NOLA, I think I love you (but is it just infatuation?)... (New Orleans: neighborhood, living)

[annie_himself]

Yes, although I would not call it segregated. Monroe, I would call segregated. Maybe because I'm from BR, but I don't think most mid-size to large cities are segregated. People, naturally, just stick to what they know.

[Sally_Sparrow]

thanks, everyone, for the responses. I am glad my observations were pretty much on target!

As for social segregation and the like...I live in a Texas city that is primarily Hispanic, but we have parts of town that seem to have zero diversity at all. We have our north side which is primarily higher income and mixed but mostly anglo. We have the west side, mostly lower income Hispanic, and the south side, a mix economically but mostly hispanic, and our east side is primarily African American.

We live on San Antonio's west side, and we're a family of mixed ethnicity (two kids are of 50/50 anglo / Mexican parentage, another kid plus myself are caucasian mutt)... just a couple days ago, while walking home from the library, my "very white" son was approached by an older Hispanic woman concerned for him because, as she said, it can be "dangerous for someone of your color over here". He got a kick out of that one. After explaining to her that he LIVED here and had for 4 years, and being met with disbelief. But yeah, it's been interesting, living in a neighborhood where we (at least me and one of my boys) REALLY stand out. People have been nice enough, just always look surprised to see us "over here" on this side of town.

Anyway we'd like to live where there is a general "mix" melting pot but we will probably be in Hammond for a couple years at least and I have no clue what that's like, but Hammond it is because SELU has my needed degree program and for the right price.

[bornjacksonian]

There's no place like New Orleans (no it's not infatuation) ... I'll ride with this city through the good, the bad, and the in between. Yes this city has it's fair share of problems, however this is my second home. Everyone down there is full of southern hospitality (just like my hometown Jackson, MS). The culture, people, vibe, food, architecture, music, energy, atmosphere, history, (Mardi Gras), Bourbon St, Royal Street, The Quarters (Jackson Square), Garden District, Magazine St (uptown), I could go on and on. If I could relocate with my job, I would be back there in a flash. I loved it when I lived there, and I constantly visits the area to see family and friends and my favorite them #SAINTS. As a matter of fact, I will be there on Sept 7th for court (speeding lol), so I will try to take some pictures then. I hear a lot of NFL insiders would love for the Super Bowl to be held every year in New Orleans. This place has it's own identity .... what is there not to love about NOLA :-)

[brightdoglover]

From friends who live in N.O. (both parents and non-parents) I'd point out that the N.O. schools, while improved from pre-Katrina, do not have a very good reputation for the kids.
I also wonder if a same-sex couple would find the same comfort level "an hour from the city" as first mentioned. In the city, no problem, in fact, you might stand out for not being unusual enough.

[imaterry78259]

Everyone in the south has two hometowns, there own and New Orleans

[pjg66]

My first visit to New Orleans was post Katrina. The ride on the interstate through the Ninth Ward was sobering, but we spent most of our time in the French Quarter, the Garden District and in downtown. My partner had been there before (pre-Katrina) and warned me that I would fall in love with the place. And indeed I fell in love with the place.

The people were super friendly and were most appreciative that as tourists we had chosen to come to the city in spite of its disastrous fortunes. As one lovely waitress said, "It's folks like you coming here to visit that keeps up going."

I'll never forget the old fellow who took us on the mule drawn tour of the French Quarter. He had been driven out by Katrina and gone to Texas, where he was miserable. His only goal in life was to get back to his beloved New Orleans. And here he again was, smiling and laughing and full of the most fascinating anecdotes about all the things that had happened in places we passed on the tour. And he had a few tall tales about his old Tennessee mule.

Simply loved that city and hope it's on its way to a spectacular comeback. It deserves it.

[hershey87]

i'll chime in as someone who mooned over new orleans for ten years and finally moved here recently.

you are so right to point out that it is one thing to visit a city, and a very different thing to live in it. i visited here a few times, felt enchanted, and then was momentarily crushed when i moved here, because my romantic notions of the city had to be reconciled with the daily grind, like going to wal-mart and buying paper towels. when you are a tourist you are seeing the city through the eyes of someone on vacation, and of course your perception will shift as you move here and you're not just concerned with sight seeing and enjoying yourself, but about working, paying bills, going to the doctor's for a physical, driving in traffic, etc. your question is such an important one and i applaud you for asking it in advance- i didn't even think about this difference in experiences until they were happening to me. they are the strange growing pains of moving to a city you're in love with and having it become the city you are living in.

i'll tell you what bothered me when i transitioned from tourist to local... this may sound funny, but i was disturbed that i had stopped gawking at everything. you know how when you visit, you're just gobsmacked by the funny colored houses and the beautiful architecture and the oak trees and the performers in the street and all that? well, when you move here, you can't just walk around forever feeling stunned by nola's beauty and uniqueness... it calms down a little. i am used to seeing teal, purple, pink, etc. plantation homes now. in fact, i just visited my parents up north and was taken off guard by how boring the houses are... most of them white with the same general shapes, with no columns, balconies, or outlandish decorations. i said to myself - i'm starting to see why people in nola don't leave, because even the little things like the colors of houses are just so much more here. i'm not totally starstruck by it anymore- i still walk and drive around and deeply appreciate the beauty around me, but it's not such a big deal anymore because i see it every single day. your excited fascination with the city in general will simmer. i found this so disappointing at first. i loved the utter excitement that nola gave me just by walking down the street and taking everything in, and i wanted to hold on to that feeling. i was worried that once the novelty wore off, that maybe i wouldn't like the city as much, or my opinions on it would drastically change.

