My first home purchase was a shotgun in the Riverbend on Dublin St. It faced west, sat in the middle of the block, and was a stone’s throw to the streetcar and not much further from all the other things a 23-year-old finds indispensable (read: Cooter Brown’s). At the time, I didn’t think much of my new residence. I clearly liked it enough to buy it, but frankly I was mostly happy not to be paying rent any longer. Continue reading »
Jean-Paul Villere
Whether you realize it or not, there’s an annual gathering in Austin, Texas, this week called South by Southwest, abbreviated SXSW for all those in the know. Like all successful annual gatherings I’m sure it started out small, maybe in someone’s garage, maybe in a cow pasture; afterall, it is Austin. Its primary purpose remains to promote new musical talent and revisit some icons of various genres as well. Over the years SXSW has morphed from just music to music and movies to for the last little while, well, music, movies, and media, the latter a no brainer given the IT juggernaught the city is. All in all, a perfect amalgamation for the Texas capital known as “The Live Music Capital of the World” that has spawned cinematic wonderment from big screen director darlings Richard Linklater, Robert Rodriguez, and even Mike Judge. So what if anything does SXSW have to do with New Orleans? In my estimation, two, and now even three, things really: Continue reading »
Move out day for a double shotgun in the Bywater. (Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Being in real estate, I respond to inquiries about moving to New Orleans almost every day. Some are here presently and somewhat homeless while some won’t be here till Fall. The average inquiry looks like someone new to the area, and excitedly shopping for May or June, because of a new job in queue. The hardest to manage are the parental inquiries seeking accommodations for their barely out of the house undergrad child and their three “closest” friends. Sigh. Really? Sounds like a thankless journey, that one. Do you know how hard it is to get a 19-year-old and – or even 24-year-old – and their friends du jour to show up to an appointment at the same time? Much less get them to agree on anything. Who gets the biggest room? Who gets which bathroom and who will they share it with? It’s messy and overly time-consuming at best. Continue reading »
Since a neighbor was ticketed for parking in front of his own house during last year's Mardi Gras, the backyard is his new hiding spot from the meter maids during Carnival. (photo by Jean Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Jean-Paul Villere
Greetings revelers! Two weeks ago I posted 10 points as a basic parade goers guide with some wonderful responses. This week as we ramp up toward the mania now less than two weeks out, expounding on, otherwise clarifying, and adding a second ten seem in order. Continue reading »
The gym is relocating to O.C. Haley. (photo by Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Jean-Paul Villere
The invention of gunpowder was an accident. So was plastic. Viagra too. The reinvention of Freret similarly so. Despite decades of best efforts of local government, administration pledges, and the citizenry alike and at large, Freret couldn’t get any measurable play until after Katrina. But to be clear, no one thing has made Freret what it is today. It has taken a village, um, of events, so to speak. But let’s start with the birth of the Freret Street Boxing Gym, established seven years ago. At the time, Freret’s business offerings were basically tattoos, red beans and hardware. Today, as it has been for decades upon decades, the hardware store is still there. But not the tattoos. And not the red beans, either. And, as of the last month, the gym has moved as well — to O.C. Haley Boulevard. Continue reading »
Someone staking a false claim to the neutral ground in the 2300 block of Napoleon on Mardi Gras Day 2011. (photo by Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Each Carnival I approach parade routes with glee and caution. As such please find the below pointers, tips, alerts, and otherwise whacks to the back of heads as the 2012 Mardi Gras season kicks off. We all want to embrace the revelry, so let’s all do our best to help each other enjoy, shall we? Let’s! Continue reading »
Jean-Paul Villere
As the 2011 calendar year winds down, New Orleans property owners’ thoughts turn toward their 2012 property taxes due by the end of January, because the city has mailed out its annual notice and reminder – just in time for the holidays! However, this is not a new phenomenon. It is effectively an annual ritual, like Mardi Gras or Jazz Fest, though clearly with less pageantry. And it applies to property owners only. Not renters. And not non-profits, which are another article for another time. Continue reading »
Alex McMurray performing in New York. (photo by Dino Perruci, via alexmcmurray.com)
A large sign announcing the still-stalled Freret streetscape project. (Jean-Paul Villere)
I live and work in the Freret corridor, and for many moons now promises of a new streetscape have been on the horizon. Most recently, the collective residents and business owners were informed by the city just weeks ago the start date would be some time in early November. Look at your calendar. It’s the middle of December, and not a bit of concrete has been disturbed. Continue reading »
Jean-Paul Villere
What’s with this Travel & Leisure readers poll slapping yet another label on the residents of the Crescent City? Now we’re “the strangest.” Really!? The strangest? That’s just how I want to raise my kids and have them self-identify their home and rearing. ”Don’t feel bad about not being like all the other 21st century American children, we’re just stranger than everyone else.” Um, no. I’ll accept most distinctive, most resilient, and / or most fun to be around, but I for one veto strange, at least insofar as defined by most. Continue reading »
Jean-Paul Villere
New Orleanians possess a certain affinity for their street names and the unspoken connotations that go along with them. As quickly as one expresses what part of town he resides, next comes the street name, and lastly the block. Though neighborhoods may vary incredibly block by block, it’s the demarcation of what part of town any given street might run that really determines what a street is called – or what I’m getting at – might have been called. For example, I live on South Liberty, but did you know in fact by today’s street map there is no North Liberty? And why? Not sure really, but I can tell you presently that North Liberty is Treme Street, and given the HBO media machine it is highly doubtful Treme Street will ever return to North Liberty Street. Conversely, I wouldn’t expect Treme to anytime soon become North Treme and as such my street South Treme. Continue reading »
