Southern Decadence does Decatur

While we had no “official” events listed on any of the “official” Southern Decadence sites, there were plenty of attendees roaming about the Lower Decatur neighborhood this weekend.

Rebirth on Decatur
Police escort service?
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Passing the U.S. Mint
Passing the U.S. Mint

These guys were seen on thier way to the real official parade Sunday. They headed the whole sheebang up with their wonderful banner that sports this years theme, “Rebitrh”, in giant faux ceramic street tiles. Some folks say they were lost, but I’d like to believe that they wanted to show the LD some love.

For Harry Anderson, the New Orleans Magic Is Gone

There’s an interesting interview with Harry Anderson in the New York Times. He lets you look behind the curtain to see his reasons for leaving New Orleans, and on his future in Asheville,NC.

Good luck Harry and Elizibeth, we’ll miss you.
Read the article at the New York Times.

UPDATE: It has come to our attention that you need to register to read the article. BugMeNot.com has a large database of working login/passwords for annoying sites like this.

Got WiFi? Lower Decatur Street does.

While putting the together the interactive map for the site it came to my attention that there are a whole bunch of intentionally open wireless access points. I’d be willing to bet that there are more here in these few blocks than any other part of the city. So, somebody has to say it.

“Lower Decatur Street is New Orleans’ WiFi Hotspot!”

Here’s the current list:

  • Cafe Envie – 1241 Decatur Street
  • Coop’s Place – 1109 Decatur Street
  • J.C. Grocery Deli – 65 French Market Place
  • Mojo Lounge & Cafe – 1140 Decatur Street
  • Turtle Bay – 1119 Decatur Street
  • Whirling Dervish – 1135 Decatur Street

Most of the access points listed are usable in neighboring establishments.

Happy Surfing.

UPDATE: Added the Whirling Dervish to the list. Thanks, Cian

UPDATE: Removed Sarafina’s  (This should get moved to a page, instead of being in a post, so it’s always on the sidebar)

Site updates happen.

Ok people, while there haven’t been many posts lately, the site has been getting some TLC. Most of it is behind the scenes stuff that I’d like to share with you now.

  • Header images now use the rotator script to display a random image with each page. There are several new header images to rotate. Photo submissions are welcome.
  • We have a fancy new favorites/shortcut icon the Lower Decatur favorite icon. It’s from a photo of the Decatur Street sign.
  • Smart Update pinger plugin installed, so only new articles will ping the blogosphere.
  • There is a fancy Google Map embedded in an iframe using the EzStatic plugin. WiFi, Streetcar stops, and nearby Points of Interest are listed.
  • Mobile users can get their fix here via the WordPress Mobile plugin.
  • Fixed a bug with PHP5 and the wp-cache plugin. Pages should load much faster.
  • Edited some templates so that the author’s name is shown. More authors coming soon.
  • Installed and configured the wpPHPMailer plugin, so that people actually get the password when they register. Our webhost has disabled the php mail() function so this is a good plugin.
  • Uploaded the Obfuscate E-mail plugin, which makes it almost impossible for bots to grab our email addresses and leaves them human readable and with working mailto: links.
  • There is a shiny new “Contact Us” page with scrambled email addresses.
  • Added the FeedBurner plugin so that nifty RSS feed stats are generated. Loving the stats.

French Market renovations underway.

The $5 Million dollar renovation of the French Market began this past weekend. The usually bustling Farmer’s Market, was bare Friday. Giant dumpsters were delivered, and two small Bobcats were dropped off later in the evening. The project should take 8-10 months to complete, and will be done in phases, with the Farmer’s Market being the first phase.

The Project for Public Spaces was hired in 2004 to redesign the Markets space to physically renovate and remerchandise the market as a local institution. The goal of the project was to make the market more useful for local residents, not just tourists. Plans for the Farmers Market are geared toward incorporating local foods and producers back into the market by providing them with a specific place to sell their goods. Other plans focused on re-designing lighting, storage, and points of entry.

Bare Farmer's Market

Look Ma! No gator on a stick!

Read more at the Times-Picayune

Local mask makers featured on Weather Channel's Storm Stories

Conway Horn and Jim Lewis, two local artisans who run their business N.O. Nomadness Masks in the Artist’s Market, were recently featured on the Weather Channel. The segment called “Storm Stories – N.O. Tourism” talks about the state of New Orleans tourism since Katrina. It features Jim and Conway’s shop, and one of their latest creations named “Phoenix” inspired by the city’s eventual rebirth.

Conway and Jim in the Artists Market

Conway and Jim

Weather Channel Storm Stories

Hard at work on the Weather Channel

The Artist’s Market located at 85 French Market Place and 1228 Decatur Street is open 10am-5pm weekdays and 10am-6pm on weekends.

View Storm Stories at Weather.com
Download Storm Stories from LowerDecatur.com