here's what happened - i still love everything i loved before, with less immediate intensity, and now all those things are connected to the feeling of home, which is far more satisfying than the detached thrill i had when i was a tourist. i'd have to say that i much prefer being a local here than a visitor, because i get to really experience the city with all its flaws and perks, rather than some idealized version i got before. and the city isn't perfect at all, as you know, but once you catch that new orleans bug, i don't think that it's going to go away just because you move here and you're here a lot of the time. the place just feels more special while living here because you're making memories and now you can intertwine your dream city with your real life. you get to associate nola with your favorite sights and activities and foods on TOP of treasured friendships, good times, family, what have you. so to answer your question - that level of infatuation that you feel can't be sustained when you're here all the time, no, but you can still love the heck out of this place. personally i have not moved here and stumbled upon some glaring flaw that made me go, "oh ****... new orleans sucks more than i thought." if i were you, i'd keep researching this city and what you want out of your next home to cover all the bases, to know what to expect... and if you still want to go for it, well, i think things will go very well for you. this place is way too wild and exotic and awesome to get sick of it or disenchanted with it, and i believe that time makes no difference in that regard.

re: the specific points you brought up:

the heat- it's pretty bad in the summer. as someone said, you lucked out with those showers. this past summer we had a ridiculous number of days where it rained/thundered every single day. i got a little tired of it because of the flooding (it floods at the drop of a hat here) but it did help with the heat.

friendly people- people here are incredibly nice, that wasn't just a fluke that you experienced. you walk down the street and strangers say hi, total strangers strike up conversations, neighbors will help you move furniture, etc. people here are, in general, very gregarious and polite. i'm from stuffy new england, and it still trips me up because back home, being approached by strangers is totally weird. but here people are very open. i've had to try to figure out how to tell the super nice chatty cathys from the weirdos (luckily, the latter group has been pretty sparse in comparison... by weirdos i mean the bad kind. there are plenty of cool weirdos around here.)

activity- this place never sleeps. go to cafe du monde at 5 am and there is a good number of people. there is no end of things to do uptown, downtown, in the quarter, you name it. you'll be in the thick of it wherever you live. and what's so nice is that everything is so close in the city, so it doesn't take long at all to jet across to some event in another neighborhood.

racial diversity- there is loads of it, and it is wonderful. i go to school with so many different people, and you see them everywhere on the street- locals and tourists alike.

you might find this thread interesting- a bunch of us nola transplants talked about how we adjusted to nola and what we think of it so far; http://www.city-data.com/forum/new-o...about-how.html

best of luck to you. sorry for sounding sappy and for going on and on- but it might somewhat alleviate your worries to know i still feel this way about this city over half a year into living here.

[annie_himself]

I read the part about the streetcars, I'm not used to driving around them much, but I have driven on St. Charles a handful of times. Here in Houston, the light rail can stop for you, but it's not supposed to, you will get ticketed.

[Neworleansisprettygood]

Originally Posted by annie_himself

I read the part about the streetcars, I'm not used to driving around them much, but I have driven on St. Charles a handful of times. Here in Houston, the light rail can stop for you, but it's not supposed to, you will get ticketed.

When I lived in Houston, I got in a wreck at main and 59 because I was looking back to make sure a train wasn't coming.

I live 5 blocks from Canal, so the streetcar is still something I worry about, though not as much as when I lived on St. Charles. In Mid-City the neutral ground and street are a bit wider so you sort of just time the gap and hope that Dale Earnhardt hasn't come back from the dead to drive streetcars. My dad did get hit by one of them, though, as did somebody I know from growing up with (both in cars). I used to run a snowball stand and the guy I was leasing it from had been a streetcar driver once upon a time, I think he finally got fired for hitting too many cars. It's a definite issue, but what are you going to do, get rid of the streetcars? Don't think so.

Also, one of the posters above said they couldn't believe the devastation in the 9th ward while driving along the interstate. Just want to point out that was in the East, not the Lower 9th, which, although bad, doesn't compare to where the barge busted through the canal wall and just turned several square blocks of housing into urban prairie.

[annie_himself]

Originally Posted by Neworleansisprettygood

When I lived in Houston, I got in a wreck at main and 59 because I was looking back to make sure a train wasn't coming.

I live 5 blocks from Canal, so the streetcar is still something I worry about, though not as much as when I lived on St. Charles. In Mid-City the neutral ground and street are a bit wider so you sort of just time the gap and hope that Dale Earnhardt hasn't come back from the dead to drive streetcars. My dad did get hit by one of them, though, as did somebody I know from growing up with (both in cars). I used to run a snowball stand and the guy I was leasing it from had been a streetcar driver once upon a time, I think he finally got fired for hitting too many cars. It's a definite issue, but what are you going to do, get rid of the streetcars? Don't think so.

Also, one of the posters above said they couldn't believe the devastation in the 9th ward while driving along the interstate. Just want to point out that was in the East, not the Lower 9th, which, although bad, doesn't compare to where the barge busted through the canal wall and just turned several square blocks of housing into urban prairie.

Correct me if I'm wrong but the rail runs in the neutral ground on Main, and when it switches over to Fannin it does as well until it runs out of the medical center towards 610 S. The only time I worry is when I'm crossing the tracks.

I may be moving to NOLA sooner than I planned and depending on where I live, this will be a short learning curve.