Page 11 - Indies Roundtable Spring 2021
P. 11
past life that has translated well and St. Peter that locals still call
to my chosen line of work as a The A&P. The national grocery
detective. It also weirds the heck chain used to operate the store,
out of everyone that has an
arrangement like this with me. but it was now being run as an
They all say it makes them feel outlet of a local company called
like spies, which they are in a Rouse’s. The store is among the
way. last handful of grocery stores that
Royal Street is famous for its have survived the French
open-air galleries, antique shops Quarter’s transformation from
selling merchandise half the age being an affordable working-class
of the building the store was in, residential neighborhood to being
and street musicians talented not much more than a collection
enough to be headliners in
concert halls anywhere else on of pied-a-terre and vacation
the planet. The mixture creates rentals. There are still people who
a particular sort of cacophony live in the French Quarter full
over and above what the rest of time, but the rents and home
the Quarter generates on any
given afternoon. Part of the prices attract a population that
street gets barricaded off from can afford to shop at Whole
vehicular traffic during the day, Foods and other markets outside
and there were street musicians of the Quarter. Most of these
and artists vying for attention
and dollars every block for three small stores rely upon selling
blocks in any direction from the knick-knacks like hot sauces and
micro-grocery on the corner of easily-shipped packages of local
specialty items to tourists to
survive. Central Grocery on
Decatur Street has survived
largely on its reputation for
muffaletta sandwiches, as
opposed to trading on its shady
past as a front for a local Mob
family. My father used to
complain about how much he
missed the Quarter’s old days.
I tossed five bucks into the
guitar case of a musician
strumming Mister Bojangles for
the ten-thousandth time. Bobby
was scruffy enough that he could
make the song sound
autobiographical. I palmed the
to my chosen line of work as a The A&P. The national grocery
detective. It also weirds the heck chain used to operate the store,
out of everyone that has an
arrangement like this with me. but it was now being run as an
They all say it makes them feel outlet of a local company called
like spies, which they are in a Rouse’s. The store is among the
way. last handful of grocery stores that
Royal Street is famous for its have survived the French
open-air galleries, antique shops Quarter’s transformation from
selling merchandise half the age being an affordable working-class
of the building the store was in, residential neighborhood to being
and street musicians talented not much more than a collection
enough to be headliners in
concert halls anywhere else on of pied-a-terre and vacation
the planet. The mixture creates rentals. There are still people who
a particular sort of cacophony live in the French Quarter full
over and above what the rest of time, but the rents and home
the Quarter generates on any
given afternoon. Part of the prices attract a population that
street gets barricaded off from can afford to shop at Whole
vehicular traffic during the day, Foods and other markets outside
and there were street musicians of the Quarter. Most of these
and artists vying for attention
and dollars every block for three small stores rely upon selling
blocks in any direction from the knick-knacks like hot sauces and
micro-grocery on the corner of easily-shipped packages of local
specialty items to tourists to
survive. Central Grocery on
Decatur Street has survived
largely on its reputation for
muffaletta sandwiches, as
opposed to trading on its shady
past as a front for a local Mob
family. My father used to
complain about how much he
missed the Quarter’s old days.
I tossed five bucks into the
guitar case of a musician
strumming Mister Bojangles for
the ten-thousandth time. Bobby
was scruffy enough that he could
make the song sound
autobiographical. I palmed the
