urban bicycle journeys

I was looping around New Orleans by bicycle last week.  Tootie and I were staying there for a few days.

Broadmoor is an area of New Orleans developed in the early part of the 20th century, after a swampy area was drained.  For at least the first twenty years of the neighborhood houses built high off the ground out of fear of flooding.    From the mistaken belief that flooding could never happen the lower areas that are called “basements” were gradually filled in, often as rental apartments.   This area did more or less completely flood because of the levee failure of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, but it appears fully rebuilt now.  The streets are bumpy and full of potholes, probably because of being built on a such a soft surface.

I love the look of these places.   There are probably thousands of houses like this New Orleans.

One more thing:  In another part of town there was a renovated shotgun double house for sale at 2032 Second Street, five blocks in what has always been considered the wrong direction from St. Charles Avenue.   $ 295,000.00.   This area called Central City used to be completely off base and now is billed as being up and coming, sort of.

This is the first time I had ever had the guts to go to this area by bicycle or car.   The house for sale looked fine but this one around the corner still needed work.