by nolahistoryguy | Oct 5, 2021 | 2010s, BOSH, Brother Martin High, Gentilly, Uncategorized
LMEA Marching Festival brings local bands together to perform.
LMEA Marching Festival
Each year, District 6 of the Louisiana Music Educators Association (LMEA) holds a “Marching Assessment” in the Fall. Crusader Band (along with other local bands) call it “Marching Festival.” At the end, when the scores are announced, the officers of the participating bands gather on the field to accept their awards. For the 2007 Festival, Crusader Band’s Drum Major and two Band Captains, along with the co-Captains of the Dominican Debs wait for wait for their scores. I don’t have names for these young men and women at this time. If you know them, let me know. (I sent the photo to my class of 2012 kiddo, who was Brass Captain in his senior year, but he’s in Palo Alto and not awake yet).
Football Season for Crusader Band
In the Fall, Crusader Band is a football band.Going back to the beginning, the band turned out to perform in the stands at games. While some band programs place football as a second priority, behind band competitions, the Crusader Band’s mission was to support the team. The school and the Athletic Department recognized this, and funded a good bit of the program’s expenses. So, as a five-year band dad, I remained silent when parents whose kids attended other schools fussed about money. They were going out of pocket for trips to competitions. I paid a $50 uniform cleaning fee.
The late Mr. Marty Hurley, long-time Band Director, had a solid strategy for preparing for Festival. The festival program called for performance of three tunes and a percussion performance. Hurley chose a theme, picked three tunes, then worked up the drum routine. One of the tunes always featured the auxiliary unit. Crusader Band partners with the “Debs” of Dominican High School.
The band wore the NJROTC service dress blues in those early years. When NJROTC became an elective course track, Crusader Band switched to a classic-style uniform. The style changed over the years. They wore this set of uniforms through my son’s senior year (2011-2012).
by nolahistoryguy | May 15, 2021 | 2010s, Riverfront, Streetcars
NORTA 2007 is a 2000-series Von Dullen arch roof streetcar.
NORTA 2007 on the Riverfront
A Von Dullen streetcar, NORTA 2007, operating on the Riverfront line, 10-June-2019. Photo by/courtesy of Michelle Callahan. While the 400-series streetcars, built in 1997, operated on Riverfront, after the line’s expansion, the 2000-series operating on Canal Street often turned left as they reached the river. They ran on Riverfront, from Canal to the French Market. So, it was often possible to catch a streetcar at the Old US Mint and ride it all the way to the Cemeteries Terminal, at Canal Street and City Park Avenue.
2000 differences
NORTA designed the 400-series Riverfront streetcars to be as close to the vintage-1923 arch roofs as possible. The Americans with Disabilities Act required accessible operation on Riverfront. So, NORTA retired the streetcars running on the line since 1988. They built new arch roofs that included wheelchair lifts on either side of the cars. The stops along Riverfront allowed wheelchair users to come right up to the side. The operator stops, lowers the lift, secures the passenger, and off they go.
While the 400s are not air-conditioned, the 2000s are. That’s why they have the faux monitor deck on top. The design is that of an arch roof. The aesthetics are challenged, though. The air-conditioning unit, as well as the electronics package sit on the car’s roof. They make for unsightly bumps. So, Von Dullen modified the design. When you’re inside a 2000, it’s clear you’re in an arch roof. From the outside, the faux deck masks the modern stuff.
Along the riverfront
In this wonderful photo, NORTA 2007 passes in front of the Jackson Brewing Company’s former facility, at Decatur and St. Peter Streets. The area along the river, from Canal Street to the Governor Nicholls Street Wharf, was converted into a pedestrian walk in the 1980s. This was expanded to add Woldenburg Park in the 1990s. The Riverfront streetcar line uses the old Louisville and Nashville Railroad right-of-way to transport passengers from the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center to the French Market.
by nolahistoryguy | Jan 28, 2021 | 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, Railroads
Union Pacific 6310 is a “heritage” engine operating in the New Orleans area.
Union Pacific 6310
This engine, Union Pacific 6310, is a General Electric (GE) AC4400CW unit. UP 6310, on the BackBelt at Canal Blvd, Monday morning. This unit was built in 1995 for the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), and delivered as SP 264. The roster lists don’t mention that it was re-numbered when UP acquired SP. It also explains why I couldn’t find photos of it in yellow/UP livery. This isn’t a “heritage” unit, in the sense that it was painted to look like a previous railroad. It’s always been SP.
