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Originally Posted by CanadienneBacon I used to live up by the lake, on Paris Avenue. This was back in the early '90s. How much of the city were you able to take in? How are things looking? |
We rode the train in and parts of the city along the rail line still looked really bad with lots of parks full of trailers and unrestored houses. The debris was cleared away, but there is still a lot of work to be done. Downtown and the French Quarter were largely restored. A few older buildings were being torn down, but just walking around there was little to suggest the devastation that had occurred. The people haven't come back yet though. A lot of restaurants and bars were still closed down and the level of activity in the quarter on a Friday night was minimal. No traffic and relatively few people walking around. No waiting to get into restaurants. In fact we ate breakfast in the Orleans Cafe on Sat. morning and there were only about 3 other people a restaurant with two decent sized dining rooms. We were really surprised at how few people there were. In fact on returning to downtown Memphis Saturday evening their were many more people out and about than in New Orleans. Having been to New Orleans a half a dozen times over the years, I can say it was just not the same. We did manage to have a good time and I would encourage people to go. The only way the city will get back to normal is if the tourist dollars come back. The Aquarium was restored and the kids enjoyed it.
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