Aug 102011
 

Sen. Karen Carter Peterson and state Rep. Walt Leger at a town hall meeting in the Irish Channel in March. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)

With state and local elections a little over two months away, the Irish Channel Neighborhood Association is hosting a “Meet the Candidates” social on Thursday. Continue reading »

Aug 102011
 

Saxophone guru Steve Goodson in his Uptown showroom holding one of his handmade creations, the Voodoo Rex Tenor. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)

New Orleanians possess a presence that in my experience remains unparalleled, and we know our neighbors no matter what.  By this I mean we all participate in the characterization of the city, and we do so seemingly effortlessly.  Whether you’re John Goodman, John Georges, or John Fitzgerald.  You live here.  We know who you are and to a degree we don’t care.  This remains one of the reasons the celebrity set can be drawn to the Crescent City.  Anonymity in the light of day.  We don’t care if you throw Super Bowl touchdown passes, win Grammys, or sautee garlic.  It’s all the same, and you put your pants on one leg at a time like everybody else.

For years in my early days of slinging coffee at PJs on Maple I used to wait on this super nice guy.  He came in generally in the late afternoon / early evenings and always ordered a cappucino.  He was tall and real lean, salt and pepper hair usually kept under a beret or similar chapeau, and always a smile and a greeting.  But I didn’t know his name or what he did.  And it went on like this literally for years.  One day, a co-worker said to me “You know who that is, right?”  I didn’t.  It didn’t matter really.  “Charles Neville,” he said.  “Oh. (pause) Oh! (pause) Oh, okay. Well,” I thought, “he’s a cool guy.”  And good for him.  He’s Charles Neville without being “Charles Neville.”

Years later after Katrina I moved to a new neighborhood, and I met another noteworthy saxophonist in my new neighbor, though like Charles, at the time I had no idea who he was or what he did.  Initially Steve and I met while my wife and I began renovating the house next door.  He and his wife Sharon were just as welcoming and warm as could be.  And the more we got to know them, their presence became so ordinary and familiar, you could almost take it for granted.  I knew Steve was a saxophonist, but I didn’t know much more than that.  At home sporting a Monster Magnet tee or overalls or both and usually in Crocs, Steve comes across fairly unassuming, despite any distinctive eyeware or his wildish white mane a la Doc Brown.

Jean-Paul Villere

So I began to wonder.  I know those in his industry know Steve, but do his neighbors, neighborhood, and city on the whole?  Maybe.  Maybe not.  But here’s a little insight into “the man in the purple house” next to me, a man my girls know simply as “Mr. Steve.” Continue reading »

Aug 092011
 

The Lorraine Apartments on St. Charles Avenue. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)

Despite an ardent appeal by neighbors Tuesday for the survival of a classic St. Charles Avenue apartment house, a city panel denied the vacant Lorraine building the rezoning it needs to reopen, leaving it in a bureaucratic purgatory with no realistic prospect for any use at all. Continue reading »

Aug 092011
 

Three Uptown projects — a request to sell alcohol at the CVS under construction on Claiborne, a new clay studio on the Freret commercial corridor, and an apartment building on St. Charles Avenue — are all slated for consideration today by the City Planning Commission. Continue reading »

Aug 092011
 

In “The Rebirth of Freret Street,” Gambit food writer Ian McNulty examines the dizzing pace of restaurant openings on Freret Street.

Next up for the busy corridor after Dat Dog, High Hat Cafe and Ancora Pizzeria & Salumeria? Company Burger and Midway Pizza this month (perhaps as early as this week), followed by Origami sushi and the PubliQ House later this year.

Aug 092011
 

The nearest neighbors believe Whole Foods is asking too much with its latest requests, according to our reporting partners at WWL-TV. The Audubon-Riverside Neighborhood Association agreed to some of Whole Foods’ requests in May, and asked the grocery to rethink others before its Aug. 23 hearing before the City Planning Commission.

Aug 092011
 

Hot Dog! Dat Dog is now serving ice-cold beer with its dogs. Abita and Miller brand beers are all available for just $3, the perfect way to wash down your hot dog, sausage, or cheese fries. Dogs start at just $5 and sides at $3. Dat Dog is located at 5031 Freret, and is open Tues-Thurs from 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat from 11am-10pm, and Sunday from noon to 6pm. (Mondays Dat Dog is closed; even good dogs have to rest.)

Check Dat Dog out on their website and on Facebook.

Aug 082011
 

A construction worker cleans around a blighted house in the 2700 block of South Derbigny in March. The house was demolished by the city in April. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)

Perhaps the greatest challenge New Orleans currently faces is urban decay, known commonly as “blight.”  There is nothing more cancerous to a neighborhood than the presence of unoccupied, moldering buildings.  They’re ugly, they’re useless, they allow for the proliferation of rats and other pests – there is nothing good to be said about blight. Continue reading »

Aug 082011
 

Volunteers work in June on a KaBOOM! playground at Palmer Park. (Sabree Hill, UptownMessenger.com)

With a KaBOOM! playground on the way to its Claiborne Avenue campus, the new French-immersion charter school opening this month in Uptown New Orleans is set to discuss longer-term planning for a home for its students at a meeting Monday. Continue reading »