One of these houses was recently approved for demolition, and one was deemed necessary for preservation. Want to guess which is which? (Photos via Preservation Resource Center, prcno.org)
Watching from the sidelines these last few weeks as New Orleanians applaud or boo proposed demolitions throughout the Uptown area, I am once again left scratching my head from what seems to be a certain sense of inconsistency. Here’s why. Continue reading »
(photo courtesy of Emily Davis)
This week, I catch up with an old pal. Emily Davis and I have known each other for many years, and I wanted to share with the readers of UptownMessenger.com and the world one of my favorite New Orleanians and soapmaker extraordinaire, a local lady my daughters rightly and simply call “Ms. Emily.” Continue reading »
A tardy Ray Davies plays with a full backing band at The Preservation Hall stage, electrifying a sizable crowd with new work as well as "All Day and All of The Night" and "Sunny Afternoon." (Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Snoop Dogg returns to Voodoo sporting a Colston jersey to an adoring crowd, opening for Blink-182. (Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
If there is any truth in tweets, as in Soundgarden's announcement of reforming New Year's 2010 that "school is back in session," then consider their performance in New Orleans' City Park Friday closing out the first day of Voodoo Fest their master class. A full 2 hour set of self-labeled "old shit," the band performed with a less is more if not unhurried approach, with regionally relevant banter between songs. Whether being pulled over decades ago in Lake Charles and being shaken down by the DEA or recalling not remembering the Crescent City because of days of blackout drinking, Chris Cornell connected with the teeming masses seemingly graciously. (Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
My ears rang for 3 days the first time I saw Soundgarden and, despite the pain and hearing loss, the experience (to use the vernacular) was sweet. They opened for Guns N’ Roses in Houston on the second leg of Guns’ Use Your Illusion Tour; the venue where it was held, The Summit, is strangely enough now a church. The second night of a two-night stand but also a Friday night, three of my closest friends and I drove over from Beaumont to see the show. That Friday morning the select few in our class that had actually had the opportunity to see this double bill the evening before (read: Thursday) recounted their experience. And we listened in awe to their stories, furthering our already eager anticipation. We couldn’t wait to see Guns N’ Roses; not one of us had ever really heard of Soundgarden. The evening before Axl had said this. And Slash had done that. There were other visual spectacles on par with an evening on Bourbon during Mardi Gras. Nonetheless my 17-year-old self had no idea I was about to become a Soundgarden fan. That and my more-or-less girlfriend around that time, Leigh Anne, was into them. After all, most romances generally produce some level of musical compatibility, do they not? Continue reading »
One of the most intriguing blighted properties in the city, on Simon Bolivar Avenue (photo by Jean-Paul Villere)
Jean-Paul Villere
Two weeks ago I wrote a piece contrasting the Hornets “I’m In” campaign to the city’s “Fight the Blight” with mixed responses. And that’s to be expected. Along with this, recently the city facilitated yet another round of tax sales for delinquent property owners in Orleans Parish, and some of these properties are, yes, blighted. By city ordinance, a successful bidder on a tax year for a property is entitled to a certain percentage of ownership of that tax year for that property. Depending on the outcome and competitiveness of the bidding process some times that ownership is 100% and other times as little as 1%. It gets more layered, so stay with me. On paper, the goal of the tax sale is to get these properties righted on their parish debt and back into commerce, whether through a prescriptive period of delinquency and subsequent sale or the offender’s righting of their own tax debt themselves. If the property is not deemed blighted the prescriptive period is 3 years, and if it is blighted it’s cut in half to 18 months. This all seems relatively simple and plainly spelled out, right? It is, kinda. Continue reading »
Arthur Joseph faithfully mans the corner of Napoleon and Freret. (photo by Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
Inserts for Bean's Formal Wear, a Freret Street stalwart, are among the day's advertising inserts. (photo by Jean-Paul Villere for UptownMessenger.com)
It’s a Sunday morning in New Orleans, and for the next few hours a ritual will unfold. Light traffic whispers through the streets as if trying not to wake anyone. Sunlight warms the dew on last night’s Dixie cups strewn on a nearby sidewalk. And corner newspaper purveyors appear like a sort of urban legend. For but a few scant hours and during these hours only, the South’s oldest and New Orleans’ only newspaper, The Times-Picayune, will soon be personally handed off one by one. And why? I have no idea. Continue reading »
Samuel Square basketball goal along Napoleon before "Fight the Blight." (Jean Paul-Villere)
The same goal after Fight the Blight day. (Jean-Paul Villere)
Note: Immediately below was composed before the recent Fight the Blight day this past Saturday. Additional thoughts follow.
BEFORE:
Recently in a bid to generate enthusiasm for keeping the Hornets in New Orleans, a campaign was launched with billboards, TV spots, and print ads featuring everyone from the governor, to the mayor to Fleurty Girl all pledging their allegiance to our city’s basketball franchise. “I’m in!” they all repeated over and over again. “Are you in?” ”I’m in.” “Oh, I’m definitely in.” “You know I’m in.” On and on. To which I say “Great! I love it when people are in!” I’ve always said I’m a fan of fans. God bless the ones who make it all possible for whatever; without fans every successful franchise athletically or otherwise would be nowhere. Except, when I walk my neighborhood I feel like the being “in”-ness stops when the director says “cut.” Why? Have you seen the condition of some of our more visible parks? Especially the basketball courts? I do not profess to be expert of the city’s parks nor of the heirarchy that presumably should be keeping them in check. But my stomach turns just enough when I think of this campaign, and then visit my neighborhood park: Samuel Square. Continue reading »