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January 30, 2008
Feature Photo - Carnival on Canal, circa 1895
The floats of Rex, turning from Royal Street in the French Quarter onto Canal Street, around 1896. The photo is undated, but the statue on the left narrows down the possible time frame from 1895 to 1901.
The statue is of statesman, US Senator, Speaker of the House, and Secretary of State, Henry Clay of Kentucky. Clay died in 1852, and a civic group began raising funds to erect a statue in his honor in downtown New Orleans. The base of the statue was huge. If you look at the photo, you'll see two mules in the bottom left corner. The base of the statue extended to where those mules are.
When the New Orleans City Railroad Company brought streetcar service to Canal Street in 1861, the Clay statue became a roundabout in the middle of the intersection of Canal and Royal (or Canal and St. Charles Avenue, as the street is called on the "American" side of Canal St.) The tracks around the statue became more and more complex as other operating companies added their tracks to Canal Street. Most of the lines were able to totally bypass Clay, though, since all they were interested in was to get to Canal, discharge passengers, pick up outbound riders, then head away from downtown. This only required being on Canal St. for a block or two.
Electrification changed the dynamics of streetcar tracks. Constructing the overhead wiring to keep the roundabout configuration of the track would have been too complicated, and a bit dangerous. The City Council decided that the elaborate base of the Clay statue should be cut down so electric streetcars could pass on either side. That's what you see in the photo. The motormen were still unhappy with the clearance they had with the statue, so the city moved it from the middle of Canal St. to Lafayette Square, between St. Charles Ave. and Camp St. Lafayette Square is directly across from what is now Gallier Hall, which was City Hall until the 1950s.
But let's get back to the parade! The only day parade at this time was Rex, King of Carnival, so this is a Fat Tuesday photo. The street in the background is Rue Royal. Parades started in the French Quarter, exited the Quarter onto Canal at Royal, then continued lakebound on Canal, usually to Rampart. They turned onto N. Rampart, then worked their way back into the Quarter, where they would end at the French Opera House. Parades continued to roll through the Quarter until the 1960s, when the city decided that crowds were getting just too big, and parades were a threat to fire protection in the area. The parades then moved to Uptown routes, so they entered Canal Street from essentially where those two mules on the left side of the photo are.
Notice how all the men are up front, crowding in to get a better view of the floats. The women who came out to the parade appear to be hanging in the back, a sign of the times.
The streetcar in the right foreground is a Brill single-truck model. The first electric streetcars had a single "truck" or set of wheels. As service expanded, the operating companies purchased larger, double-truck streetcars, and the single-truck cars were used on lighter-traffic lines and as service vehicles.
The small octaganol building in the right foreground is called a "starter's house." When using mule-powered streetcars, the operating companies put up these small buildings at the end of their lines and stationed an employee there to assist the streetcar operator with getting the car turned around on a turntable and started on their outbound trip. Since that starter's house is still there, that dates the photo even narrower, to 1895-1896.
UPDATE: Two weeks ago, we did a Feature Photo that showed a 400-series Perley A. Thomas streetcar on St. Charles Avenue during a Carnival parade. I wondered in the commentary why the floats were passing on both sides of the streetcar. An astute reader (I won't mention names since I didn't get permission) gave me the answer. In the 1920s-1930s, the "dens" (warehouses where the floats were constructed and stored) for many of the krewes were down by the river, at Jackson and Tchoupitoulas. They would parade up Jackson, then turn Uptown on St. Charles, go to Napoleon, where they'd turn around to head to Canal St. So, that photo was shot between Jackson and Napoleon.
Posted by YatPundit at 9:04 AM | TrackBack
January 25, 2008
Gentilly Friday: Krewe of Pandora, 1978
Long, long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away, Carnival Parades in New Orleans were held in a number of different neighborhoods. Uptown, Mid City, Algiers, New Orleans East, and like the Krewe of Pandora, in Gentilly. This shot, from February of 1978, is of the Budweiser Clydesdales coming down Elysian Fields Ave. in Gentilly. I found this photo in a box of stuff from when I was attending the University of New Orleans. The location is in front of what was then the Lambda Chi Alpha house, my fraternity. The chapter sold the house in the 1990s and bought another one down on Gentilly Blvd. The Elysian Fields house got over 10' of water in the storm, but the current owners repaired the place and it looks great.
