| September 4th, 2005 04:55 PM |
|
|
| LadyJane |
NEW ORLEANS, United States (AFP) - The bars of the Big Easy prided themselves on staying open come rain or shine but only one kept serving through the Hurricane Katrina crisis.
"We don't have any locks on the door," said Julie Sprinkel, a server at Johnny White's Sports Bar on the normally raucous Bourbon Street.
Pitch dark but for a few candles, the laughter could be heard along the street, famed for its alcohol-fueled debauchery, which on a normal night would have been flooded with hordes of hedonists decked out in cheap Mardi Gras beads.
The warm beer did not bother the regulars who have stayed faithful since Hurricane Katrina hit the city on Monday which was followed by flooding, looting and widespread pillaging.
Bourbon Street largely escaped the floods that hit after New Orleans levees were breached. And in the first days, a few stranded tourists also wandered in to sample the warm beer that became the drink of the day after the power went off and the refrigerators stopped working.
"Whatcha need, darling, you're all right?" the gruff bartender called out to a sweaty customer as he squeezed into her line of sight.
"Something cool, like bourbon," he answered.
Johnny White's has been an island of normalcy in a city shattered by hurricane anarchy and the stench of death.
The tiny joint sits squarely on the corner of Bourbon and Orleans where alcoholics and derelicts mix with a steady stream of yuppies and tourists who play at slumming it.
The doors are wide open.
Nearly a week after the disaster there are not many people walking by to notice. Those that do have stories to tell.
Lisa Smith, 41, is slumped on a bar stool, nursing a rum and coke -- and a huge gash on her side.
"I was floating on a couch drinking Budweiser," she told a friend who walked in as she began to tell the tale of how she escaped the floodwaters and made it back to her home away from home in the French Quarter.
Smith's story was interrupted by cheers which broke out when a man walked in with a cooler of ice.
"Don't get too excited, I'm hoarding this for myself," Sprinkel joked as she lit another cigarette and leaned on a stool behind the bar.
Sprinkel's only reason for keeping the bar open was habit. She definitely did not seem to be doing it for the money. She was only charging four dollars for mixed drinks and two dollars for beer.
"I could be making 1,000 dollars in six hours easy," she said. "It's not right. I'm not going to gouge. Everybody here is local."
It's the spirit of the French Quarter, Smith explained.
"We'll stop partying in a couple of days because everyone will run out of money."
___________________________________________________________
I admire their spirit!!! Glad to read the French Quarter was somewhat spared.
LJ. |
| September 4th, 2005 10:27 PM |
|
|
| Bloozehound |
crazy shit
I read another article today that mentioned this, all this dishevel we're seeing on the tv, and its business as usual at johnny whites
amazing
I've put quite a few back in johnny whites in my day
|
| September 4th, 2005 10:30 PM |
|
|
| glencar |
I've read some odd theories that the levee that protects Bourbon Street was saved whilst the ones for the poor sections of the city were not protected. Anyway, it's a nice story. When we had that big blackout in the northeast 2 years ago, I headed out to Long Beach & drank at a bar that used candles. They ahd some way of keeping the beer cold. I got really tanked. |
| September 4th, 2005 11:18 PM |
|
|
| kath |
yeah, i was relieved to see that the french quarter had somehow survived the storm. a little miracle from the gods of jazz...... |
| September 5th, 2005 01:51 AM |
|
|
| JesusMe |
considering the conditions, $4 for a mixed drink and $2 for a beer sound a little overpriced to me
$2 for a mixed and $1 for a beer is a better deal |
| September 5th, 2005 07:19 AM |
|
|
| gotdablouse |
Interesting read, I was thinking that some "normal" life had remained in New Orleans in spite of the horrendous pictures they fed us non stop from the Superdome and Convention center. I mean someone must have stayed behind at the museum on Jackson too. They mentioned that tourists could hire security teams too so it wasn't urban warfare all around. |
| September 5th, 2005 12:14 PM |
|
|
| FPM C10 |
There was another great story on the news Wednesday, about a guy who, like thousands of others, couldn't afford to bus his family out so decided to "ride it out" - the water eventually chased them up to the attic, where luckily he'd had the foresight to stash an axe. He chopped a hole in the ceiling and his family climbed out on the roof. Just as the house started breaking up a motorboat came bobbing down the street and bumped into his house. He got his family on board and saw, incredibly, that the keys were in it! He fired it up and rode around the neighborhood, rescuing a dozen or so stranded neighbors from certain death.
I told that story to a lady at work, a "good Christian" whose theory is that the disaster was God's will and the victims got what they deserved. She beamed as she heard the end of the story. "Now how can ANYONE say the Lord isn't watching over us?" "Um, well, Connie," I said, "there are a couple hundred thousand stories in the Gulf that don't have such a happy ending." "Well, I'm not going to second-guess God," she said. "This storm was God's will." |
| September 5th, 2005 10:16 PM |
|
|
| Bloozehound |
One of the biggest items the refugees here have been asking for are bibles |
| September 5th, 2005 10:41 PM |
|
|
| Thing One |
quote:
Bloozehound wrote:
One of the biggest items the refugees here have been asking for are bibles
The folks in Louisiana are very religious. They would probably tell FPM C10 to take his heathen attitude elsewhere. I'm not religious, but I don't go around flaming up co-workers who are. That would make me an asshole. |
| September 6th, 2005 09:03 AM |
|
|
| glencar |
LOL I like you! |
| September 6th, 2005 09:53 AM |
|
|
| Joey |
quote:
LadyJane wrote:
I admire their spirit!!! Glad to read the French Quarter was somewhat spared.
LJ.
Amen !!!!!!!
Tonight I drink to the " Bourbon Street Levee " ................................and you ?!?!
Flacky ! |