Southern Pacific in New Orleans
The New Orleans, Opelousas and Great Western Railroad (NOO&GW) operated 83 miles of track, from Algiers (on the west bank of the Mississippi) to Morgan City, into the 1890s. At that time, SP acquired NOO&GW. By 1921, NOO&GW (then known as Morgan’s Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Co) merged into the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. T&NO operated as part of the SP system. NOO&GW operated a passenger station in Algiers, beginning in 1857. SP expanded that facility into a large freight yard. After the opening of the Huey P. Long Bridge in Jefferson Parish, SP moved its Algiers yard to Avondale, LA, on the western side of the Huey. UP and BNSF currently operate the Avondale yard.
So, SP maintained a large presence in the city. Additionally, SP operated (through the T&NO originally) three “name trains” out of New Orleans. The Sunset Limited and the Argonaut provided service from New Orleans to Los Angeles. The Alamo ran from New Orleans to San Antonio, TX. Amtrak retained the “Sunset Limited” name for their New Orleans to Los Angeles route.
EDITOR’s NOTE
When I researched the provenance of this engine, I thought 6310 was purchased originally by UP. The number fit in the range of the UP AC4400CWs. I posted the image to a railroading Facebook group. The members know a lot more about local railroading than I. I appreciate their patience!. While UP has a set of “heritage” engines, 6310 isn’t in the list. That’s because it’s not a UP unit, repainted. It’s always worn SP livery.
by nolahistoryguy | Oct 28, 2019 | 1950s, 1970s, 2010s, Gentilly, Metairie
Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket opens new, expanded store in #themetrys!
(x-posted to YatCuisine)
Economical Supermarket, on Elysian Fields and Gentilly, in the 1950s. (Zuppardo’s photo)
Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket – My grocery
I’ve been going to Zuppardo’s Supermarket, either the old store on Elysian Fields and Gentilly, or the Metairie store at Veterans and Transcontinental, since I was a kid. That’s going back to the days when the Gentilly neighborhood had an incredible number of groceries and supermarkets.
Economical!
Replica of Anthony Leo Zuppardo’s banana cart from the early 1900s at the new Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket. (Edward Branley photo)
Peter Zuppardo came to New Orleans from Sicily in 1895. He took a job in the wholesale banana business. His son, Anthony Leo, saw an opportunity with over-ripe bananas. Anthony took those bananas around in a donkey cart. By 1930, the Zuppardo’s parked a truck at Gentilly Road at Elysian Fields. At that time, Elysian Fields Avenue was just a dirt road. The Pontchartrain Railroad closed in 1931, and Elysian Fields wasn’t paved until the end of the decade.
The Zuppardo’s bought the lot on that corner, establishing a permanent presence. The fruit truck expanded into a store in 1937. Those were the waning days of the city’s public market system. That system gave way to private stores after the war. The family made a good decision, as the neighborhood grew. After World War II, Gentilly’s population exploded, as men returning from the war looked to start their own families.Those strong ties helped Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket in later years, in their expansion to Metairie.
Bell Supermarkets
Bell Supermarkets newspaper ad from the 1950s (courtesy NOLA.com)
Economical became part of the Bell supermarket co-op. The idea was for independent grocers to join together to better advertise their stores. This was important, because John Schwegmann’s “giant” supermarkets became incredibly popular in the 1950s. Stores such as Economical, Dorignac’s uptown, and Pap’s in the Ninth Ward all sported the Bell logo.
Economical continued its popularity into the 1960s. That was my first personal experience with the store. My momma grew up in Gentilly, on Lavender Street, just off of Franklin Avenue. She and her grandmother made groceries at Economical. Even though my parents moved out to #themetrys when they came back from Boston in 1960, we’d still go out to see my grandma regularly, and I’d tag along for grocery runs.
Expansion and Re-location
Aerial view of Elysian Fields and Gentilly, 1961. Hebrew Rest Cemetery is middle-left. Cor Jesu High is across from the cemetery. Economical Supermarket is to the right edge, below Gentilly Blvd. (NOPL photo)
The Bell supermarkets expanded and re-located as population shifted. The Papania’s opened a “Pap’s” store on Mirabeau and St. Anthony in Gentilly. Dorignac’s and Zuppardo’s opened stores on Veterans Blvd. in Metairie. Dorignac’s built a store in the 700 block of Vets, near Martin Behrman, while the Zuppardo’s opened their Metairie location at Vets and Transcontinental. My family lived closer to Dorignac’s and Schwegmann’s in the late 1960s, so we shopped there.