Pandora was one of two krewes that paraded through Gentilly in the 60s through the 80s. The other was the Krewe of Hercules. Hercules was actually older, being the all-male krewe. Like many neighborhoods, the wives and girlfriends didn't want to be left out of the fun, so they would form their own krewes and parade. Hercules paraded on the Monday before Lundi Gras (8 days before Mardi Gras), and Pandora on the Saturday before that. Neither were big parades, 12-15 floats apiece. There used to be a lot of NOPD and Levee Board cops in Hercules, because it was neighborhood to many of them, and because 8 days before Mardi Gras was a good night for a cop to get off. The closer you get to Mardi Gras, the more people out at parades, the more cops you need.
Carnival krewes in the 60s and 70s were not just about the parade, but rather were year-round social organizations. With strong ties to a particular neighborhood, a krewe would meet monthly in a neighborhood meeting place, like a school cafeteria, VFW hall, etc., to plan and socialize. In the early spring, that meant having a crawfish boil; in the summer, a picnic. The whole family got involved, and life-long friendships were forged. Even the "super krewe" of Endymion had such humble beginnings, starting out as a Gentilly parade (the original route was in the neighborhood near Da Track).
Hercules eventually folded as a krewe, as the city put pressure on them to move the route away from Gentilly. Many of the krewe were lured away by the growth of Endymion, as their "super krewe" status solidified over time. The women kept Pandora going, because there were so few krewes where women could ride. Pandora eventually became a female/male parade, before they disbanded as well.
The photo shows the Clydesdales leading the parade, followed by shriners and police on motorcycles. The Queen's float followed, then school bands, marching units, and more floats with lots of beads and doubloons!
Tomorrow, there won't be a Pandora, but we'll go out to the Metairie parade, the Krewe of Caesar, to see my son march with the Brother Martin High School Band. For a Gentilly school, marching in a Metairie parade is a bit like slumming, but the school's administration asked them for a favor, because they recruit heavily from the 'burbs.
Posted by YatPundit at 5:39 PM | TrackBack
January 23, 2008
Feature Photo: 904 Passing the Pickwick Club
Perley A. Thomas streetcar 904 passing the Pickwick Club, at the corner of Canal St. and St. Charles Avenue.
The Pickwick Club is an all-male, all-white lunch/social club. The club was originally affiliated with the Mistick Krewe of Comus, the oldest Carnival organization in the city. Comus has been around since 1857, when their two-float parade was the first of its kind in New Orleans. While the official connection between the club and Comus was broken in the 1880s, the membership of both organizations is reputed to be closely linked. Nobody knows for sure, however, because neither the Krewe nor the club make their membership public.
That lack of openness was the subject of a 1991 ordinance passed by the New Orleans City Council. That body decreed that, to get a permit to use public facilities like streets, an organization had to show it did not employ discriminatory practices in determining its membership. Rather than make its membership list public, Comus, along with two other Carnival organizations (Momus and Proteus) withdrew from the parade lineup. Proteus returned several years later, but Comus and Momus have steadfastly refused to comply, even though Comus won a lawsuit against the city, validating their right to freedom of assembly.
The Pickwick Club building is often confused with the Boston Club, which is actually down the street. While the Pickwick Club is closely aligned with Comus, the Boston Club is aligned with the School of Design, the organization which names Rex, King of Carnival, and parades on Mardi Gras morning. The Boston Club (which gets its name from the card game, not the city) is actually down the street. Prior to the 1991 blow-up, the Pickwick Club erected reviewing stands in front of the club on Canal St. Rex would roll down St. Charles and turn left onto Canal St., in front of the club. The king's float would stop there, and Rex would toast his queen, who watched the festivities of the day from that vantage point. Since the passage of the 1991 ordinance, however, the School of Design switched venues for their court, and now the toasts take place at the Intercontinental Hotel, at St. Charles and Poydras.
Posted by YatPundit at 6:14 AM | TrackBack
January 18, 2008
Gentilly Friday: NAS New Orleans on the Lakefront
NAS New Orleans, in its original location on the Lakefront in Gentilly. In 1948, the Dept. of the Navy developed the concept of a Reserve Air Training Center, and New Orleans was chosen to be the first base of this type. NAS New Orleans moved across the river, to Belle Chasse. The lakefront base was returned to the state in 1957. The state opened Louisiana State University in New Orleans (LSUNO), which was renamed the University of New Orleans in 1974.
