NOLA

The Omni Royal is a great place to stay just a few blocks from Burbon St. and Jackson Sq. We used Uber from KNEW. There’s also St. Louis Cemetery No. 1 tours. Check out Nicholas Cage’s pyramid grave for that future event.
 
I used to live in New Orleans and still have family out that way.

I love the city, the food is amazing. Check out Cochon Butcher, Mulates and Killer Poboys, but honestly there are so many great restaurants that those 3 aren't even a start.

For those who were there more than 7-10 years ago, it's a lot safer than it used to be. For those who are considering going now, that does not mean it's totally safe. The city is more dangerous than many in the US.

I don't like Bourbon st, but I love Frenchmen St and Uptown.

If you have a car, Middendof's in Manchac is an hour drive, but the food is so worth it (and the swamp is gorgeous).
 
Also, get beignets at Cafe Du Monde (its tradition), but also get them from Cafe Beignet inside Jax Brewery. They make a more yeasty beignet that I prefer (vs Cafe Du Monde's cakey beignets).
 
Despite all the bad said about Nawlin's having spent four years there and marrying a girl who grew up there and still having friends there I still think it is one of th best cities to visit. It is one of those cities which people either hate or love. Very few people I have met are in the middle about it. Can it be dangerous? Certainly. Is it more dangerous than other cities? Possibly and probably. However as in any city or town for that matter if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time anything can happen. My advice is to take precautions. Do not travel alone. Make sure you are aware of your surroundings. Make sure you know where you are and where you are going and how you are getting there. Take advice from people who are familiar with the place. Research before you go. Avoid dark empty streets. Use common sense. If something seems wrong it probably is. Yes going to Nawlin`s can be risky, but so is flying. Personally I love the
city as does my girlfriend and cannot wait to go back. But then again it is one of my favorite places possibly because my 4 years there were some of the best times of my life. As for KNEW they could not be more accommodating. The flight there from KPGD was awesome.
 
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It's not just folks on the forum:
www.wsj.com

Why New Orleans Has the Highest Murder Rate in America

The city’s homicide rate is up 141% this year from the same period in 2019
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

A friend of mine that retired from the Watervliet Arsenal grew up there. Right after Katrina, he said "those idiots are going to vote him (mayor) right back in." Commenting on how he and the government pretty much just abandoned everyone. I didn't believe him, but he was right. Not a statement about any particular party, just that they are used to corruption. He didn't have any hesitation about traveling back to visit, though, after things calmed down.

As far as stats goes, we lost about 7 KIA per week in the first battle of Fallujah, only about 4 per week on average in New Orleans, and I'd bet N.O. under reports.

All that said, I do want to go sometime. Looking forward to the food and music.
 
Albany Tom said:
It's not just folks on the forum:
www.wsj.com

Why New Orleans Has the Highest Murder Rate in America

The city’s homicide rate is up 141% this year from the same period in 2019
www.wsj.com www.wsj.com

A friend of mine that retired from the Watervliet Arsenal grew up there. Right after Katrina, he said "those idiots are going to vote him (mayor) right back in." Commenting on how he and the government pretty much just abandoned everyone. I didn't believe him, but he was right. Not a statement about any particular party, just that they are used to corruption. He didn't have any hesitation about traveling back to visit, though, after things calmed down.

As far as stats goes, we lost about 7 KIA per week in the first battle of Fallujah, only about 4 per week on average in New Orleans, and I'd bet N.O. under reports.

All that said, I do want to go sometime. Looking forward to the food and music.
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Jesus, 41 murders per 100,000. I may be wrong about it getting better.
 
We go every couple months for a few nights and stay in the quarter or central business district (which is the area just across Canal St from the quarter). As already mentioned, standard urban street smarts apply and don't go off the beaten path. Royal St which is parallel and one block south of Bourbon has great shopping most of the way to Frenchman. Magazine street westward also has fun shops as you get into the Garden district. More restaurants / shops are also going into the Warehouse district.

