Transcript for the Piece Audio version of New Orleans' Friendly Bar

((Fade in Friendly AMBI))

The Friendly bar has been at this location, just east of the French Quarter, for decades, but it?s never really been on the usual tourist circuit. Jim Doyle has been bartending here for about five years.

((JIM: We have a nice staff, and very eclectic clientele. Men, women, gay, straight, young old, a lot of people who live in the neighborhood. We know most of the people. Everybody?s welcome here, and we try to make you feel comfortable. And people never really know what to expect when they show up here. Whether it?s going to be busy, or slow, and half the time, the opposite of what you expect is true.))

Everyone in New Orleans has a disaster story. You can pick any aspect of the city ? any person, any neighborhood, any building ? and you will find Katrina?s lingering effects.

((AMBI: Bar sounds w/Louisiana 1927 song))

Sitting in the Friendly Bar, Randy Newman?s song about the hurricane of 1927 playing in the background, I notice a beat-up metal sign above the bar. Turns out, this sign used to hang outside, above the front entrance.

((JIM: It blew off during the storm, and we?ve been trying to get it back up, but we just put it over the bar, and we?re trying to find someone to put it back up. But I think you need a permit to get that done as well. But I like the sign where it is, I think we just need a brand new one and put the new one up, keep the old one there, as a reminder of all the crap that we?ve been through since the storm, and how things have changed.))

The Marigny district is a higher-elevation neighborhood, so the bar didn?t suffer severe flooding during Katrina. In the aftermath of the storm, residents gathered here to regroup.

((AMBI: Drink being mixed))

Even today, as locals sip on Abita beer and Whiskey Sours, Katrina remains one of the main topics of conversation.

((JIM: People come in and discuss it and talk about it, what they?re getting done. The storm has affected everything, from how much your house costs, how to get things fixed, the electric bill, what your water bill is. Finally getting back to a reasonable electric service, and people still don?t have heat and service because there?s water in the lines?))

Katrina made whole swaths of New Orleans inhabitable, and many people who left chose never to return. But those who did stay, or did come back, were forced to move into these higher-elevation neighborhoods. So one of the more counter-intuitive effects of the storm is that ? in some areas ? housing costs have actually gone up.

((SUSAN: Well the prices have gone crazy here since the storm))

Susan Allen has lived in Marigny for seven years:

((SUSAN: I?m afraid that the bohemian character of the neighborhood that drew us here will be lost, because the artists won?t be able to afford it here))

Susan?s husband, Todd Sanford, has seen also seen changes in Marigny since the storm:

((TODD: There was gentrification but it wasn?t so extreme that it would push out the artists and cooler city people. But now, with the prices so high and the high and dry real estate as it is, not only can?t you find a place to buy, but more importantly you can?t find a place to rent. So the rentals are so far down now, that friends of ours who are looking for places to rent, we can?t even give them a reference anymore, there?s no available spots))

The influx of new people to Marigny brought a whole slew of fresh faces to Friendly bar.

((TODD: Outsiders in this bar have always been tourists, but after the storm, we noticed that there were people from Chalmette, which was terribly flooded. And they came to the friendly bar to get out of the daily grind, and that changed the character quite a bit, but for the better. There were people who came in here every night and were telling there story?there were lots of storm stories here for the last year and a half.))

One newcomer with lots of storm stories is Norwood Grant, a native of Chalmette. Both his home and the recording studio he owns were flooded in the storm. After the storm he went looking for a new place to hang out. Someone recommended he check out this bar.

((NORWOOD: Once I came in, I could sense there was a friendliness, a welcoming, and an opening. I was very very welcome the day I came in. There seems to be a homely atmosphere that?s just?friendly.))

Throughout New Orleans, there are people who face tough decisions about their future and the future of the city itself. For his part, Norwood plans to return to Chalmette. As he sits at the video poker machine in the corner, he reflects on the past year and half.

((NORWOOD: All my family was affected by the hurricane, but they?re all rebuilding, basically. Everybody is improving, everybody is recovering, everybody is on the upbeat, everybody?s going to make it, and that?s the good thing.))

((AMBI: Fade in Randy Newman song through the end))

Outside this bar, New Orleans still suffers the effects of hurricane Katrina. Whole city blocks sit empty, crime is rampant, and just how ? or even if ? the city will be rebuilt is still very much up in the air. But inside places like Friendly, residents somehow find the strength needed to reclaim their neighborhoods.

From New Orleans, this is Jody Avirgan

Back