I traveled down to the Audobon Zoo on a Sunday.  It was November 27th, 2005.

            The zoo was to be opened for the weekend for free.

            It had been opened earlier in the month but not many people had attended.

            There was a big write-up in all the newspapers and it was covered on television and on the radio.

            Tens of thousands of people attended the zoo that day.

            It was hard to tell where everyone came from but it seemed to me that most of them were from surrounding towns rather than from the city.  There aren’t many people left in New Orleans at this time, you see.

            The first thing I noticed as I approached the zoo entrance were the military vehicles.  There was a green camouflaged armored car and a desert-tan armored car.  The soldiers were lounging in the seats.  One was standing facing the approaching crowd.  He was sporting wrap around sun glasses and had an M-16 slung carelessly across his belly.

            I didn’t see them myself but my wife told me later that closer in to the gate the zoo had hired professional huggers.  It seems that during the first day the zoo was open people attended the zoo and wept openly before entering the zoo. 

            In order to comfort these people the huggers would approach them and provide them the physical comfort of a human hug.

            Hugs were the last thing on my mind as I skirted the heavily armed vehicles and avoided looking at the soldiers leafing through magazines and casually eyeing the crowd that pressed into the gates.

            I noticed that the entire crowd was moving through just one gate even though zoo personnel stood before and motioned to two other gates.  I walked over to one of the empty gates and was given a map.

            I turned to watch as the people flooded into the zoo through the one gate.  Moving carefully and in single file they ignored the repeated pleas and gestures of the zoo personnel directing them to one of the alternative gates which were within just of few feet of the bottleneck they had unconsciously decided to mob.

            I looked down at the map and the first thing I noticed were the areas marked off as closed or under repair.  I decided to just wing it instead of making a planned foray and dived into the stream of humanity fighting its way through the magic gate.

            I found myself in front of the flamingos.  They were particularly animated and made guttural sounds as they fished through the water and pushed against each other trying to find enough space to stand.

            The crowd swelled around the flamingo enclosure as they themselves attempted to figure out what to do next.  They searched bags, wiped noses, tied shoes, looked for restrooms, read maps, children asked for drinks, pushed against other children and did all the things children do in crowded places.

            It occurred to me that the space between the flamingos and the people shrank and that they were milling about together in a confused swirl of birds and humans.  I wouldn’t have been surprised at that point if a flamingo had walked up to me and asked me directions to the elephant fountain.

            For myself, I walked off and headed towards the elephant fountain.

            It had been cleaned up.  It didn’t look damaged at all.  It was clean and beautiful as always.  The water was crystalline and the coins people had thrown in sparkled at the bottom.  It was a pleasant scene.

            I looked around to see which animals I would visit first.

            I noticed one building off to my left had been destroyed.  The doors and windows were closed up with plywood and wrapped with blue plastic.

            To my right another building likewise had been shut down but it was not in such a terrible state of disrepair as the first one.

            Directly in front of me I saw the carousel turning in the sunlight.

            I looked to my right and decided on visiting the elephants and lions and tigers.

            The zoo keepers, however,  had one elephant out doing tricks for the crowd.  The people applauded after each trick and moved closer to see more.  As for me, I couldn’t see anything.  There were too many people.  All I could see was the top of the elephant’s head and its wide shoulders.

            I moved on to the carousel and watched as families bought tickets and climbed on their favorite animals.  They rode round and round and were quickly escorted off.  The ritual having been fulfilled.  The rides seemed shorter than I remembered but there were a lot of people.

            The sun was shining and the carousel was in gorgeous working order.  The music piped out as it spun round and round and the children were laughing and singing to each other.  It was a gay and wonderful sight.

            I walked off in search of more animals.

            I approached an area that had once housed several hundred water fowl, turtles and played host to a number of wild local birds and squirrels.  It was a small lake that had been adorned with water plants, exotic flowers and strong trees.  There was a wooden walkway used to cross the water and a large gazebo at the center to rest at and throw food to the ducks.

            Most of the lake was stripped bare.  Many trees lay on their sides and some broken stumps were still in sight.  Most of the birds were gone.  There was a skeleton crew of mallards and wood ducks cruising the eager crowd and unable to eat all the food being thrust upon them.