WWII museum was about 2-3 hours on our visit.

So many great restaurants but on the higher-middle end the Pelican Club is excellent (you'll probably need a reservation). I prefer Café Beignet beignets to Café du Monde and usually less of a wait. For a slightly off Bourbon local dive bar, check out the Upper Quarter Bar.

If you gamble at all, Harrah's NOLA (Caesars family) is smoke free (as are most interior venues in the city) and massive.

Flew in for brunch at KNEW two weekends ago. Great food and amazing view of the ramp and runways. CTAF frequency on a keypad to get out of / into the flight line from the old terminal. Arriving from the north IFR expect to be uncomfortably low over Lake Pontchartrain for most of the lake. VFR you can parallel the I-10 causeway and down the lakeshore. NOLA Approach was very accommodating with flight following and Class B access.

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rangerz said:
We go every couple months for a few nights and stay in the quarter or central business district (which is the area just across Canal St from the quarter). As already mentioned, standard urban street smarts apply and don't go off the beaten path. Royal St which is parallel and one block south of Bourbon has great shopping most of the way to Frenchman. Magazine street westward also has fun shops as you get into the Garden district. More restaurants / shops are also going into the Warehouse district.

WWII museum was about 2-3 hours on our visit.

So many great restaurants but on the higher-middle end the Pelican Club is excellent (you'll probably need a reservation). I prefer Café Beignet beignets to Café du Monde and usually less of a wait. For a slightly off Bourbon local dive bar, check out the Upper Quarter Bar.

If you gamble at all, Harrah's NOLA (Caesars family) is smoke free (as are most interior venues in the city) and massive.

Flew in for brunch at KNEW two weekends ago. Great food and amazing view of the ramp and runways. CTAF frequency on a keypad to get out of / into the flight line from the old terminal. Arriving from the north IFR expect to be uncomfortably low over Lake Pontchartrain for most of the lake. VFR you can parallel the I-10 causeway and down the lakeshore. NOLA Approach was very accommodating with flight following and Class B access.

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Is there free parking at the terminal or do you need to use the FBO? I used the FBO last time but noticed they moved the airplane to the old terminal.
 
jesse said:
You're going to walk through a lot of puke and urine, make sure you take that into account with your shoe selection.
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The street washing machines woke us up every day at about 6am (ten years ago)

It was much worse for the people passed out in the street or sleeping in cars or truck beds

The freshly washed streets helped a bit with the stickiness but walking through the resultant rising vapor was gross. Basically a misting of vomit etc
 
Randomskylane said:
The street washing machines woke us up every day at about 6am (ten years ago)

It was much worse for the people passed out in the street or sleeping in cars or truck beds

The freshly washed streets helped a bit with the stickiness but walking through the resultant rising vapor was gross. Basically a misting of vomit etc
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One of the coolest thing I have seen is being on Bourbon Street at 1159 pm on fat tuesday(yeah I know I said avoid Burbon Street, but I was in college and younger at the time though probably not as stupid as I am now). At 1159 everyone is in the streets partying and having a good time, at 1200 the mounted police take over the streets in front of a literal army of street sweeper vehicles, and guys with brooms and everything stops and everyone just goes home. During Mardis Gras no one fools with the NOPD. they are on long shifts and are tired.
 
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mandm said:
Is there free parking at the terminal or do you need to use the FBO? I used the FBO last time but noticed they moved the airplane to the old terminal.
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Free at least for a quick meal. We parked right in front of the terminal - no one came out to Marshall us - just parked and used our own chocks .
 
douglas393 said:
. During This Mardis Gras no one fools with the NOPD. they are on long shifts and are tired.
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I don't know about these days, but in the past if you were arrested in the week before Mardi Gras, you would be held in the drunk tank and not see a magistrate until the Wednesday after Mardi Gras. You really don't want to get arrested.
 
