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IN THIS ISSUE
Did you
miss the last issue? It's available on the
website.
1.
From the Editor
2. Streetcar Update
3. Feature Photo
4. A Taste of Canal...
5. Did You Know?
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From the
Editor...
Back once again! As much as
I was committed to keeping this newsletter going,
it's tough with the schedule I've been on since the
storm. As most of you know, I do
computer training and consulting. Most of the
work I do involves traveling to other cities. Being
away from home 2-3 weeks a month makes it difficult
to get good photos up on the site regularly. I
won't be traveling as much form now to Christmas, so I'm going
to try to get into a decent production routine
for the newsletter.
YatWiki:
One of the projects I'm working on for a client involves
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developing a "Wiki." When I have
a project like this, I like to have a similar site up that can
function as a bit of a test for client site. To that
end, I've started "YatWiki." Using the
same software that runs Wikipedia (Mediawiki), I'm
consolidating a lot of stuff from CanalStreetcar (dot com),
CitiesOfTheDead (dot net), YatPundit, and Virtually New
Orleans into a single location. The streetcar stuff is
first.
I'm hoping that others will take an interest in
YatWiki and contribute to it. I want this to be a
community effort, so feel free to join
in.
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Streetcar
Update
St. Charles: Ya
know, when I write this newsletter, I usually take a copy of
an earlier issue, do a "save as," and then edit things for the
new issue. I picked an issue from February to edit this
week, and it included a note about how the St. Charles line is
still running no further than Lee Circle. It's a bit
depressing to report that the line is still only operational
to this point. NORTA says they'll be opening the line to
Jackson, possibly Napoleon in the "Fall of 2007." Given
that the first day of Fall is coming up in two weeks, who
knows exactly whether they're talking about now, or at the end
of the season in December. Driving and walking along St.
Charles Avenue, though, one can see progress on the repairs,
and that's very
encouraging.
Canal
: The venerable 900-series Perley A. Thomas cars are rolling along
as they have been since repairs to the line were completed after
the storm. The Green Ladies operate on the full Canal route,
from the Cemeteries terminal to the French Market terminal.
One in four streetcars heading outbound
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spins off up the Carrollton Spur to the
Beauregard Terminal at City Park.
The
2000-series Von Dullen and 400-series Riverfront cars are in
the process of being re-built. This is a slow process,
mainly because funding is an issue. The cash to rebuild
the Von Dullens is coming from FEMA, and RTA receives it in
dribs and drabs.
Buses:
The main business of NORTA is bus
operations, of course, and that's picking up.
Ridership is still only a fraction of what it was pre-storm
(appx. 500K/month as opposed to 3million). There are a
number of factors here, most significantly the decrease in
population in the city itself. It's a bit of a
chicken-and-egg situation, though, between the current bus
fleet and the ridership. RTA has received several grants
from FEMA to purchase new buses, but they won't be here until
after the new year.
There's a lot more
going on transit-wise in New Orleans, and we'll be keeping you posted
on developments in upcoming issues.
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Feature Photo of the Week - 900s on N. Carrollton
clicky photo for larger version
Perley A. Thomas streetcar 969 heading inbound on N. Carrollton Avenue.
Prior to the return of the Canal line in 2004, streetcars had never run on N. Carrollton Avenue. The Canal Belt line ran along City Park Avenue to Wisner, then across Bayou St. John to Esplanade Avenue, and the Esplanade Belt line ran in the opposite direction. The City Park line made its way through the neighborhood to City Park Avenue, N. Carrollton Avenue itself never had streetcar trackage.
The idea of the Carrollton Spur was to entice visitors who stay downtown to venture into Mid-City. Attractions such as City Park, the New Orleans Museum of Art, as well as a number of neat restaurants and interesting pubs await those who want a break from Da Quarters.
Since the storm put the Von Dullen cars out of commission, the 900s have been pressed into service once again outside of Uptown. Seeing the Green Ladies in Mid-City is a treat for the streetcar fan, since almost every photo of these streetcars in the neighborhood from the 1940s and 1950s is in black-and-white.
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A Taste of Canal - Bayou Coffee House and Cafe'
My little guy is now in 8th grade at Brother Martin High School, my alma mater (as well as his older brother's) in Gentilly. I'm doing the morning carpool duties for him and one of his friends from down the street. After I drop them off at school, I've been stopping in Faubourg St. John or Mid-City for coffee and to do some work. One of the wonderful things about wireless networking is that I'm not bound to my desk. So, we're going to have a bit of "Coffee Talk" here for the next few weeks, starting with Bayou Coffee House and Cafe.
Located at 326 N. Jeff Davis Pkwy in Mid-City, Bayou is a neat little house converted into a cafe. It's very unimposing from the front, but don't let that fool you; there's lots of space inside, and an absolutely gorgeous deck in the back.
I've stopped at Bayou several times since school has started back, but I decided to actually eat breakfast there last Friday. I ordered the #1 breakfast, two eggs, bacon, grits, toast, and a cup of coffee. When the gal gave me back my change, I had to look twice--all that was four bucks plus tax, for a whopping outlay of $4.36! Yup, it's their Monday-Friday breakfast special.
And it was pretty good. The eggs (over easy, please, were cooked just right, and the bacon was nice and crunchy. The grits were a bit thin, but not terribly so, and the wheat toast was just fine. The coffee was your basic coffee-and-chicory, which needs no introduction or accolades. It's simply wonderful.
The atmosphere of the place is very community-oriented. Mid-City is working hard to come back after the storm. While it didn't suffer the total devastation of Lakeview and Da Ninth, parts of Mid-City got 4'-5' of water. City services have been sluggish to return, but the people in the area are busting their butts to bring the neighborhood back. You get that sense of community at Bayou, as people recognize each other, stop and chat for a while, then go on about their day.
One of the neatest aspects of Bayou is the building itself. It's a house built on pilings rather than a slab foundation, so the floor creaks and vibrates like all raised houses do. It's a total contrast to a slab-foundation place with antiseptic acoustics.
Come out and support Mid-City businesses, Bayou Coffee House would be a great start!
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Did
You Know?
Streetcar operations on the Carrollton Spur are known
as "in-street" operations, in contrast to the "neutral ground"
operation found on most of the Canal and St. Charles lines. While
in-street operations are less expensive (it's
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easier to
lay track in the roadway than the neutral ground), RTA prefers
to operate their streetcars outside of regular traffic lanes. The reasoning for
this is fairly obvous--the streetcar operators don't have to share their right-of-way with
automobiles, which improves safety overall. |
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