Algiers Memories

New Orleans. The siren's song in my heart. The one place I feel completely at home. When I finally get across the high rise after the inevitable I-10 slowdown beginning at Crowder Blvd I feel a sense of inner tranquility that is beyond explanation. No other place on earth gives me this feeling. Its as if my soul knows this is where I belong.

While I am away I miss everything...the incredible Creole food, the incomparable Jazz, Rhythm and Blues and Funk music; the inspiring ironwork on the narrow streets of the French Quarter; the bougainvillea growing on balconies everywhere; the tunnel of ancient live oaks visible from the St Charles Avenue streetcar; the the art and architecture; the gritty, funky soul of this truly unique and amazing city-my home town.

My home turf is the 15^th Ward...Algiers... aka 'Da West Bank.' This makes me an 'Algerian' or 'Algerene.' I lived on a dead end street called Evergreen Ave which carves a straight line perpendicular to the Crescent City Connection from the wide thoroughfare under the bridge I knew as Bringier St. From the dead end you could see Semmes St and the tombs of McDonoghville Cemetery. Since the late 90's, the former Bringier St under the bridge has been renamed Mardi Gras Blvd.

I loved the warm spring nights...I would walk from my home on Evergreen toward the bridge; turn left and follow Magellan across the busy Franklin Avenue, past the little Horseshoe Grocery all the way to Madison, to the railroad yard and the river levee. At Madison, in the shadow of the bridge, you could walk right up to the train tracks and closely inspect the tank and freight cars sitting idle. Maneuvering in a zig zag fashion through the idled train cars to the river levee I would walk along and watch the towboats and barges move up and downriver. I also watched the steady stream of bridge and ferry traffic crossing from East Bank home to the West. This was my time for introspection.