Living in New Orleans

[jjkoestler]

I am considering taking a job in New Orleans, but I have never been there. It seems like a fun city for a single guy and it would be completely different than anywhere I've ever lived. Has anyone here lived in NOLA? If you visited, what were your impressions of the city?

[owbc]

I've visited and I know a few people who live there right now. It's a really great city, the culture, food and the community are incredible. It has a great nightlife. There really isn't anywhere else like it. On the negative side, the issues with crime and corruption are very serious, it has plenty of bad neighborhoods, and there is a huge divide between the wealthy and poor. It's also influenced by southern/bible belt culture which I consider a negative. The weather is nice in the winter and horribly humid in the summer.

 

It's not a place that I would consider to live permanently, but for a few years it would be fun.

[Dogger192003]

I live in Baton Rouge now and used to live in New Orleans until 2005.

 

The city is experiencing a "rebirth" economically right now and is certainly a place to consider living. It is moving from an economy based mostly on tourism and services to one that is more tech and small start-up. I agree with the previous poster about the uniqueness of the city, nothing compares to it anywhere in the world that I have visited. The culture, history, and general atmosphere is very unique and can only be explained by visiting there. That unique culture is also not for everyone. It is summer and hot every day, but I love it hot. Winter is amazing.

 

There is a problem with crime in the city, especially drug-gang related murders. They are generally retaliation, drug, or gang related, and generally isolated in the notorious neighborhoods for crime. You definitely want to consult someone with knowledge of the city before you purchase property. But I can tell you that I was never afraid to go places and do things I needed to do while I lived there and I visit there frequently now with my children and have never had a problem. I don't think it is much different that any other major city for crime.

 

The other thing to consider is if you are a family person, things like schools are a pain. I teach at a private school that my children attend so it is not an issue for me and Baton Rouge is more family friendly in my opinion. But public schools are not something most people would send their children to here.

 

You are welcome to contact me if you are serious about moving down here and I can help with other questions.

[Nottso]

I lived there for a while. I rode my bike down to Mardi Gras in 1979. I left in 1981, at which time I was banned from Louisiana. This is the part where I'm supposed to say "I'm not proud of it" but that would be a lie. Truth be told, I'm perversely proud of being the only person I've ever known that is banned from an entire state. Just another day in the life.

[Baldkin]

Wait.

 

WHAT?

 

Do we have to wait for the book?

[homer]

Wait.

 

WHAT?

 

Do we have to wait for the book?

 

 

THIS. You can't throw out a state banning and not give us the details. Spill!

[davego]

Now THAT is a ban-hammer.

[trwi7]

Pretty obvious the Simpsons based the story of Homer vs Captain Jack on Nottso, it just happened in Louisiana instead of Florida. That's why Nottso lives in North Dakota.

[Baldkin]

Pretty obvious the Simpsons based the story of Homer vs Captain Jack on Nottso, it just happened in Louisiana instead of Florida. That's why Nottso lives in North Dakota.

 

You mean Dakota. They want to drop the "North" part.

[Nottso]

It's really not that big a story. I fell in with bad companions. Really bad. At best, these dudes were a train wreck; at worst... I can't even imagine.

 

"Junior" was my age (just shy of 21), and he was just a bad, bad dude. Corrupt to his very core. He was just mean, and always looking for a fight. His older brother Gary was a bit more sensible, but just a bit. While Junior would look for trouble, Gary wouldn't; but Gary certainly wouldn't shy away from it, either. Then there was their friend "Coon Ass Gary" who was a straight Cajun that lived out in the swamps and "did stuff" with alligators, they said. I never could peg him. He was kinda okay, but would then snap at a moment's notice. Lastly, was "Ed." Ed was the brother to Junior's extremely hot girlfriend, Darcey. Ed was pretty normal and was an engineering student at Tulane. Nice guy.