Never been to NOLA but wanted to chime in regarding safety. When I look at the stats, one city that constantly "outperforms" NOLA on the most dangerous cities lists is St. Louis. I used to live in St. Louis, right downtown and never felt unsafe. I walked to and from concerts and ballgames, oftentimes late at night with no issues. When I moved to town, I was told which areas to avoid and so I did. Again, never been to NOLA and it may be different there where crime leaks into the areas you don't expect it. If that's so, too bad. But at least in St. Louis, the places you would frequent as a tourist are as safe as any big city in the U.S. or Canada.
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Never been to NOLA but wanted to chime in regarding safety. When I look at the stats, one city that constantly "outperforms" NOLA on the most dangerous cities lists is St. Louis. I used to live in St. Louis, right downtown and never felt unsafe. I walked to and from concerts and ballgames, oftentimes late at night with no issues. When I moved to town, I was told which areas to avoid and so I did. Again, never been to NOLA and it may be different there where crime leaks into the areas you don't expect it. If that's so, too bad. But at least in St. Louis, the places you would frequent as a tourist are as safe as any big city in the U.S. or Canada.
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The problem with the city of N.O. proper is the original layout of the public housing, or, as the local colloquialism would say, "Projects". These were distributed well throughout the older parts of the city and abutted affluent areas. I have heard that was by design to allow easy transportation for low wage workers that served as the home staff of these more affluent residents. Truth or not it eventually lead to having higher crime neighborhoods next to areas that appear safe but are a block or two away from danger. Walk a few blocks in the wrong direction away from St. Charles St. and the associated mansions at the wrong time of night and you can end up in a world of hurt. Many other areas suffer the same issues. Katrina came in and scattered the crime about the city as many of the original projects had to be leveled and were replace by less capacity units dispersed about geographically. I still visit from time to time but I don't go to the quarter except to a couple of restaurants and get dropped off/picked up at the entrance by taxi/uber. I have no issue walking down S. Peters to CDM for morning beignets and to the old Central Grocery for a muffuletta. I would no longer would go to the Sanger for a performance, located at an area on Canal St. that used to be somewhat safe if you exercised caution. Brings back one memory of walking to my vehicle from Charity Hosp. at 11pm for a quick run to Taco Hell (the only place open for a quick bite near the hospital at that time of night). As I walked under the I-10 elevated/crossed Claiborne I crossed a young female and male arguing...nothing out of the ordinary for the area. About 30 minutes later, after finally getting from the 20th or so car in line to the order microphone I got a '911' stat page with the ER number (I was on call). Somewhat disgruntled at the poor timing I hustled back to the ER and informed that they had a 26yo cauc. female with a GSW to the throat...who was upright and cooperative. I took a look and it was the young gal I saw earlier while walking to my car. I just missed being a witness or worse, if I had tried to intercede in their argument. The young lady had a gun put in her mouth and the trigger pulled. Very fortunate gal as she lived and only had a stable int. carotid traumatic aneurysm and some lead and copper radiographic jewelry courtesy of the purported boyfriend. The violence is a bit worse now.
 
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There is this breakfast joint on Bourbon that is pretty great. The Clover Grill is probably my favorite greasy spoon in all of my travels, just don't read the menu too closely, or do. I find it to be quite hilarious.
They do "apply" butter to their toast with the standard 4" paint brush, so YMMV.
 
The Camelia grill at St. Charles/Carrollton is also a old traditional haunt. Great omelettes and the chocolate freeze is not to be missed. And, you don't need to be packing...LOL!
 
So an almost famous YouTuber that we all know and love posted on his channel that he was in New Orleans last weekend, but hasn’t posted here.