I renewed my acquaintance with Economical when started at Brother Martin High School, just up Elysian Fields from the supermarket, in 1971. While we mostly stopped at the local convenience store, d’Mart, we occasionally walked down to Economical for things, particularly when d’Mart employees got annoyed with all of the students coming in. I met one of the current owners, Joey Zuppardo at that time. Joey was Class of 1973, I was 1976, so he was a senior when I was a freshman. (For a full run-down of the Zuppardo family tree, check this 2018 Ann Maloney article on the new supermarket in the Picayune.)
UNO and Redeemer Days
I took many a trip down to Economical with my Lambda Chi Alpha brothers from our house on Elysian Fields near Robert E. Lee in the late 1970s. Even though Ferrara’s was just a two-block walk, the prices were much better for guys on tight budgets, working their way through UNO. After I graduated in 1980, I taught at Redeemer High School on Crescent Street, near St. Frances Xavier Cabrini church. Even though Pap’s was closer to the half-double we rented at the time, I found myself heading back down to Gentilly Boulevard for various items.
Life in St. Ann Parish and Zuppardo’s Supermarket
Scenes from the original store on Vets and Transcontinental (courtesy Zuppardo’s)
In 1986, we moved out to #themetrys, near Clearview and Veterans. While my daddy had soured on Dorignac’s over the years and shopped at Schwegmann’s, Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket at Transcontinental was so close, it became our grocery. My boys grew up coming with me to Zuppardo’s all the time. As they got older, cashiers would ask after them. I’d show photos of them as Brother Martin students and they’d sigh at how time passed. That little boy who pushed a Little Tykes shopping cart, loading it up with things important to him (cookies and fruit roll-ups) is now a Naval officer and submariner.
I’m not sure when they dropped the “Economical” from the name, becoming “Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket.” The original store closed in 2005, as Katrina left the store and all of Gentilly in pretty bad shape. To this day, my wife still says “Economical,” which I attribute to her growing up in Lake Oaks and transferring from the Broad bus line to Elysian Fields, on her way home from Dominican.
The New Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket
Two Saturdays ago, Zuppardo’s Family Supermarket closed. They knocked a hole into the side of the old store and moved everything into the new one. I’ve been an almost-daily grocery shopper for years. When your store is as close (about a mile) as Zuppardo’s is to us, it’s easy to blow off extended menu planning. Most of my “test kitchen” ideas start at Zuppardo’s Supermarket. The new store opened last Wednesday. Those four days drove me crazy, as I ended up at three different supermarkets to get things we usually pick up at Zuppardo’s!
by nolahistoryguy | May 3, 2019 | 2000s, 2010s, History, Media
The Times-Picayune Farewell begins. I have concerns. (cross-posted to YatPundit.com)
Screenshot of NOLA.com, 03-May-2019 in the morning.
Times-Picayune Farewell
The phone delivered a tweet with a story about The Advocate acquiring the Times-Picayune yesterday afternoon. I feel a sense of anxiety and urgency over this acquisition.
You’re Fired!
They’re firing the entire staff at TP/NOLA.com. This wasn’t a merger, it’s a purchase of intellectual property and physical assets. The humans that made NOLA.com what it is are on the street.
When Newhouse delivered their last big round of cutbacks at TP, I felt like something should/could be done to develop a platform in the market that offered a place for some of those laid-off writers to publish and get paid. Folks told me there was no way it would work. A discussion group on the subject failed miserably. Fortunately, Lamar developed the idea for TBB delivered big time in its first year.
TP employed a lot of talented people. Many of them know New Orleans is home, in spite of this setback.
Preserving Memories
The “digital era” of the Times-Picayune spans over twenty years. While Da Paper struggled, management and staff found a “digital voice.” Forays into video produced good, thoughtful discussion between writers such as Tim Morris and Jarvis Deberry. The bumps in the road were large, though. The first massacre at TP was when Newhouse fired all of the “digital” staff at NOLA.com. That staff operated separately from T-P. Unifying the dot-com with the newspaper offered the organization an opportunity to take charge. All this now shifts to history.
The stories of how NOLA.com grew, then shrunk, then merged with T-P connect with New Orleans’ larger stories in the early aughts and teens. T-P struggled like everyone else during Katrina. They rose above the #shitshow.
We must preserve these stories and memories.
I’m thinking this through, but we have to move quickly. People pack up and leave as soon as other opportunities present themselves.
Work with me to preserve the stories of the last twenty years.
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