            One turtle made his presence known and spent most of the time suspended just below the murky surface.  The water was covered with a light sheen of what appeared to some sort of oil and gave off the putrid smell of decay and swamp gas that one associates with stagnant water.

            A young child looked up at me with dismay as his mother rolled him past in a stroller.  The wood on the walkway had been warped – not much – but enough to make a trip on a stroller over it into a kind of small torture.  He let out a mournful wail as he passed that sounded something like this, ‘St-o-o-op-p-p-p-p!’

            His mother seemed intent on avoiding further contact with the malingering odor and moved on without slowing.

            I moved on and noticed several cages empty of their inhabitants.  I stopped along with about 50 other patrons at the jaguar cage and watched the lone male cat pace back and forth.

            The zookeepers had announced through the media that the animals missed visitors but the jaguar seemed intent on getting out of that cage as soon as possible.  He had been at his pacing for some time and had worn down a path at the bottom of the cage.  Out of a reasonably large cage he confined himself to about 20 percent of it.

            I didn’t see the female or cubs that had been born there the year before.

            Moving on I wandered into the area dedicated to Louisiana wildlife. 

            The raccoons were sleeping in the trees.

            There is a creature called the Nutria that was introduced to Louisiana some time ago.  It was brought in from south America to be raised on farms as a fur bearing animal.  During a past hurricane some of them had been blown out into the swamps and survived.  Since that time their numbers have increased exponentially and they are now considered a pest though they provide a welcome addition to the diet of the local alligators.

            They look like giant rats and have bright orange teeth.

            Some people think they are cute and some people think they really look like rats.

            The day I visited the zoo they were all clustered together and some of them were showing their bright orange teeth.  Sometimes I think they look cute but that day they looked like a pile of giant rats.

            The alligators lay out in the sun.  They were covered with a fine layer of sand and dust mixed with duck weed.  In the open on their little zoo beach they were practically invisible to the untrained eye even though some of them are over 10 feet long.

            The restaurant area was open but the souvenir stand was not.

            There was also a building that housed baby animals in the past but that, likewise, was closed.

            A gray and a red fox lay sleeping in the sun.

            I then walked to the aviary and found many of the birds missing or listless.  In the larger aviary which is housed in a building most of the birds sat watching the passerby without moving much.

            A 5 foot long iguana lay in his cage.  His green head clashed with his orange body and he turned to look at me with interest as I was the only one to stop and actually look at him.  I suppose he looked back in politeness.

            At the anteaters enclosure I noticed he too had begun a pacing habit like that of the jaguar.  He had already run a rut in his glass cage and looked before him with a glassy gaze.  Each time he passed the door leading into his cage he stopped and looked at it with longing before continuing on his long, small journey.

            I crossed the green whose mixture of mud and grass squished beneath my feet and noted long lines at the hot dog and Roman Candy (taffy) stands.

            The emu cage had been slightly damaged in that the wooden slats that had been used to hide the chain link fence had been blown away.  The emu watched closely as I walked by and I got some very good photos of the birds.

            As I was walking out I stopped to look at the golden tamarinds and the other monkeys that had been housed with them.  I turned to leave and saw two soldiers standing there.  Their M-16’s were hanging behind them at about waist level.  They seemed unconcerned in the hot air as children and young mothers passed by them.  The heavily armed soldiers quietly ate their ice cream and waited for the monkeys to try something funny.

            I decided to leave and made my way out of the zoo into the parking lot.

            As I was approaching my car I noticed that repairs had already begun on the pool and private clubhouse that is attached to the zoo.  You see, the Audobon Zoo is also a club.

            Across the street from the zoo there is a large golf course.  That had already been meticulously repaired and was already pressed into use.  I saw players out on the course hitting the ball around and driving around in their golf carts.

            I reflected on this as I got into my van.  The American Zoo Association donated millions of dollars from member zoos to restore the Audobon Zoo.  I wonder how much went to work in the zoo and how much was used to restore the golf course.