LSUNO was constructed by the state to accomodate the many veterans who had returned to the metro area after both WWII and the Korean War who wanted to take advantage of the GI Bill. These vets were married and/or held full time jobs, making it difficult for them to just move up to Baton Rouge and go to LSU. Many didn't have the means to go to Loyola or Tulane, so they welcomed the expansion of the LSU system to the city. UNO suffered flood damage as the result of the London Avenue Canal breach (the canal is the western boundary of the main campus), but classes were back in session in the winter of 2006.
The traffic circle at Elysian Fields and Lakeshore Drive can be seen in the bottom right corner. The white area to the right of the traffic circle is part of the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park.
NAS New Orleans played a major role in the war effort. It was a primary "basic flight" base for Navy pilots. The base was also part of the overall operations of Higgins Industries, makers of thousands of the landing craft used on D-Day and other beach invasions. Higgins also built PT Boats for the Navy, which were tested on Lake Pontchartrain.
After the war, NAS New Orleans grew and expanded for a very simple, very political reason: the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee at the time, was F. Edward Hebert (D-New Orleans), from LA-01. Yet another example of why New Orleans needs competent, Democratic representation in Congress, like Gilda Reed.
Posted by YatPundit at 9:34 AM | TrackBack
January 16, 2008
Carnival on St. Charles Avenue
A 400-series arch roof streetcar designed by Perley A. Thomas is in the middle of a parade, 1938. St. Charles was operating in belt service at that point in time (St. Charles outbound, Tulane inbound). One thing making me scratch my head is that the parade is going in both directions on St. Charles. On the contemporary parade route, Rex goes down the lake side of St. Charles, between Louisiana and Jackson, so they can toast at the Story home. The trucks that follow come down the river side for those blocks. Still, both sides go in the same direction. This looks like the float in the foreground is going uptown, will turn around somewhere, and then head back downtown.
But those are minor details in the Grand Scheme of Things. After all, parades are only a couple of weeks away!
Posted by YatPundit at 1:47 PM | TrackBack
January 11, 2008
Gentilly Friday: Walgreens on Gentily Blvd, 1962
Walgreens on Gentilly Blvd. and Frenchman, in 1962. Gentilly Blvd. from Norman Mayer to Elysian Fields was the commercial district for the Gentilly Terrace neighborhood, anchored by Economical Supermarket on Elysian Fields and the Maison Blanche Budget Store down the street.
The strip malls that sustained Gentilly Terrace for years had already become "ghost malls" long before the storm. The MB Budget Store became a Chuck E. Cheese, then an auto parts store. Gus Mayer on Elysian Fields and Gentilly became a Blockbuster, as the higher-end retail outlets left the neighborhood, either to go to the malls or close outright. What time and the trend towards malls and big-box stores didn't kill, the Federal Flood did.
Posted by YatPundit at 8:55 AM | TrackBack
January 10, 2008
Train Thursday - The Panama Limited
clicky for larger image
The Panama Limited ran the same route as its more famous cousin, the City of New Orleans, but with two main differences. The "Limited" in the train's name meant that it made fewer stops, covering the distance between Chicago's Central Station and New Orleans' Union Station in 23 hours. The
Panama Limited
was an all-Pullman train, meaning that it consisted of just baggage, slepper, dining, and club cars--no coaches. It was a first-class affair. The dining cars on the Panama Limited were staffed by New Orleans chefs, and were essentially moving French Quarter restaurants.This photo, from the late 1940s, shows two Illinois Central "F" diesel units (the front engine is an "A" unit, and behind it is a "B" unit) pulling the Panama Limited over the train bridge that roughly parallels modern-day I-55 over the eastern edge of Lake Pontchartrain, crossing Pass Manchac.
Amtrak continued the Panama Limited for three years after taking over IC passenger operations in 1971. The train was consolidated into the City of New Orleans in 1974.
Posted by YatPundit at 8:28 PM | TrackBack
January 9, 2008
Streetcars, Regulations, and Carnival
After the very-successful ride of the Phunny Phorty Phellows on Monday night, a number of folks in Mid City wondered aloud (and on line) why this couldn't become a regular event, where the PPP start by City Park and end up somewhere Uptown. The short answer has three letters:
ADA
That's the Americans with Disabilities Act. The ADA has opened many, many doors to disabled folks that would never have been accessible to them without direct legislative help. It's complicated our streetcar lines a bit, though. Here's how it works:
St. Charles - The St. Charles line, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The strict interpretation of this designation is that the line must be preserved in the state it was when it was listed, in 1971. That means the route is from Carondelet and Canal Streets to S. Carrollton and S. Claiborne Avenues. The 35 900-series Perley A. Thomas streetcars that were operating in 1971 have been preserved and continue to operate on the line. NORTA (and NOPSI before them) is charged with making sure the line and the streetcars stay in good shape and operating.
