Sunday, March 14, 2010

Lower Ninth Ward

Today I made a trip down to the Lower Ninth Ward.  Before Katrina, the Lower Ninth was not extremely wealthy, but it was a reasonably well-off blue collar area of town.  However, the neighborhood took the brunt of the flood.  Even though the hurricane missed NOLA entirely, the water from the storm surge caused the levee along the industrial canal to fail.  That levee borders the Lower Ninth, and everything in the area was flooded.  While the Lower Ninth is not a ghost-town, it is a shadow of what it once was.

Many of the houses that existed before the hurricane have been torn down, a few are being rebuilt, and several are simply empty shells.  The photos below are of a vacant house a few blocks from the levee.  The last photo is where the levee gave way during Katrina.  As always, click the photos for a larger view.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Meyer the Hatter

I meant to do a full write-up of Meyer the Hatter, but I am in a law school time crunch, so a few photos will have to suffice.  Meyer the Hatter has been in New Orleans since the late 1800's, which is impressive.  Even more impressive is that it is still a family owned and operated business.  I met Sam Meyer, who still works the floor of his shop, gives brief history tutorials of the store, and strikes some sweet poses for guys with cameras.... look for him on next season's Next Top Model.