This white Volvo, spotted on security camera in the 3500 block of Vincennes Place, is believed to be involved in several auto burglaries around the Uptown area. (photo via NOPD)
Investigators are looking for a white Volvo that has been seen near the site of several auto break-ins around the Uptown area, police said. Continue reading »
Allan Katz and Danae Columbus
After ducking and dodging in every conceivable way, President Barack Obama gave in to the inevitable and admitted this week that he and Michelle are in favor of same sex marriage. Continue reading »
Lawrence Burl (tulanegreenwave.com)
In an annual effort to take guns off the street, city, police and church leaders will pay cash for guns starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Little Zion Baptist Church, 4821 Earhart Boulevard. Continue reading »
Participants in a walking tour of Freret Street -- including Neighbors United President Andrew Amacker, center, and New Freret board member Kellie Grengs to his left -- pass in front of the future home of the Sun House, the most recent establishment on the Freret corridor to receive permission to open as a bar. (UptownMessenger.com file photo by Robert Morris)
With two bars on Freret Street already and two more on the way, residents are now considering how many more they will support along the suddenly in-demand commercial corridor. Continue reading »
The Taylor Playground was selected for the $15,000 donation from the Pro Bono Publico Foundation because it sits close to Rex’s den on South Claiborne Avenue, according to our partners at WWL-TV.
Micah Short (via NOPD)
You read that right: Midway Pizza offers the “Freret Jet” all-you-can-eat lunch buffet every weekday for just $8.95. That’s as many slices of Midway’s famous deep-dish pizza as you can handle, on top of a choice of caesar or house salad. That, plus the new summer pizzas – the Smokey Treat, King Creole, the Money Pie, and the Herb Tarlek – are out, so come on in and see what everyone’s talking about today!
Located at 4725 Freret between Napoleon and Jefferson, Midway Pizza proudly serves Uptown’s only deep-dish pizza daily until midnight (1am on Fridays). Full menu and beer list are available online, or download the Midway app for Droid or iPhone. Visit the Midway website, follow Midway on Facebook or Twitter, or call 504-322-2815 for more details.
Jean-Paul Villere
The untimely death of the Beastie Boys’ Adam Yauch (more widely known as MCA) last week marks another loss in the creative fabric of the Generation X cultural landscape; he was 47. Personally my appreciation for Mr. Yauch and his bandmates was something of a journey. Their supernova premiere License to Ill in 1986 left me only lukewarm. Like many, I thought the boys goofy and annoying. But they were also everywhere, if not tireless. With their follow-up Paul’s Boutique, many of their fans were left scratching their heads. A dynamic shift in sound and direction — when most listeners had likely anticipated a sequel to License (as the 80s sequelled just about everything) — Boutique demonstrated a decidedly different approach to their musical goals, which received yet another makeover in 1992′s Check Your Head. It was about this time I took a shine to the band. Their other 2 albums of the 1990′s Ill Communication and Hello Nasty brought their energy further along, elevating their sound to places their fanbase embraced and celebrated. Aside, I had the good fortune of being to catch both of those album’s tours, and until last week earnestly believed I would see the Beasties perform some time again hopefully in the near future.
Alas, no. Continue reading »
The vacant fire station at 4877 Laurel Street. (photo via the Preservation Resource Center, prcno.org)
The Louisiana SPCA "Puzzle Dog" sculpture. (via la-spca.org)
An NOPD patrol car and a civilian vehicle crashed near the intersection of Washington and St. Charles on Monday afternoon, leaving the officer with shoulder pain and the civilian with chest pain, , according to our partners at WWL-TV. The case will be reviewed by the District Attorney’s office.
The blue icon marks Sunday morning's robbery, and the red icon shows the evening incident that ended in a shooting. (map via NOPD.com)
Armed gunmen targeted two elderly men in Central City in separate incidents Sunday, shooting a 67-year-old in the neck and robbing an 83-year-old of his cash, according to police reports. Continue reading »
Billed as a “‘Treme’ vs. ‘The Wire’ Battle of the Bands,” and hosted by two stars of David Simon’s acclaimed dramas, four musical groups representing New Orleans and Baltimore will face off at Tipitina’s on Friday night to raise money for local musical charities. Continue reading »
The Du Mois gallery on Freret Street will open its newest show, “Visages,” on Saturday evening, and will continue accepting submissions through May 15 for its annual “Cold Drink” printmaking show. Continue reading »
The vacant fire station at 4877 Laurel Street. (photo via the Preservation Resource Center, prcno.org)
The city is considering auctioning off a century-old fire station on Laurel Street and a vacant lot in Broadmoor for what would likely be a residential renovation, but the City Planning Commission must first hold a hearing Tuesday on the prospect of releasing the publicly-held property into private hands. Continue reading »
Owen Courreges
Over the past few days, New Orleans has played host to several “Jane Jacobs walks” in which residents walk or ride bicycles in their neighborhoods to better appreciate ground-level interactions between residents and businesses. These are a show of solidarity against isolation and atomization that often permeates modern society, and, a celebration of older, denser urban development schemes. Continue reading »
Neighbors United will meet Tuesday evening to begin a discussion of how many more alcohol permits should be awarded along Freret Street, association officials said. A potluck gathering will start at 6 p.m. at Samuel J. Green Charter School (2319 Valence Street), with the actual meeting starting at 6:30 p.m.
Benjamin Morris
I have a confession to make: I’ve always loved leaving New Orleans. Not just for the rush of packing suitcases, or the expectation of visiting a new place, or the pleasures of going to see family and friends. Nor just for the sense of mental refreshment you get when you break out of your routine, or the wonder and delight at a novel landscape. Nor even just for the thought of what to eat elsewhere. All of these things play into it, but there’s another reason entirely.
It’s that you get to come back.
Participants in a "Jane Jacobs Walk" on Freret Street file past a building owned by the Barreca family, described by business leaders as one of the last major blighted properties on the booming commercial corridor. The Jane Jacobs Walk, held on the celebrated urbanist's birthday, is intended to foster ground-level discussion about the forces that shape neighborhoods. "New ideas need old buildings," said walk organizer Andy Brott, citing one of Jacobs' famous statements. (Robert Morris, UptownMessenger.com)
For decades, Freret Street was a thriving commercial corridor in the heart of Uptown New Orleans, but the murder of Bill Long in 1984 in front of his bakery was a “death knell” that sent the street into a spiral of decay and neglect, said Andy Brott and Lauren Anderson, two guides for about a dozen people Saturday morning on a “Jane Jacobs Walk” to discuss the history and evolution of the street.
After years of work by community leaders, the destructive flooding after Hurricane Katrina and a permissive rezoning, the corridor suddenly sprang back to life with a flurry of new restaurant openings over the last two years, and Saturday’s walk served to explore some of the factors that led to the renaissance. Continue reading »