@SixPapaCharlie , why are you big timing us??? :biggrin:
 
midwestpa24 said:
I don't know about these days, but in the past if you were arrested in the week before Mardi Gras, you would be held in the drunk tank and not see a magistrate until the Wednesday after Mardi Gras. You really don't want to get arrested.
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On the other hand, it takes A LOT to get arrested in NOLA.
Prior to visiting NOLA, Las Vegas and Amsterdam were kind of my gold-standard for drunk lunacy. The crazy drunk people you see in NOLA, Bourbon St specifically, and the stuff they do in front of the police without getting so much as a second glance is kind of amusing :D
 
ArrowFlyer86 said:
On the other hand, it takes A LOT to get arrested in NOLA.
Prior to visiting NOLA, Las Vegas and Amsterdam were kind of my gold-standard for drunk lunacy. The crazy drunk people you see in NOLA, Bourbon St specifically, and the stuff they do in front of the police without getting so much as a second glance is kind of amusing :D
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True...to an extent. Show the slight bit of belligerence, which well meaning intoxicated people are apt to do, and you may end up tripping and breaking your face on the bumper of a PoPo car. The fracture fixation hardware companies made handsome profits on the facial fractures we fixed at Charity that were provided courtesy of the NOPD. The statement from officers that "he (she) tripped and hit their face on my bumper" was as common and as much of a joke as an drunk driver saying "I only had two beers" when pulled over and questioned. That being said, residents/staff that were at Charity were golden since that ED was where an officer was going to be taken when shot or severely injured. We always kept a labcoat in the car so it could be made clearly visible if pulled over for any offense (almost..anyway). Once the labcoat was spotted you were given a warning and a good evening.
 
Palace Cafe - Claims they invented the bananas foster and they do it table side and the crabcake cheesecake appetizer sounds weird but its delicious. it was the best meal we had down there ---- Mrs Moo
 
cowman said:
Palace Cafe - Claims they invented the bananas foster and they do it table side and the crabcake cheesecake appetizer sounds weird but its delicious. it was the best meal we had down there ---- Mrs Moo
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but how do they peel the bananas? :D
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Never been to NOLA but wanted to chime in regarding safety. When I look at the stats, one city that constantly "outperforms" NOLA on the most dangerous cities lists is St. Louis. I used to live in St. Louis, right downtown and never felt unsafe. I walked to and from concerts and ballgames, oftentimes late at night with no issues. When I moved to town, I was told which areas to avoid and so I did. Again, never been to NOLA and it may be different there where crime leaks into the areas you don't expect it. If that's so, too bad. But at least in St. Louis, the places you would frequent as a tourist are as safe as any big city in the U.S. or Canada.
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You're a brave man. Packing a double-stack 9mm?
 
Chrisgoesflying said:
Never been to NOLA but wanted to chime in regarding safety. When I look at the stats, one city that constantly "outperforms" NOLA on the most dangerous cities lists is St. Louis. I used to live in St. Louis, right downtown and never felt unsafe. I walked to and from concerts and ballgames, oftentimes late at night with no issues. When I moved to town, I was told which areas to avoid and so I did. Again, never been to NOLA and it may be different there where crime leaks into the areas you don't expect it. If that's so, too bad. But at least in St. Louis, the places you would frequent as a tourist are as safe as any big city in the U.S. or Canada.
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Downtown St. Louis has gotten a lot worse in recent years. The randomness of the crime has made "just avoid" certain areas a lot less useful. I wouldn't say don't visit, but I'd also very much not recommend walking around late at night unless it is for a well policed event like just after a concert or sporting event (or even soccer).
 
I was there last month for 35th USMA reunion. Went to school in New York, but had the reunion in NO because the current governor of LA is a classmate and Army was playing LSU. Stayed on Canal St, walked to/from class dinner at the WWII museum at night, wandered around French Quarter during the day. Felt no risk, and neither saw nor heard of any misdeeds. None of my 500 classmates had any negative events. Well, except for the ritual slaughter of Army by LSU.
 
one of the world’s great cities.

I spent 6 days with college friends there in October- my first visit since Katrina.

I didn’t end up flying with them, but my interactions with the Southern Seaplane folks were top notch. Wanted to do the day trip to the chandeleur islands to fish.

You can *feel* the history. Lots of good rentals in the garden district and nearby. The St Charles streetcar line is a great way to get around from there to ww2 museum, etc.

