While I never lived in the Crescent City (Big Easy) I did visit on two occasions in the 1970's while I was stationed in the Air Force at Alexandria, 200 miles northwest. The first time was in November 1971 and I went with 3 guys in my unit and a 4th airman who was a hospital corpsman. The corpsman and one of my unit's guys were from New Orleans, and I ended staying with the corpsman's sister and her family in their apartment on Dauphin Street in the French Quarter, one block from Bourbon Street. The family's last name was Bresciani. Their infant daughter Tiffany would re-appear in the lives on many New Yorkers, sadly, in 1993 as a victim of serial killer Joel Rifkin. When the Nassau County Police caught him that summer evening he had Tiffany's decomposing body in the back of his truck. Twelve years later, my heart still goes out to her mom and uncle.
My second trip was in August 1973 with my off base martial arts class that I belonged to. We were going to a tournament at the University of New Orleans and off course I went along. Sorry, but I don't remember how I did as a competitor or if I even did compete, but it was great to be in a large city again and be able to go to a Chinese restaurant for dinner. I also went for a ride on the St. Charles Avenue streetcar and took a few pictures of it. After the tournament we all went to an amusement park on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain.
The history of the city could fill several web pages. We all know that it is one of the U.S.'s oldest cities and one of its most unique. Songwriters have always favored it and mentioned it in their compositions. A partial list includes Fats Domino, Johnny Horton, Eric Burdon & the Animals, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, Sonny Landreth, and John Phillips.
When Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29, 2005 most of us were stunned. While I knew for a long time that the city was a disaster waiting to happen - below sea level, between a huge lake and a bigger river - we were still shocked by the results. It may be a poor city, but it is rich in other things. Hopefully it will be rebuilt like other cities in this country and around the world were after natural or man-made disasters.
When I left Alexandria to be reassigned overseas I took a knowledge of the Pelican State with me, to the point that several people in my unit thought that I was from Louisiana instead of New York.
I found photos from my trip to New Orleans in 1973, and learned how to use the scanner on my new printer. The three pictures are of the streetcar on Carrolton Avenue (taken from my car) and from a cable car ride at the Lake Ponchartrain amusement park.
