TUESDAY TRAVEL Jiving down Bourbon Street—party all night in New Orleans

Press, 30 September 1986, Page 11

TUESDAY TRAVEL Jiving down Bourbon Street —party all night in New Orleans

‘The Press’on the move

From

SUSAN KUROSAWA

THERE WE WERE, decked out in winged masks and feathered headgear, neon-bright Tshirts and trinkets, looking for all the world like a jumble sale on heat. We were jiving down Bourbon Street, clutching paper cups brimming with mint juleps, tripping over breakdancers and jostling with black dudes dressed in pink tutuus. It was cold and crowded and even our toenails ached but, what the hell, it was 5 o’clock on a Tuesday morning and the mardi gras had come to town. As we threaded our way across Canal Street toward our hotel, an elderly couple blew party streamers in our faces. She was trussed up in a pink pussycat costume and he was dressed as Herman Munster. “We do this every year,” she purred, “don’t y’all just 1-o-v-e mardi gras?” Yep, we did just love it, every funky, noisy, sweaty second of it. But most of all we loved New Orleans. That sassy southern town jumps and jives with such spirit and style that even the most blase of visitors gets caught up in the pace of the place. There is real food, real jazz music and real get-on-down action. If the whole of the U.S. is one big, bland hamburger, man, then New Orleans is the chilli sauce on the side.

The heart of the city is the French Quarter, the quaint and colourful area where New Orleans was born in 1718. The Quarter is vigorously protected by a special commission that makes darned sure the distinctive character of the city’s most important cultural asset is faithfully preserved. You cannot paint your balcony railing or hang your mardi gras tutuu out to dry without the express permission of the authorities.

The Quarter is home to Bourbon and Basin Streets. The names slip off the tongue like the mellow notes of an old jazz number. The narrow streets and alleyways ripple with little curio shops, strip clubs, honky tonks, drinking spots, cosy pubs and quaint cafes. Physically the Quarter resembles an archetypal old French town with some Spanish colonial trimmings. The rooftops connect like Parisian apartment buildings, baskets of greenery spill over weathered wroughtiron balconies and faces of old-timers peep out from dormer windows.

A day in the Quarter traditionally begins at the Cafe du Monde, an openair eating place located between the steps leading across to the Mississippi

levee wall and Jackson Square.

Breakfast consists of cafe ay lait spiked with chicory and a couple of beignets, which are square buns dipped in powered sugar. The best way to explain it is to imagine a doughnot without the hole; connoisseur!, claim that if the beignets are eaten when more than 10 minutes old, you digestion will suffer. Cafe du Monde is open 24 hours, so you can end the day there as well. From the cafe, take a stroll across to Jackson Square, where the gracious St Louis Cathedral dominates the scene, buskers strut their stuff and sidewalk portrait painters do an enviable trade.

Close by is the French Market, where trade began with the Indians almost 300 years ago. These days, it is a fascinating mix of shops, eateries and food stalls, and is one of the best spots in New Orleans for picking up inexpensive souvenirs nnd locally-made crafts. Spend some time wandering along Royal Street, where the streetcar named Desire ran last century and where the city’s best antique shops are now located. Then it will be time for brunch, that time-hon-oured institution introduced by the French settlers in the days when everyone had time to languish under the magnolia blossoms sipping mint juleps. Brennan’s is the best place in the Quarter for brunch: oyster soup, eggs benedict, bananas flamed in rum, chicory coffee and a few’bloody marys on the side. - No one bothers about lunch in New Orleans.

In the afternoon, there is always time to dally by the Mississippi. Paddlesteamers churn along carrying sightseers on short river cruises to the bayous. Their calliopes play jazz and one cannot help imagining the lusty days when the riverboats reigned supreme on OF Man River and footloose gamblers roamed the streets of New Orleans. A wise traveller will carry a copy of “Huckleberry Finn” to read at a time like this.

The torpor of the old South takes over in the late afternoon. It’s time to take a nap and revive yourself for the long night ahead. One should always put up at a hotel either in the Quarter or just on the outskirts.

We stayed at The Fairmont, a genteel old establishment within bopping distance of all the action. This hotel is the home of the famous Blue Room jazz supper club; we caught the Billy Eckstine

show during our story and there’s a regular roll-up of top-line performers. By night, you eat and then dance or listen to jazz. There are hundreds of inexpensive eateries where you can enjoy a bowl of steaming gumbo soup and a few cold Dixie beers, and there are many top-line restaurants such as Arnaud’s or Antoine’s. The latter is reputed to be the oldest restaurant in America and birthplace of oysters Rockefeller.

If you do not mind queuing for a feed and you have adventurous taste buds, be sure to try K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in Chartres Street. The restaurateur, Paul Prudhomme, is a large, convivial host who is, indeed, almost as large has his totally unique restaurant. The tiny store front eating place has formica tables, paper napkins and sassy waitresses, and as you cannot make a booking, people queue up for hours to get in. Prudhomme’s cooking is backwoods Cajun style and he is acclaimed by food critics in the U.S. as one of the most innovative and fearless chefs in the country. Be prepared for Cajun popcorn (fried crawfish tails), rabbit and andouille sausage jambalaya, and eggplant with crawfish and cream. Prudhomme’s cooking will knock your socks off. After dinner, the boogie men come out. In bars, restaurants, supper clubs and hotel cabarets, on street corners and at Preservation Hall, the city’s musicians carry on a musical tradition that was born in New Orleans. Don’t miss a few sets at Preservation Hall. This dingy room on St Peter Street (off Bourbon) opens at 8.30 each evening and is home to New Orleans’ veteran jazz players. Admission is $2, you stand shoulder to shoulder or squat on the dusty floor and you are soon transported by the soulful and spiritual music. Jazz L.P.s are sold here, and they are considerably cheaper than elsewhere in the city.

Bourbon Street is closed to traffic at night, and this is where you buy a “go cup” of takeaway mint

julep, absinthe frappe, whatever, and get on down and get funky. “If you ain’t gonna shake it, what did y’all bring it for?" call out the street buskers. Bourbon Street, man, is where you learn to s-a-s-h-a-y. On every street corner, groups of young blacks park their ghetto-blasters and hoe into their rap and breakdancing routines. Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long” was the flavour of the minute when we were checking out Bourbon Street and we decided it was the perfect tune to sum up the mood of the French Quarter’s endless nights.

Mardi gras is usually held on a Tuesday in February. That Tuesday represents the peak of the carnival celebrations, and parades, costume contests and parties are the order of the day. Just about everyone strolling through the French Quarter is masked and costumed or has had their faces elaborately painted by streetside artists.

We were there for the 1984 festival and we revelled in the madcap mood of the place. The Tuesday was the main parade day and crazily decorated floats meandered along the offical routes from dawn to dusk. Dubloons, decorated coconuts, cheap trinkets and multi-coloured beads were thrown out to the crowds from the floats, and there was a constant scramble to grap handfuls of mardi gras mementoes.

After nightfull, the thronging crowds danced down Bourbon and Royal Streets engaging in spirited interplay with the people overhanging the lacework balconies. The occasional streaker or flash of bare breast is all part of the frenzy of mardi gras.

It’s absolutely essential to book accommodation ahead if you plan to be in New Orleans for the mardi gras (and that includes the two weeks leading up to the actual parade day).