A Day in the Big Easy: New Orleans

RyanD · #1 Posted: **Mar 3, 2013, 7:19 PM**

Last week I went on a cruise that was leaving out of New Orleans which is very uncharted territory for me and I didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, I was very impressed with this city and I will definitely be back for a full, more in depth visit. I stayed overnight in the French Quarter on Decatur Street and had only about 2 hours to shoot downtown. On top of that, it was overcast and raining so my camera time was very limited. Even though I didn't have much time to get that 'perfect angle', I'm pretty pleased with what I got. Here is the result of my running and shooting. Enjoy!

Driving in from the highway I caught this awesome crane mess..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

And over to the French Quarter..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

The horse carriges intermixed with traffic was quite amusing..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Classy?

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Always good for a short trip..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Starting to creep into downtown now..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Awesome street cars! I wish Denver had some of these..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

There were quite a few canyons here.. Very impressive!

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

One of the stranger boxes I've seen..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Don't know what's going on with this guy..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Oh hey you look almost exactly like Denver's Republic Plaza..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Here's where my photos start to get a little hairy.. It was night, drizzling and I didn't have a tripod. So I made the best of it.

Anyways, Bourbon Street: French Quarter..

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

For the day I was here, BMC and The Spotted Cat Music Club were my favorite hangouts where I also befriended some locals for a night and had some good times.

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

From the cruise ship! Goodbye New Orleans!!

New Orleans by Ryan Dravitz, on Flickr

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed this set!

CubicalRebel · #2 Posted: **Mar 3, 2013, 8:23 PM**

Very nice thread. I want to see this city so badly.

ChrisLA · #3 Posted: **Mar 3, 2013, 9:53 PM**

Nice, one day I'll get there as well.

ColDayMan · #4 Posted: **Mar 3, 2013, 11:27 PM**

It's a great city.

OhioGuy · #5 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 12:14 AM**

Nice!

TransitEngr · #6 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 12:47 AM**

Thanks for these shots... what an awesome city! I love N.O.!!!

I wonder..... with the rebuilt streetcar from Canal Street to the Amtrak station.... is that abandoned skyscraper going to be converted into something????

Bronxwood · #7 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 1:10 AM**

I notice in one of your shots of Bourbon street, there's quite a handful of people on one balcony. Those buildings are quite old so I'd be cautious about adding too much weight on those balconies. I doubt they're strong enough. Or are they reinforced? Hmm.

Beautiful set, I love New Orleans. Such a unique city I'm glad there was enough foresight to keep the old town intact for all of us to enjoy! The crown jewel of the south no doubt.

RyanD · #8 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 1:52 AM**

Thanks for the kind words guys! I also wondered about the structural integrity about some of these buildings.. But, it was amazing to see so many of them in good shape and still there in general! They must have a serious historic preservation system..

texcolo · #9 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 5:22 AM**

That's awesome... I was there last week myself.

I didn't get a whole lot of photos because the wife had the camera.

We took a trip down to the Garden District. Nice houses.

glowrock · #10 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 10:23 AM**

Great thread, Ryan!

Aaron (Glowrock)

SlidellWx · #11 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 5:36 PM**

Glad you enjoyed the city, and got a chance to explore much of the CBD, Quarter, and Warehouse District. The Plaza Tower (strange looking box) was bought by a local developer. He is working up a plan to convert to a mix of office and residential. He plans on starting the redevelopment in 2015. The Rault Center (building with no windows) has been vacant since a fire in the 1970's. The building needs to be demolished or redeveloped because it is a major eyesore in the CBD.

Lenin · #12 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 6:10 PM**

Thanks for the stellar set! The French Quarter is looking splendid as always, but what I really dug was the downtown component of your shots. Here on SSP we seem to get glimpses of the lovely old low rises and the odd shot of a downtown skyscraper, but I haven't noticed a lot of focus on the historic highrises of New Orleans. You seemed to capture the old low rises, the modern skyscrapers, and a touch of everything in between. So many cool eras of architecture to explore.... Thanks again for a brief, but pretty well rounded tour!

scraperfetish · #13 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 7:06 PM**

Excellent post! If I'm not mistaken, the building you mentioned in the post that you didn't know what was going on with it was a hotel that I'd stayed in while I was processing into the military in 1982. I don't know what the future plans for this building is, but I had a nice few days there. The food/breakfast buffets were very nice and I had an awesome view of One Shell Square, the building that looks like Denver's Republic Plaza. One Shell Square is still the tallest building in "Nawlins" at 697' (Republic Plaza is 714'). In fact, One Shell Square's companion building is One Shell Plaza in Houston, built around the same time (1971: 1 Shell Plaza -1972: 1 Shell Square) and at that time was the tallest building in Houston, at 714'. That title has long been relinquished to the numerous megaliths that crowd the Houston skyline, most notably, the 1,002' JP Morgan Chase Bank.

Surrealplaces · #14 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 7:55 PM**

Great photo tour!

RyanD · #15 Posted: **Mar 4, 2013, 8:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lenin

Thanks for the stellar set! The French Quarter is looking splendid as always, but what I really dug was the downtown component of your shots. Here on SSP we seem to get glimpses of the lovely old low rises and the odd shot of a downtown skyscraper, but I haven't noticed a lot of focus on the historic highrises of New Orleans. You seemed to capture the old low rises, the modern skyscrapers, and a touch of everything in between. So many cool eras of architecture to explore.... Thanks again for a brief, but pretty well rounded tour!