 

So the 5 of us were down in the French Quarter, doing things we shouldn't have been doing, when we encountered a giant. A real one. If this cat wasn't 7 feet tall, he didn't miss it by much, was of a very large build as well as quite hairy. As the giant and his friends passed us in opposite directions, Junior shoulder-checked the giant. I just sighed and shook my head.

 

Words were briefly exchanged, and the fight was on. It lasted about 12 seconds before the cops just swarmed. They were everywhere. I don't know if it's still the same, but back then rookie cops were always assigned to the French Quarter and they tended to be extremely gung-ho. The cops separated the 2 initial combatants and put the giant in one squad car and Junior in another. We're all pleading their cases trying to get the cops to turn them loose. "All a big misunderstanding" says we. "There'll be no more trouble if you just let us take them home" says the giant's friends.

 

Unbelievably, we get the cops to free them about the time another cop is putting Gary into a third squad. He had been having his own conversation with this other cop and apparently it wasn't as friendly as our conversations. So they free Junior and the giant. The giant and his crew beat-it outta there like they've got good sense. I should have gone with them.

 

They take the cuffs off of Junior and he runs right over and smacks the cop that's putting Gary into the squad. So now it's Junior, hand-cuffed Gary and Coon Ass Gary flat-out brawling with a bunch of cops. Ed and I took about 2 steps before I had a gun in my nose. The cop said "freeze!" So, I froze. Seemed prudent. I hadn't even entertained the thought of jumping on the cops but they couldn't know that.

 

The cops hauled the 3 stooges off to jail and gave Ed and I tickets for disturbing the peace. Neither one of us had done anything wrong but we weren't about to argue at that point. Ed and I spent the rest of the night ferrying motorcycles home. I'd ride one home and Ed would bring me back for the next in his Triumph sports car. Darcey arranged for bail and got them out in the morning.

 

I still had my Tennessee driver's license as I had never bothered to change it over. After all, I was only there on a brief vacation that just kinda turned into a mis-spent year and a half. When I went to court the judge said "Mr. Moore, you're very young and your part in this was minimal. I see that you're from Tennessee. Well, I'll tell you what you do, young man. You go back to Tennessee... TODAY... and you never return to Louisiana... and I'll drop the charge against you."

 

I was gone by 3:00 that afternoon and in Memphis by midnight.

[Invader3K]

I guess one never knows what they'll read on BF.net. Thanks for sharing, Nottso.

[homer]

Nice story. Did you follow up with those guys you ran with to see how things ended up with them? Be pretty funny if Junior turned out to be a kindergarten teacher or something.

[Nottso]

Never saw or spoke with them again. It was a really crazy time. One night, a guy I worked with picked up a chick that turned out to not be a chick. That was pretty entertaining.

[chadomac]

Glad I got to hear the story finally, Nottso - you referenced it in another NOLA-related post awhile back, I remember.

 

I've never lived there, but I just got married in New Orleans a few weeks ago - got engaged there one year ago - and have visited 5-6 times at this point. We plan to go every year for the rest of our lives - it's a wonderful place and truly unique as others have said. It is not perfect, but it's probably my favorite city in the world. It has a vitality to it like no other place. And the food... man.

[TooLiveBrew]

Never saw or spoke with them again. It was a really crazy time. One night, a guy I worked with picked up a chick that turned out to not be a chick. That was pretty entertaining.

 

We just need to start the Nottso Stories Thread. This stuff is awesome.

[owbc]

That was entertaining, Nottso. New Orleans is just one of those cities where crazy stuff happens. I'm not the best at storytelling, but here's one that I was a part of...

 

When I was going to school in Madison I signed up for one of those spring break service trips to New Orleans about a year and a half after Katrina. 2007 I think. The way it works is that they select a group of 10 students (nobody knew anyone else in the group), give us two state-issued vans, and send us on our way to do service. Nothing could possibly go wrong...

