Marigny

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New Rouse’s Sign on the Sewell Cadillac Chevrolet Building at Baronne and Girod

After a long morning of reading and writing I took the bike down to the Marigny to meet D. for a study date at her regular cafe. It was sunny and cloudless and hot, and by the time I made it downtown, my eyes were stinging with sweat. How do I keep my eyes clear, folks? Do I need to wear a sweatband under my helmet? Sigh. Anyway, I rode back Uptown for a meeting and passed this sign for the new Rouse’s that’s going in where the Sewell Cadillac Chevrolet dealership used to be, on Baronne and Girod. Continue reading →

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Terrible Asphalt at Magazine and Julia

You know I love riding my bike around New Orleans. It’s flat as a pancake here and the weather is always perfect for a ride, assuming you don’t mind thunderstorms and 100+ heat indices, which I don’t. But our streets are, in many places, spectacularly awful. We have some repaving projects, some even including facilities for bikes–Chartres, St. Claude, Gentilly, upper St. Charles, La Salle/Simon Bolivar, Loyola–but most streets are a mess of exposed streetcar tracks, potholes, loose gravel, ridges, and all various and sundry temporary patches. Continue reading →

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Fences and Facades at Baronne and Jackson

It has been so stormy lately, and my legs have been feeling it. It’s completely flat here, so that means I’m used to spinning easily in a high gear (or a low gear–I wonder how long I’ll be riding a bike before I figure out which is which…and whether I’m nearsighted or farsighted). It also means I’m sore after a few days of pedaling into strong headwinds. But tonight it was just perfect out there. Perfect. Continue reading →

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Jasmine On a Brick Wall at Governor Nicholls and Chartres

Oh, it’s muggy out there–the kind of muggy that means my glasses fog up when I step out of air conditioned buildings, or even when I’m just breathing a little hard from pedaling fast. I headed out on the Surly to check out Jazz Fest crowds and also to get away from news coverage of the river of oil gushing in the Gulf. Continue reading →

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French Quarter Skyline from Barracks and Burgundy

Oh, it was another beautiful day in New Orleans! So why was I so grumpy? It was the last day of my introductory course up at school, and even though I love school’s-out-for-summer as much as the next one, I get a little sad to see each group go. After a nice lunch and a ride home for some pleasure reading, I headed back out on the bike to meet J. at the gym. Continue reading →

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Old Ed. Smith’s Stencil Works on Camp Street Near Gravier

I was much looking forward to a bike ride around the Bunny Friend neighborhood with S. today, but the weather was menacing and we decided to postpone that particular ride. Of course the weather held, so after a lovely cup of coffee I rode my bike down to the Marigny to see if anything was afoot. Continue reading →

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Extras Restaging a Parade at Chartres and Kerlerec

Yes, Mardi Gras is over, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a parade today. Can I just say I’m totally over parades right now? But this was a recreation of the Krewe du Vieux parade in 2006, right after Katrina and the broken levees, and they were paying me $100 to pretend to not be over parades, so I hopped on the bike and headed down to Washington Square Park to hurry up and wait. Continue reading →

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Blight and New Construction on Piety Near N. Galvez

I cannot begin to express what a perfectly beautiful day it was in New Orleans–crystal clear skies, mid-70s, I was riding the Surly around in a flipping sundress. In January. This is more like it, people. I headed out for one of those rides with no destination. Continue reading →

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Adjusting the Lighting For a Movie on Frenchman Street

I have a cold, which sucks, especially when it’s cold out. I couldn’t really breathe through the sinus pressure yesterday, so I decided to just rest. But today I wanted to get back on the bike, so I hopped on Rhoda and rode down to the CBD to complete a car-related errand and then to the Marigny for coffee and reading-for-pleasure. Continue reading →

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Beignet Debris at Cafe du Monde

I’m not usually a big fan of New Year’s Eve. It’s too much mandatory drinking and fun and dancing, and I like to be in charge of those things myself, no matter what the calendar says. But I headed out on my bike this evening, hell-bent on making a go of it this year. And man, did I have a good time. Continue reading →