            Creative bookkeeping will probably take care of any problems donors would have in the future.

            During my drive down St. Charles Avenue I noticed that many houses along a block might not have much damage, if any, at all.  Then, scattered amongst them, there would be one house that was thoroughly destroyed.  The roof caved in, the windows smashed, the porch collapsed.  Right next door, however, not a scratch.

            All along the streets to and from the zoo trash and debris were piled high on the sidewalks and in the yards and on the streets.  Trash collection was to be free for some time.  Homeowners needed only to dump the material on the street for pickup.

            They did so and a stream of debris was already making its way to the drains.

            I noticed that houses that appeared to have been built in the late 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s had been particularly battered.  The older homes – some of them in excess of 100 years old – had slight if any damage.  On most of them not even the stained glass windows had been damaged though I did see one with missing panes.

            They sure don’t make houses like they used to.

            My trip to the zoo was interesting.  I found large parts of the city to be empty.  I found the golf course to have been a priority at the zoo.  I found most of the zoo in disrepair.  

I headed downtown.

            I went to visit Jackson Square and Saint Louis Cathedral.

            According to people that have known New Orleans their whole life downtown was nearly deserted.  They referred to it as a ghost town.  To me it seemed like a Sunday morning in any big town but it was Monday morning and New Orleans is a big city.

            The people I came across for the most part did not have smiles on their faces.  They walked with a blank expression or with an angry grimace.

            The downtown area had been largely spared by the storm.  Saint Louis Cathedral stood above the square and its spires continued to look down on the statue of Andrew Jackson displayed at the center of Jackson Square.

            The park itself was locked.  There was no one in it.  One homeless man spent his time wandering around the locked fence eating a hot dog and avoiding eye contact.

            Four or five tourists strolled up and down in front of the shops clustered alongside the square.  The shops themselves were in beautiful order.  Their wares were displayed in tasteful window settings.  Activity, though, was at a minimum.

            Daily mass, normally attended by a large number of people, was sparsely populated.

            The streets leading to and from Jackson Square were likewise empty.  Few people walked or moved in the windows of the buildings around the area.  Some construction workers tripped over themselves as they attempted to carry materials into the historical museum but other than that there was very little activity.

            Near the bars and voodoo shops just around the corner, where posters of skulls and drug use are displayed, police gathered for a conference.  Several states had sent state police to help patrol the streets in New Orleans following the storm.  Many of them have reported observing abuse by the New Orleans Police Department on citizens.  They were having a meeting that day to discuss what they had seen and also, perhaps, to figure out what it was they were doing in town as there was seemingly nothing and no one to police.

            In what may be a relief to some many of the more unsavory denizens of New Orleans have at least temporarily been driven out.

            For a while New Orleans, though populated primarily by ghosts now, is once again an American city and open for possibility.  The clinging and wicked underbelly formed of sexual perverts, drug dealers, cheating bartenders and dangerous characters has been cleansed.  For how long it will last is anyone’s guess.

            The president of the Port of New Orleans has already essentially declared that the Port doesn’t need the city and is independent of it.  Many of the docks and piers were spared in the storms.  He is claiming that the city never contributed much to the port and he seems to believe that it can survive without the city.

            We will have to see how that works out, however.  2005 has seen near record low water levels on the Mississippi.  Much of the barge traffic has been slowed or stopped due to low water.  The rails have been disrupted as management of the railcars has been bungled and ageing tracks cause further slowdowns.

            The city itself remains quiet.  Like an empty vessel.  Will it be refilled with the refuse that was driven from it or will it be reborn again?  New Orleans has been destroyed and rebuilt several times.  Hopefully this time the new city will regain her place in the world of business and trade.

            When you look at the old city and the center of town you can see the grandeur and the power of the place.  When you look at a place like ‘The Voodoo Queen’s Shoppe’ or some of the rotting bars in the red light district you have to wonder if the owners of the buildings are serious about business or are just working themselves into an early grave.

In the Garden District like the area around the zoo one house on a street might be destroyed and the rest might have nothing wrong with them.  Most of the houses in the Garden District, however, had nothing wrong with them at all.

Ann Rice owns at least one home in the area and perhaps more.

