By Lisa Tudor Photographed by Theresa Cassagne Model Alexandra Chaisson Hair by Niki Walker Makeup by Meggan Ory Editorial Assistant Chloe Stoller

Rosetta Getty backless wrap over Toteme “Vichi” cropped trousers; Ellery earrings (mixed set); Loeffler Randall “Coco” velvet heels and Roksanda “Neneh” bag at Pilot and Powell.

Palmer Harding shirt and open trouser, Ellery earrings and Loeffler Randall velvet heels at Pilot and Powell.

Boks & Baum handcrafted gemstone “Antoinette” bib necklace with Acler “Fyffe” dress at SoSusu Boutique.

Iro leather jacket and “Janezeta” pants at Clover Boutique; Marc Jacobs “Bishop” blouse at Joseph; Loeffler Randall velvet heels at Pilot and Powell.

Prada â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bellaâ&#x20AC;? dress and Tobacco velvet sandals; Margaret Ellis double cuff and earrings at Joseph.

Michelle Mason silk maxi trench, wide leg trouser and Milly white leather bustier at Clover Boutique; Lele Sadoughi “Crystal Lily” earrings at Joseph; Malone Souliers velvet “Maureen” pump at SoSuSu Boutique.

Rachel Comey wool gauze “Renew” top and “Jo” gold and malachite drop earrings; Maison Mayle faded denim “Dimanche” culotte at Pied Nu.

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New Orleanian Edgar Bouligny wa s t h e wa r ’ s f i r s t A m e r i ca n C a s u a l t y —And the Story Was Just Beginning

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B y B r i a n A l t ob e l l o

s both a French and Spanish Creole (his family could be traced to the earliest days of the founding of New Orleans), Edgar Bouligny grew up hearing stories about his intrepid ancestor, Dominique de Bouligny who founded the town of New Iberia, Louisiana. He later served as military governor while Spain ruled the colony in the late 1700s. Edgar’s grandfather represented Louisiana in Congress in the years immediately prior to the Civil War. Independent, stubborn, and virulently unionist, John Bouligny received national attention for bravely refusing to vacate his seat when Louisiana voted to secede. Edgar was stamped with many of the traits of these men in his bloodline, among them being the violent inclinations of Edgar Sr. As a young teen, his father was once arrested for firing his pistol into the belly of another teen who first punched him on the steps of the French Quarter’s elegant Opera House at the conclusion of a performance there. After firing the gun, he fled into the building through the scattering crowd, ran up the staircase, and somehow avoided three shots fired at him by his accoster who chased after him. (One cannot help but wonder why two teenagers from upstanding families were carrying weapons). Both boys were arraigned in court the following day wherein a high-pitched argument erupted between them in front of the judge’s bench. After being subdued, they were both sentenced to 24 hours in jail and fined $25. Three years later he was arrested twice, once for causing a disturbance

at a voting poll and again for assault with a deadly weapon. Even more serious charges were to follow: the murder of a man in Los Angeles (not guilty verdict) and manslaughter in El Paso for shooting his bookkeeper (guilty--4 years in prison). Edgar, Jr. was just three years old when this last incident occurred, too young to know about his father’s criminal misdeeds and fondness for gunplay. Yet the younger Edgar would continue his father’s irascible behavior. At 13 he found himself in a New Orleans boarding school for boys where military science was taught, the College of the Infant Jesus, presumably for disciplinary reasons. Even within this closed environment, however, he managed to burglarize over 20 homes and businesses. His parents took their lawyer’s advice and had him plead insanity. The strategy worked. He was sent to the Louisiana state mental hospital in Jackson, avoiding detention, at least in a penal facility. Not long thereafter, he escaped, fled to St. Louis at 17, and took a job as a bellhop at a hotel in that city. A short time later his wanderlust brought him to San Francisco where he was shanghaied and forced to work as a deckhand on a steamer to China, then back to San Francisco. Disillusioned and aimless, he joined the U.S. Army and, in his first assignment, helped to guard that city from looters in the aftermath of the earthquake of 1906. He left the Army in 1912, but when war broke out in Europe in 1914, he felt drawn to the adventure. Edgar’s affinity for France and his sympathy for their struggle against the Germans was compelling. Besides, he was fluent in French, thanks to his mother’s’ insistence on a proper Creole education for her son. He along with roughly 120 other Americans joined the French Foreign Legion. It did not

