Fire breaks out in Lower Garden District cocktail lounge

A fire broke out in a Lower Garden District cocktail lounge early Monday (Nov. 20), the New Orleans Fire Department reported. 

NOFD fire  crews responded to a 911 call reporting a fire at 1840 Thalia St. at about 3 a.m.. The first units arrived on the scene to find The Treehouse, an indoor-outdoor bar, with fire coming from the center of an outside patio area. The last employees had left the building around 2:30 a.m. without seeing indications of a potential fire.

Roadwork ahead: Partial street closure at Fontainebleau and Lowerline begins Monday

The eastbound travel lanes of Fontainebleau Drive will be partially closed to vehicular traffic to complete asphalt paving at the intersection of Fontainebleau Drive and Lowerline Street, the Department of Public Works announced Friday. The closure will begin Monday (Oct. 23) at 7 a.m. Vehicular traffic and sidewalks are expected to reopen at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 31, weather permitting. For river-bound traffic, drivers will be able to use South Carrollton Avenue and take South Claiborne Avenue to Broadway Street to get back onto Fontainebleau Drive.

Uptown neighbors to gather Tuesday for Night Out Against Crime

The 40th annual Night Out Against Crime will take place Tuesday (Oct. 17). Events are planned across Uptown neighborhoods and are listed below. The Night Out Against Crime in New Orleans is a community-wide event to raise crime prevention awareness, reduce crime and increase the support of local, state and federal law enforcement. It began over 30 years ago with NOPD officer Kelly Marrione.

Roadwork ahead: Utility repairs continue on Palmer Avenue

The partial road closure on Palmer Avenue between Loyola Avenue and Freret Street is expected to end Dec. 1, the Department of Public Works announced. Construction crews began in 1800 block of Palmer Avenue and will make progress toward the 2000 block ending at Freret Street. Crews have completed the first run of utility repairs and are currently working in the 2000 block of Palmer Avenue. The city’s construction contractor, Murphy Pipeline Construction, is performing subsurface utility repairs and roadway restoration.

S&WB issues boil water advisory for Uptown

From the Sewerage & Water Board

The Sewerage & Water Board, in consultation with the Louisiana Department of Health, issued a precautionary boil water advisory Thursday (Sept. 28) for a limited area of Uptown New Orleans, which includes:

South Claiborne Avenue from Calhoun Street to Robert Street
Robert from South Claiborne to the river
Mississippi River from Robert to Exposition Boulevard
Exposition Boulevard from the river to St. Charles Avenue

A map of the area currently under a precautionary boil water advisory is here. Water pressure in this area fell below 20 pounds per square inch (psi) due to the failure of a 30-inch water main valve. Sewerage & Water Board crews are onsite and repairs are underway.

Five-alarm fire breaks out in Lower Garden District short-term rental

Tourists staying in the Lower Garden District noticed smoke coming from the air-conditioning vents of their Magazine Street short-term rental around noon on Friday (Sept. 1). The New Orleans Fire Department arrived at 12:05 p.m. and found smoke coming from the HVAC vents on the second floor. There were no visible flames in the three-story wood framed building, according to the NOFD. The fire eventually broke through the walls on the second floor and extended through the roof of the third floor.

Roadwork ahead: Palmer to close for University area drainage project

Palmer Avenue will be partially closed between Loyola Avenue and Freret Street for about three months beginning Tuesday (Sept. 5), the Mayor’s Office announced Friday. Crews will be completing subsurface utility repairs and roadway restoration. Construction crews will begin the work in the 1800 block of Palmer Avenue and will progress toward the 2000 block, ending at Freret Street. During construction, crews will work on one block at a time, requiring a partial road closure.

NOPD plans sobriety checkpoint

The NOPD’s Traffic Division will conduct an upcoming sobriety checkpoint at an undisclosed location beginning Sunday (Aug. 20). The checkpoint will operate between the hours of 9 p.m. on Sunday and 5 a.m. on Monday (Aug. 21). The number of DWI arrests by New Orleans police has fallen in recent years, with only 69 in 2022, compared to more than 600 five years earlier.

Roadwork ahead: Camp Street detour continues in Lower Garden District

sDrivers in the Lower Garden District will continue to face a barricade on Camp Street at Thalia. The downtown-bound travel lanes of the 1200 block of Camp will remain closed through Monday (July 31), the Department of Public Works reported. The street is closed for asphalt paving operations as part of the Central City Group B project. The work began June 21. Drivers heading toward downtown are rerouted onto Thalia Street, then turn left onto Constance Street and left again onto Erato Street, where traffic can return to eastbound Camp Street (see map above).

Seven people displaced in Hollygrove fire that engulfed three homes

Seven Hollygrove residents, including four children, were displaced Monday (July 24) in a fire that severely damaged three houses. Firefighters withstood temperatures in the mid-90s to extinguish the three-alarm fire. One firefighter was injured while battling the blaze. 

The first New Orleans Fire Department unit arrived at 3:31 p.m. Firefighters found the single shotgun at 1825 Hollygrove engulfed in flames that threatened the building to its left. A search of the building found no one inside, and neighbors confirmed that the residents, three children and one adult, were not at home when the fire broke out. A second alarm was requested at 3:40 p.m. as the fire quickly spread to an unoccupied double under renovation a few feet away, at 1831-33 Hollygrove, and an occupied single-family home at 8926 Cohn St.