Thanks! I had absolutely no idea where I was going or what I was doing. This was complete foreign territory to me so I was just trying to capture as much as I could. I'm glad I was able to get the mix of everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by scraperfetish

Excellent post! If I'm not mistaken, the building you mentioned in the post that you didn't know what was going on with it was a hotel that I'd stayed in while I was processing into the military in 1982. I don't know what the future plans for this building is, but I had a nice few days there. The food/breakfast buffets were very nice and I had an awesome view of One Shell Square, the building that looks like Denver's Republic Plaza. One Shell Square is still the tallest building in "Nawlins" at 697' (Republic Plaza is 714'). In fact, One Shell Square's companion building is One Shell Plaza in Houston, built around the same time (1971: 1 Shell Plaza -1972: 1 Shell Square) and at that time was the tallest building in Houston, at 714'. That title has long been relinquished to the numerous megaliths that crowd the Houston skyline, most notably, the 1,002' JP Morgan Chase Bank.

I also learned in the Denver forum that One Shell Square was designed by SOM who also designed Republic Plaza. Obviously some dust off the plans and do it again action going on. However, Republic Plaza has a flush facade with the windows and is granite where OSS has the windows set back from the facade. Very intriguing..

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlidellWx

Glad you enjoyed the city, and got a chance to explore much of the CBD, Quarter, and Warehouse District. The Plaza Tower (strange looking box) was bought by a local developer. He is working up a plan to convert to a mix of office and residential. He plans on starting the redevelopment in 2015. The Rault Center (building with no windows) has been vacant since a fire in the 1970's. The building needs to be demolished or redeveloped because it is a major eyesore in the CBD.

Good to know where I was. I had no idea I was in the Warehouse District but for sure knew the Quarter and CBD.. That's excellent about the Plaza Tower. It's quite unique for sure. The gutted building seems like it could have some structural issues if it's been sitting like that for so long with the weather and everything.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glowrock

Great thread, Ryan!

Aaron (Glowrock)

Quote:

Originally Posted by texcolo

That's awesome... I was there last week myself.

I didn't get a whole lot of photos because the wife had the camera.

We took a trip down to the Garden District. Nice houses.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

Great photo tour!

Thanks guys! Texcolo, It's funny you were there when I was there and got a picture of the same person.

ardecila · #16 Posted: **Mar 6, 2013, 6:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by TransitEngr

Thanks for these shots... what an awesome city! I love N.O.!!!

I wonder..... with the rebuilt streetcar from Canal Street to the Amtrak station.... is that abandoned skyscraper going to be converted into something????

Sorry, no plans for the Rault Center just yet. It's infamous for a 1970s fire where several women jumped to their deaths.

Plenty of other development plans around the new streetcar line, though.

destroycreate · #17 Posted: **Mar 6, 2013, 4:56 PM**

Great thread.

I have to ask, am I the only one who gets a strange vibe from New Orleans/Louisiana in general? I don't mean in that in a good or bad way, I'm just so fascinated by the aesthetics of the city, geography, and overall feel. It's like nothing else I've ever seen in the US. Even the downtown CBD looks odd to me, as though I have nothing to compare it to.

I've always seen Louisiana as some mystical, hot, humid place full of secrets. Maybe I'm just weird.

Dralcoffin · #18 Posted: **Mar 6, 2013, 5:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Great thread.

I have to ask, am I the only one who gets a strange vibe from New Orleans/Louisiana in general? I don't mean in that in a good or bad way, I'm just so fascinated by the aesthetics of the city, geography, and overall feel. It's like nothing else I've ever seen in the US. Even the downtown CBD looks odd to me, as though I have nothing to compare it to.

I've always seen Louisiana as some mystical, hot, humid place full of secrets. Maybe I'm just weird.

You're not the only one. New Orleans is easily my pick for the most unique city in the US. With the French Square's colonial atmosphere, the above ground cemeteries, the Caribbeanesque slow decay of everything, nothing but swamps and water for miles around, the tragic history, and the air of voodoo and jazz, New Orleans definitely has this sort of haunted, slightly otherwordly feel to it, like it's a city where the past is a specter looking over your shoulder.

This spring break I'm organizing a trip down to New Orleans (my first time) to see the city's atmosphere in person.

RyanD · #19 Posted: **Mar 6, 2013, 6:52 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by destroycreate

Great thread.

I have to ask, am I the only one who gets a strange vibe from New Orleans/Louisiana in general? I don't mean in that in a good or bad way, I'm just so fascinated by the aesthetics of the city, geography, and overall feel. It's like nothing else I've ever seen in the US. Even the downtown CBD looks odd to me, as though I have nothing to compare it to.

I've always seen Louisiana as some mystical, hot, humid place full of secrets. Maybe I'm just weird.

You're not the only one. I got the same weird vibe when I was aimlessly wandering and instantly fell in love at the same time. I had a hard time finding any other place with similarities however, the closest I came up with was Charleston with some skyscrapers mixed in. It was the most fascinating city I have ever been to and I can't wait to plan a longer trip back there!

Centropolis · #20 Posted: **Mar 6, 2013, 9:40 PM**

random comment: it's always strange to see the deck of a cruise ship slipping past/above the french quarter/bywater past the end of a street.