New Orleans

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CHAPTER 5 . SIGHTS TO SEE & PLACES TO BE
GETTING THERE The simplest way to reach St. John’s Bayou
from the French Quarter is to drive straight up Esplanade Avenue
about 20 blocks (you can also grab the bus that says ESPLANADE at
any of the bus stops along the avenue).Right before you reach the
bayou, you’ll pass St. Louis Cemetery No. 3 (just past Leda St.). It’s
the final resting place of many prominent New Orleanians, among
them Father Adrien Rouquette, who lived and worked among the
Choctaw; Storyville photographer E. J. Bellocq; and Thomy Lafon,
the black philanthropist who bought the old Orleans Ballroom as an
orphanage for African-American children and put an end to its infamous
“quadroon balls,” where well-bred women of mixed color
would socialize with and become the mistresses of white men. Just
past the cemetery, turn left onto Moss Street, which runs along the
banks of St. John’s Bayou. If you want to see an example of an 18thcentury
West Indies–style plantation house, stop at the Pitot
House, 1440 Moss St. (p. 144).
To continue, drive along Wisner Boulevard, on the opposite bank
of St. John’s Bayou from Moss Street, and you’ll pass some of New
Orleans’s grandest modern homes—a sharp contrast to those on
Moss Street. At this point, you can make a Katrina-damage tour that
takes you through the once-flooded neighborhood of Gentilly, all
the way to Lake Pontchartrain. Stay on Wisner to Robert E. Lee
Boulevard, turn right, drive to Elysian Fields Avenue, and then turn
left. That’s the University of New Orleans campus on your left,
which didn’t have as much flooding as some of the other major campuses
in the city (such as Dillard), though it did have a great deal of
wind damage, and underground electrical systems took on water.
Classes have resumed and the campus is coming back to life. At any
point, you can take a street off to the left or the right if you wish to
go through the neighborhoods in more detail, though by the time
you read this, there may be less to see, depending on what sort of
plans have been made for reconstruction. Regardless, please remember
these are neighborhoods, not sights, and treat whatever you see,
even if it’s abandoned desolation, with respect.
Turn left onto the broad concrete highway, Lake Shore Drive.
It runs for 5 1 ⁄2 miles along the lake, and normally in the summer,
the parkway alongside its seawall is swarming with swimmers and
picnickers. On the other side are more luxurious, modern residences.
Thanks to higher ground, these and other houses nearby did
not flood, though they did sustain incredible wind damage. Further,
the road buckled. About 2 miles down the road to the west is the