Some are owned by rock stars, movies stars or professional athletes.  The rich and the powerful make their home in the Garden District and it shows.

Huge live oaks arc over the street.

Piles of debris from the storm are mixed with piles of debris from remodeling jobs and landscaping work going on in houses being restored to some former level of glory or updated to today’s tastes.

Ann Rice reportedly bought the Saint Elizabeth school and is gutting it in order to turn it into condominiums.

Not everyone in New Orleans is suffering.

As State Police officers from around the nation tour the downtown area and local police and vigilantes stand guard over piles of trash and destruction on the outskirts the New Orleans Police Department is out in force in the Garden District.

            The first thing I noticed about the 9th Ward was that it didn’t look too much different from some areas I had been in around New York.  Specifically in the Bronx, some parts of Brooklyn and patches of Queens.

            The only difference appeared to be that the houses were more brightly painted.

            Flood damage was clear throughout the 9th Ward but unlike the Garden District and some other parts of town many of the residents have not been allowed back in to do any work.

            Whereas other parts of town can take advantage of free trash removal no one is moving anything in the 9th Ward.

            Another problem in that particular area is that most of the houses are rented anyway and they have absentee landlords.  Many of the buildings are what is known as ‘shotgun shacks’.  That is they are a string of rooms and the front door is lined up with the back door.  If all doors are open you can see clear through the house.

            One such house was being renovated by members of a historical group.  Other houses are being left to sit in the sun waiting for someone to come and clear them out.

            The thing about those houses is that many of them are very old.  Some are just as old as the houses in the Garden District.  They have been flooded before and withstood other calamities.  Most of them can be repaired and restored in a fairly short amount of time.

            The sheet rock needs to be removed along with the insulation.

            The sheet rock will need to be reinstalled along with the insulation.

            After testing the electrical and plumbing most of the houses could be fit for living in a couple of weeks and allow for decorating after that.

            The problems are money and ownership.

            Many of the people that lived there have no cash and cannot buy the materials they need to rebuild.  They also do not own the property and what sense would there be to rebuild a home for an absentee landlord?

            In the 9th Ward FEMA has brought in trailers and hooked them up to electricity and water and sewer.  They have also built chain link fences around them and put barbed wire on top.

            The Mayor has told the people there are no trailers.

            He has also been trying to put trailers in public parks but the City Council has been giving him a hassle because they don’t want to tear down any playgrounds.

            There aren’t any children there right now but that hasn’t impacted their argument.

Next to the 9th Ward is a place called Arabi.

That town is worse.

Many of the homes are totaled.

They have been moved off their foundations along with the other damage found in the 9th Ward.

There appears to be a great amount of chemicals spilled in and around the place.  It is right next to the 9th Ward and the houses appeared to have been inhabited by people that were reasonably well off but the damage is a completely different sort.

The walls of the houses are crushed or buckled.  Many of the windows are broken.  Many roofs have been torn up and peeled back.

Again it seemed that the older houses in the 9th Ward did much better than the apparently newer and more cheaply built homes in Arabi.

            The destruction was widespread.

            On the border between Arabi and the 9th Ward sat armed police.  They appeared to be vigilantes.  We were not challenged as we entered the town but the threat was there.

            It seemed the threat was worn out, however.  They must slowly be realizing that they are guarding trash from a nonexistent invader.

            Between the 9th Ward and Arabi sits the Walmart which was widely publicized as having been looted following the hurricane.

            It should be noted that this particular Walmart is far away from downtown New Orleans.  It is also in a relatively isolated area.

            When the levees broke and the 9th Ward became cut off the Walmart was the only place in the area that contained supplies like water, food, fuel and clothing.

            Most of the other businesses in the area were poor.  They had either been undercut by Walmart and were going under or they had been failing for years.

            Looting is wrong, there is no denying it, but everyone should realize that during that time that particular Walmart was the only supply depot in the area.

            Several small businesses burned in the area.  The stores and shops I saw in Arabi were largely destroyed by flood and wind.

            The vigilantes appeared to be protecting nothing from no one.  Most of the houses were destroyed.