ADA mandates that public transit be handicap-accessible, but this conflicts with the basic design of the 900s. They were built in 1923-1924, and wheelchair access wasn't an issue then. NORTA just can't cut holes in the sides of these vintage streetcars, so the line is exempt from the requirements of ADA.
Riverfront - The original Riverfront line opened in 1988, prior to ADA. It used three 900-series streetcars rescued from other places in the country after the Canal line was converted to bus operations in 1964. The line also used two Melbourne W2 cars that have center-opening doors. The stops on Riverfront are raised platforms, so a rider in a wheelchair could go up the ramp and board one of the Melbourne cars. When the line was re-worked in 1997, it was expanded to double-track and converted from standard (railroad) gauge to wide gauge. The changes were so significant that the line came under the ADA microscope. ADA activists were not satisfied with every other streetcar on the line being handicapped-accessible and insisted that all cars be in compliance. That meant the vintage 900s could not be used. NORTA decided to design a new class of arch roof streetcars. The 400-series Riverfront streetcars look very much like their green cousins, but they're equipped with wheelchair lifts.
Canal - The 2000-series Von Dullen cars also have wheelchair lifts on both sides, making them fully ADA-compliant.
The storm disrupted regular streetcar operations. Because of the severe damage to the ADA-compliant streetcars in the NORTA fleet, there's just no way to offer proper service until the 400s and 2000s are rebuilt. ADA isn't the only thing in suspended animation at the moment. Since the wiring and track on St. Charles were damaged by the storm, the 900s couldn't return to service on the historic line immediately. NORTA received approval to run the 900s on the Canal line, where the infrastructure was essentially intact in spite of the flooding in Mid City. So, for the last two years, the streetcars have been operating in an environment of regulartory anarchy.
NORTA anticipates that the the Von Dullens will be back on Canal this summer. When that happens, the regulatory limbo that currently exists goes away and the pre-storm rules have to return. That means green streetcars on St. Charles, red ones everywhere else. Last Monday's PPP ride can't happen under the pre-storm rules. Under those rules, the 900s that the PPP boarded at Beauregard Circle can't operate on "revenue runs" off the St. Charles line. They're not ADA-compliant, and the Canal line must maintain that compliance.
The 400-series Riverfront cars have wheelchair lifts, so they can operate on revenue runs on Canal. When they get to Carondelet and St. Charles, however, they run into a problem. The 400s didn't operate on the St. Charles line in 1971, so they're not on the NRHP list. If NORTA operates a 400 on St. Charles for money, the line would lose its ADA exemption. That would create a situation similar to what happened on Riverfront, and the 35 vintage 900s would no longer be able to operate on the line.
So, even though there now are track and electrical connections between the three streetcar lines, that connection between Canal and St. Charles exists solely for the purpose of streetcar maintenance. Once the Von Dullens return home to Canal Street, the 900s will go back to their barn on Willow St. The red cars will be able to switch onto St. Charles to return back to the shop at Carrollton Station, but they can't do it for a buck
.I have a modest proposal for the people of Mid City: If the Phunny Phorty Phellows decide to return to their traditional Uptown ride next year on Twelfth Night, charter a 400-series car and have one of your own! My guess is that the PPP will consider imitation to be the sincerest form of flattery. They're folks who like streetcars and like Mid City. Even if the party run was just from Beauregard Circle to the Canal barn, it would return some of the "neighborhood" feel of Carnival back to the area. The days of true "neighborhood" parades are long gone, as NOPD and City Hall have jammed almost every krewe into Uptown routes. Endymion still gets a pass on this, but Endymion is so huge that it has a life of its own. A Twelfth Night streetcar run on Carrollton and Canal would be something fun for everyone in Mid City, and we at CanalStreetCar (dot com) would gladly work with y'all to make it happen.
Posted by YatPundit at 9:36 AM | TrackBack
Feature Photo - King Cakes and Streetcars!
