New Orleans: characters welcome

There are probably more characters per capita in New Orleans than any other American city, even New York. With almost a third of its population gone since the devastation from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, New Orleans’ characters seem more visible these days. This appears to further add to the unique character of this special American city.

There was the man with the full white beard, sunglasses, red hat, Hawaiian shirt, red shorts, and red hi-top shoes who slowly but merrily made his way up Bourbon Street one evening, not to be outdone by another overweight man who wore nothing more than a genie- or showgirl-type costume while dancing to recorded music a few blocks away on Bourbon Street.

Then there was Ann, who led a demonstration at the New Orleans School of Cooking while entertaining tourists with her take on the city’s history and quirks, including accents of inhabitants like the woman behind the desk at Le Richelieu, who sounded if she spent a lot of time in both Louisiana and Brooklyn.

Other interesting workers included a tour bus driver, who remarked, “It’s a long way from New Jersey. Y’all here on that witness protection program?” The swamp tour guide discussed changes on the bayou before and after Katrina, and said, “Bubba Gump is the only New Orleans restaurant that doesn’t serve gulf shrimp.” There was the highly educated and very talkative waitress at Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville, and the warm and cheery man at the entrance to Pat O’Brien’s with a name tag that appropriately read “Love.”

Of course, there were many and varied entertainers in Jackson Square and on Bourbon and Royal Streets, including a violin and guitar duo who segued seamlessly from Bob Marley’s “Could You Be Loved” to Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway To Heaven.” The next day, they were joined by a vocalist on “Summertime.” Even some of the many young people walking around with pit bulls stopped to listen.

All kinds of interesting men seem to spend time on the streets, from the very kind old gentleman in the Garden District who stopped to talk with two middle-age tourists and voluntarily pointed out the Manning family home, to the bicyclist riding down Chartres Street one night cheerily singing “Don’t know much about history…” to Heath, the word busker on Frenchmen Street who recited the following poem he wrote on a manual typewriter in less than 15 minutes:

DISNEYLAND FOR ADULTS

The Swamp tour ran into
The haunted vampire tour
Its bus lateral, sidewalk careening
Into the enebriated crowd

blindly following
some gothic guy
his red, satin cloak
covering his pimply face
as plastic, hand grenade containers
explode into air
and the loudspeaker on the bus
shouts out
“To the left, how about them vampire,
swamp gators?”

People stare, looking through –
Steamly cracked windows
for viewers of the cypress swamp.

New Orleans remains a city with many characters, and a lot of character. It’s been that way for almost 300 years, through French rule, Spanish rule, French control again and, after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, under US control. Through all the change and turmoil over the years, its music, food, drink and architecture have remained unique among American cities. So has its diverse mix of people, who continue to give the city its own very special character.

To see more photos of the people and places Charley saw while on vacation in New Orleans recently, click the link below.

Kodak Gallery: Charles's Gallery