appear to be a difficult decision for him. “I thought France was worth fighting for,” he stated simply, “so I went. That’s all” Bouligny enlisted in August of 1914 in the Legion, one of the first Americans to do so, and remained there until May of 1917 when he became a fighter pilot for the notorious Lafayette Escadrille. During his stint on active duty, he was wounded four times at the Battle of the Somme, becoming the first American casualty of the Great War. More danger befell him when an enemy bomb exploded under his trench near Rheims. Bouligny was buried in the debris for 27 hours before he was accidentally discovered and dug up, stunned but still alive. Later as a pilot he survived landing his disabled biplane after taking fire from the famed German “Flying Circus” in the skies over Albania. Arrogant as ever, the six-footer often boasted that the Germans didn’t have a bullet with his name on it. He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French military for his heroism in combat. Before returning to the U.S., he met a pretty French girl named Odile Hubeau while having photos developed at the shop in Paris where she worked. They immediately began seeing each other several times a week. Deeply in love, they were married nine months later. But what appeared to be an endearing story of a wartime romance in the City of Lights abruptly turned sour when, a day after their marriage, Edgar confessed to her that he was already married to an American. To the lovesick young French woman, that seemed not to be an impediment as long as her hero divorced his first wife, which he did once they arrived in the U.S. to begin their lives together. There, they would drive around the nation as partners in a photography business, an affinity shared by both of them. But what followed was only occasional success selling their work to travel magazines and such. By the late 1920s they were broke, so the couple decided reluctantly to return to New Orleans, perhaps to lean on Edgar’s family for financial help. They rented a cheap French Quarter apartment at 409 Bourbon Street. Penniless and without direction, the decorated airman was no longer held in the esteem he had once achieved while in uniform. His wartime exploits overseas never translated into a solid post-war career in America, and the discontent stirred his inner demons. Clinging to the memories of his salad days as a pilot in France, Edgar found solace sharing the aerial photos he took from his cockpit while flying over the ruins of shelled cities and broken battlefields to American Legion posts and civic associations. During these presentations, Edgar could at least temporarily relive those moments which connected him spiritually to his great greatgrandfather Dominique, whose burial in St. Louis Cathedral among Louisiana governors and bishops attested to the significance of his life. But these talks were never sufficient to tame his tortured spirit.

He began going out alone at night to various clubs in the “Tango Belt,” a niche in the French Quarter on upper Iberville Street where the lascivious dance continued well into the early morning. Edgar returned home way too late, way too often. Not surprisingly, this led to loud arguments with Odile, followed by curses and beatings. By 1931 the marriage was irreconcilable. The 43 year-old Bouligny was exhibiting the classic symptoms of what was then called “shell shock” or, in modern terminology, PTSD. He had become only a residue of his former self, an ugly predator, and his still adoring wife was his convenient and easy prey. One day he seemed particularly agitated and punched her, knocking the petite 37 yearold to the floor of their tiny kitchen. When the six-footer came at her again with clenched fists, she shot him with his own .22 caliber pistol, which she had hidden in the kitchen sideboard. As he lay dying, she picked up the head of her bleeding husband and rested it on her lap crying over him, sobbing again and again that she loved him. Odile was taken to the police station where she detailed in both French and fractured English the recent years of physical abuse. The coroner identified eight bruises on her which, he said, were likely caused by kicks or punches, validating her claim of self-defense. Several of the couple’s relatives hurried to the police station to speak on her behalf, including Edgar’s inconsolable 76 year old mother who prayed the rosary incessantly throughout the ordeal. “Poor boy. He was never the same after the war,” she cried. “He was sick. None of my family feel hard against her.” Odile was released without charges, still muttering, “I love him still. I will always love him.” Newspapers from Modesto to St. Louis to Brownsville gave the story front page status. In a few, the report occupied an entire page accompanied by broad artist renditions of the murder scene and photos of the couple - Edgar, square jawed and looking resolute in his impeccable uniform and Odile, prim in the stylish dress of the 1920s. “Shot Her Husband Because She Loved Him,” shouted the bold headline of the July 5, 1931 Ogden Standard Examiner. “First American Wounded in War Slain by Menaced War Bride,” exclaimed the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Several reprinted an entire account of Bouligny’s adventures before and during the war written by Captain Paul Rockwell, who had earlier penned a history of Americans who joined the French Foreign Legion before the U.S. declaration of war. The former pilot had longed for the attention he had once received as an acclaimed fighter ace over a decade before, yet as Odile made her way back to her native country shortly after the shooting, that attention was now fraught with disdain for him rather than veneration. Once a national hero, the New Orleanian had become merely a character in a tragic opera. •