 

We make it down there ok and find that the service organization is basically this impromptu group run by a single guy out of a ancient victorian house in the Carrollton neighborhood that the owner let him convert into a boarding house. There were about 40-50 college students from all over the place crammed into this house. When we arrive, we are advised to be quiet at night because they are feuding with the neighbor who apparently isn't pleased with having 50 college students living next door. The leader tried solve things by sending us over to paint the angry neighbor's house, but he wasn't having any of it. Instead, we did work in the lower 9th and went down to Bourbon St. to party at night (of course only two of us were 21, but with the city's economy in ruins, that didn't matter much). The third day, we come back to find signs all over place reading "STOP THE ILLEGAL BOARDING HOUSE", not long after the news media shows up, and we suspect we are going to get kicked out but the leader guy assures us he'll take care of it. The boarding house did end up getting closed shortly after we left. It was definitely illegal, but the leader assumed it would be ok because it was for Katrina recovery.

 

Anyway, it looks like the excitement had all passed over until we reach our last night in New Orleans. The other guy in the group, lets call him Mike, was a funny but reckless fellow. He injured his foot playing basketball the week before the trip and was in serious pain. However, he insisted upon not only doing all of hard physical labor in gutting a house, but worked twice as hard as everyone else. He was being sustained by a bottle of painkillers and was definitely taking more than the recommended dosage. On the last night, we bring a few bottles of liquor back to the house and start drinking. It doesn't take long for Mike to become extremely intoxicated, but fortunately we hadn't gone anywhere yet. He insisted on going to Bourbon St but that clearly wasn't going to happen. After about an hour we eventually convince him to go to bed, he passes out, and that appears to be the end of it.

 

In the morning, we wake up and Mike's bed is empty. We start looking around the house and he is nowhere to be found. This is concerning, since we have to head back to WI in about 2 hours. We split up into groups and start driving around the neighborhood because in his state there was no way he made it more than a few blocks. No luck. Finally someone calls the cops and they respond that they have him in jail for disturbing the peace and underage drinking. Embarrassed, we call up the organizers in Madison and they instruct us to leave him there and drive back since it was Saturday morning and he can't be bailed out until Monday.

 

I held onto all of his stuff and I brought it back to him in Madison about a week later after the whole thing had passed over. Of course I wanted to know the story before I gave back the stuff. According to Mike, he "just wanted to have a good time" and decided to walk downtown. He was listening to his iPod and quickly encountered two suspicious characters who approached him and knocked him out. Unfortunately, a cop witnessed the whole thing and chased down the assailant. When Mike came to, the cop had arrested the assailants but apparently there was a struggle. The cop asked Mike to sign a form stating that he witnessed the cop being struck by the assailant. At that point, Mike made the unfortunate decision to say that he was unconscious and didn't see anything. The cop asked, "Will you sign it anyway?" Mike refused, so the cop slams him against the car and cuffs him, saying "Not going to rat your buddy out are you?".

 

On the way back to the station, Mike kept asking why he was arrested but got no answer. He asked if it was because he was drinking, and the cop said, "No, but I'll put that one on there too". He tried to plead his story, saying he was a Katrina volunteer and he had the WI drivers license and UW student ID to show for it. All the cop said is, "That's quite an elaborate story you've got there." After the weekend in an overcrowded New Orleans jail which I'm sure wasn't pleasant, he eventually got to tell his side of the story. They decided not to press charges, which suggests it wasn't the first time something like that happened. The iPod also mysteriously disappeared.

 

The moral of the story is: don't mix alcohol and vicodin.

[Nottso]

owbc,

 

Kudos to you on the Katrina relief. We spent our honeymoon doing the same. We had a different trip scheduled, but just couldn't see ourselves having fun and spending our money on what amounts to foolishness when so many people were in such crisis. We made memories and friendships that will last a lifetime.

[owbc]

Wait, so if you did Katrina relief, did you break your vow not to return to Louisiana? Kudos to you as well for spending your honeymoon helping out.

[Nottso]

We spent our time on the Mississippi Gulf Coast (Saucier), as they were also hit very hard. We did accidentally enter Louisiana on the way there, but for less than 2 minutes. We got off the highway and got right back on going the other way. After all... a deal's a deal.