Every year, Haydel's Bakery on Jefferson Highway includes a special figurine with their king cakes. This is their rendition of a Perley A. Thomas streetcar, decked out for the ride of the Phunny Phorty Phellows. The original PPP would ride through the streets on Twelfth Night, announcing the start of the Carnival season. The tradition was brought back in the 1980s by a re-formed PPP. Instead of riding on horses, the modern PPP charter a couple of streetcars, ride, and party. NORTA rules don't allow alcohol on party cars anymore, but the PPP riders get their liquid fun in after the ride.
This year's ride of the PPP was the first since the storm, and the route was very unique. Starting at Beauregard Circle in Mid City, the PPP rode the Canal line down N. Carrollton, turned on Canal, going down to St. Charles. They switched to the St. Charles line, riding up to Napoleon, where the streetcars changed direction and returned back to Pierre Gustave Toutant's statue. Odds are, this won't ever happen again. By next Twelfth Night, the Von Dullens should be back in service on Canal and the 900s will return to operating exclusively on St. Charles. When that happens, a huge invisible barrier that is historic preservation will go up at Canal between Carondelet and St. Charles as the 900s return to operating exclusively uptown.
Don't get the impression that the PPP are a bunch of elitists who ride around on streetcars. They're a nice group of folks who take New Orleans seriously. Besides, anybody can charter a party car, for birthdays and other outings.
Of course, Twelfth Night isn't only about streetcars. It's King's Day, the Feast of the Epiphany. That means King Cakes. Every New Orleanian has their own favorite bakery and king cake. Haydel's is one of the biggest names in the ing cake business. The original "baby" in the king cake was porcelain, but the bakeries switched to plastic in the 1960s. About twenty years ago, Haydel's included a porcelain "Baby Charlotte" doll in their cakes, commerating the old way it was done. That doll was so popular that it's blossomed into a whole line of porcelain Mardi Gras characters that have included Rex's float, Pete Fountain, the St. Augustine band, and a carnival-decorated FEMA trailer. This year's figure is a coffee-and-beignets waiter like you'd see at CDM or MC, in white jacket and black bow tie.
Posted by YatPundit at 8:37 AM | TrackBack
January 3, 2008
Train Thursday: Florida Avenue Bridge
The Florida Avenue bridge over the Industrial Canal, 1942. The bridge served two purposes at this time, to allow the Southern Railway tracks to cross the canal, and to link the neighborhoods of Gentilly (west of the canal) and Seabrook (east of the canal).
The construction of the high-rise Seabrook Bridge next to the Florida Avenue bridge in the 1950s made the latter a train-only bridge. Now, the train bridge stays up, allowing marine traffic to move unobstructed most of the day. The drawbridge lowers when a train approaches.
Posted by YatPundit at 6:03 PM | TrackBack
January 2, 2008
Feature Photo: But You Should See The Other Guy!
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When driving an automobile in New Orleans, the last thing you want to do is get in a wreck with one of our streetcars. You're going to lose. There's no ifs, ands or buts about that, you're going to lose. This is a shot of 910 at Carrollton Station, being repaired after being involved in an accident. The front bumper has been removed to be rebuilt.
The most common auto-versus-streetcar accident that happens is when a driver doesn't look behind them when turning into the neutral ground. It's not something we do in other parts of town, because you don't expect something to come at you from the middle of the neutral ground on, say, Elysian Fields or Napoleon Avenues. Thing is, on Canal Street and St. Charles Ave., that's exactly what might happen. NORTA put out reminder signs weeks ahead of the return of the St. Charles line, to remind uptown drivers that their streetcars are back and to look out for them.
I've never thought about the legal morass that a streetcar accident must be until just now. I've actually been on a NOPSI bus that was involved in a minor traffic accident, and even that was a paperwork nightmare for the bus driver. In the case of streetcar-versus-auto accidents, the odds are more likely that the auto driver is going to be at fault and will be cited. I don't know if lthe average auto insurance policy can even begin to cover the damage one of these wrecks can cause to a streetcar. And we're not even talking about the damage to the auto yet. When there's enough damage to a streetcar that it's got to go back to the shop, you should see the other guy! We don't have a good photo of a modern accident (if anyone's got one, please share it with us), but one of my favorite photos from my book, which ran as a Feature Photo here in 2004, is "Never Argue With A Streetcar," from 1914.
Happy New Year to everyone!