Hard times in the Big Easy

Where is everyone? The streets are all dry, the sun is out, restaurants are open, and hotels are reopening day by day. But there are no tourists, and New Orleans is lonely.

The fabled French Quarter was hardly touched by the hurricanes -- aside from the wind knocking out a few windows, and it was without electricity for three weeks.

Good old Bourbon Street is as lively as ever, with jazz and Dixieland music spilling out of every bar and courtyard. But as a I roamed around, I noticed the smiles offered by the guys leaning out of the doors. It dawned on me that they were all FEMA workers, insurance people and off-duty National Guard troops. No wonder I got such welcoming smiles -- come on back tourists, you’re needed to fill out the equation.

After a day or so, staying at my adorable bed and breakfast, I felt at home. People would stop and chat, and everyone had a tale to tell, each more harrowing than the next. I discovered that many police officers were being housed on Carnival Cruise line boats Ecstasy and Sensation, docked on the Mississippi near Jackson Square, as most of them lost their homes. Nevertheless, a feeling of energy and hopefulness was in the air. “We’ll get it done” was the motto on the lips of the displaced.

On Sunday, I downed a remarkable breakfast at Stanley’s on Decatur, which had been the first restaurant to open. Twelve tables and a great bar with a glass frontage that gave it a bright and cheery feeling. The whole family was running the place and our breakfast included enormous blueberry pancakes with globs of vanilla ice cream and raspberry syrup. The chatter never abated, as new people wandered in, they too added opinions. Some were guards, some FEMA, many were locals who had just returned. All had stories and all were optimistic about New Orleans’ chances for survival.

I had the chance to meet Mayor Ray Nagin and he’s very upbeat and wants visitors to return soon.

Hotels and restaurants are reopening each day.

Dickie Brennan had just reopened Bourbon House restaurant and as I ate a succulent soft-shell crab Po Boy sandwich and a traditional New Orleans bread pudding, the wait staff came over one by one to tell me their sagas. Most had lost homes and many were living upstairs in the restaurant’s banquet rooms, but all were eager to rebuild their beloved city.

I encountered mostly optimistic people and when Café Du Monde opened to great fanfare on Oct. 19, every network covered it. I was thrilled. Missing my beignet and Café au Lait each morning had been tough.

The Roman family has owned this coffee house in the Quarter for more than 160 years and has never closed except on Christmas, so their forced closure was traumatic to everyone in the city.

I hit Bacco’s one night for dinner, where President Bush ate while in town, and found the food to be a perfect blend of Creole and Cajun. It was jammed with diners. The Brennans own this one too, and it is another winner.

These eateries are all in the French Quarter, but the Garden District has reopened as well. One afternoon as I wandered the Quarter, snooping around, another old favorite reopened right in front of me. Pierre Maspero’s on Royal, which first opened in 1788, was serving again.Now for the flip side of the plight of New Orleans. As a tourist, you won’t even see the devastation in the 9th Ward, St. Bernard’s Parish and other eastern areas, but walk through each damaged neighborhood, and you’ll be stunned. Facades that look like whole houses have no insides. Tons of debris wait on curbs for trash pickup. In one neighborhood, a boat had been blown onto a roof.

A few owners had the humor left to put exhibits in front of their demolished homes with signs saying what they thought of Katrina. We’re talking thousands of lost homes and businesses that will take years to rebuild, so that is one reason tourism is so badly needed.

I was also very impressed with the relief efforts that were going on. Second Harvest Food Bank was distributing food, water and hot meals at enormous parking lot centers. Huge tents sheltered the homeless while they downed a hot meal or picked up food and other supplies.

At one distribution center, I met young workers from all over the country. Sondra Haley from Seal Beach, working with Mariner’s Church in Irvine, and Evan D’Angeles from Long Beach, working with Rock Harbor Church in Costa Mesa.

Our Second Harvest Food Bank here in Orange, has sent three truckloads -- 180,000 pounds -- of product to New Orleans so far and is readying more. It has coordinated food drives at 221 sites and is asking for help.

Call Director Joe Schoeningh for more information at (714) 771-1343 or visit www.secondharvest.org.

New Orleans is in need of a lot more help, so a donation to the Red cross or to Second Harvest Food Bank is greatly needed.

But what is needed just as badly is tourism. Mardi Gras will be happening next year, cruise ships will be sailing here by March, and they are waiting for you.

* PAT NEISSER is a resident of Newport Beach.

The French Quarter is the favorite tourist spot in New Orleans.20051027iozxcckn(LA)New Orleans is famous for it cemeteries with above-ground tombs.20051027iozxbykn(LA)New Orleans is famous for it cemeteries with above-ground tombs.