Tons of great food and music. It’s touristy, but a riverboat ride to the zoo/audobon park is fun.

I particularly liked seaworthy for oysters/seafood
 

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SFDukie said:
one of the world’s great cities.

I spent 6 days with college friends there in October- my first visit since Katrina.

I didn’t end up flying with them, but my interactions with the Southern Seaplane folks were top notch. Wanted to do the day trip to the chandeleur islands to fish.

You can *feel* the history. Lots of good rentals in the garden district and nearby. The St Charles streetcar line is a great way to get around from there to ww2 museum, etc.

Tons of great food and music. It’s touristy, but a riverboat ride to the zoo/audobon park is fun.

I particularly liked seaworthy for oysters/seafood
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Good Lord.. They even took your clothes?! :biggrin:
 
We used to have lots of trades shows years ago for my business in New Orleans but after lots of problems our event coordinators have canceled all future shows there. All kinds of problems.
 
Ed Haywood said:
I was there last month for 35th USMA reunion. Went to school in New York, but had the reunion in NO because the current governor of LA is a classmate and Army was playing LSU. Stayed on Canal St, walked to/from class dinner at the WWII museum at night, wandered around French Quarter during the day. Felt no risk, and neither saw nor heard of any misdeeds. None of my 500 classmates had any negative events. Well, except for the ritual slaughter of Army by LSU.
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So one way to read this is "A 2-3 company sized group of Army infantry should be perfectly safe in New Orleans without additional support." I believe that. :)
 
Albany Tom said:
So one way to read this is "A 2-3 company sized group of Army infantry should be perfectly safe in New Orleans without additional support." I believe that. :)
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And being West Point graduates, most of them were Airborne Rangers. A battalion of them. That’s the kind of tourists New Orleans really needs.
 
Wow. We had an awesome time. There were definitely crazy people and homeless people, but not as bad as I expected. I felt more comfortable there than Chicago or St. Louis. It's definitely a tourist town and the police presence was impressive. There were as many cops as people on Bourbon street. Possible they are cleaning things up in preparation for Mardi Gras season. Fences and stages were going up all over the place.

I have never been in a place where you could walk into any random restaurant and have the best meal of your life. The food was unbelievable. Everywhere.

Walked down to Cafe du monde for beignets this morning. Fresh & hot they are something special.

KNEW was easy. There's a really good restaurant right next door to the FBO in the beautiful, recently restored, art-deco terminal building. Uber showed up in 3 minutes and took us downtown for $15. The guys who flew commercial into MSY reported paying $80 :eek2:

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One of the reasons for the trip was to tour a facility that unloads barges and loads ocean-going ships. This wicked looking machine is what scoops the grain out of the barges. Sadly it had broken down that morning so we didn't get to see it run. Facility was built in 1967.

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I was honestly a little disappointed in the nat'l WWII museum. I would recommend skipping the $11 video unless you are unfamiliar with the sequence of events. Honestly if you go to a lot of wwii museums and watch/ read about the history, I'm not sure it's worth the $35 admission. There was nothing there I hadn't seen before.
 
mandm said:
Was just in New Orleans and had a blast, did my seaplane add-on there, and stayed a few days after. Tons of restaurants, you can walk everywhere, the food was amazing! Go to places with long lines, eat the gumbo and seafood, delicious.
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where did u do seaplane?
 
Glad you had a great time! Distance and traffic for MSY to downtown is why NEW is the much better airport for GA.
 
Glad you had a good trip.
I landed and took off there in June 2005 two months before Katrina hit. Katrina inundated the airport with 8 feet of water. It took five months before it was operational again. Imagine the terminal with four feet of water in it.
 
We visited three times in the last two years just to get away. Enjoyed it much more then downtown St. Louis. KNEW, the food, and the culture makes it a great place to visit.
 
JEM68 said:
We visited three times in the last two years just to get away. Enjoyed it much more than downtown St. Louis. KNEW, the food, and the culture makes it a great place to visit.
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And don’t forget about the strippers.
 
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