America's Top Ten Dead Cities: From Detroit to New Orleans

[chrizow]

true but many neighborhoods have been "down-zoned." south hyde park, for example, can have no more single family homes chopped up into apartments. the city has actually stopped a few such projects, and unfortunately one of them is on my block and it's basically a huge, ugly house that is totally ripped apart inside, about 10% towards completion of non-conforming apartment units. it will probably, ever, ever be reclaimed for a single family home.

[chaglang]

One factor among many in KC's loss: houses that had been sub-divided into apartments (following WWII, I think - maybe during the depression) were forced to reduce units in the '70s. Case in point, of which I have first hand knowledge, house in Janssen Place that had 5 kitchens was forced by city to tear out 3. In addition to reduction in units, the housing of boarders has largely passed from fashion.

Many people are unaware, both here and elsewhere on the city-nerd corner of the internet, just how many of what appear to be single family homes in midtown and the east KC are subdivided into multi-family units (usually 2, but sometimes smaller apts.)

One of my favorite things to do on walks around midtown is count doorbells/mailboxes/meters. The high score was a house in the 3400 block of Charlotte with 7 meters.

[warwickland]

midtown KC is totally weird. i'm sure i've been up and down every street on a bike, a memorable moment was when i was taking a photo of a grand old house between main and broadway and some otherwise stable looking middle aged white guy came out yelling at me for taking a photo and not being satisfied with the fact that i liked his house and midtown. i remember the house, i should go back and take a shit on his yard..! that's never happened to me in admittedly sometimes cranky st. louis.

[brewcrew1000]

Was this the house? There is a middle aged white guy that lives here and he is totally the type that would come out and yell.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33rd+and+ ... 7,,0,-0.55

[pash]

.

[shinatoo]

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[warwickland]

Was this the house? There is a middle aged white guy that lives here and he is totally the type that would come out and yell.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33rd+and+ ... 7,,0,-0.55

what is that, you? personally i was a young man when this happened and i don't feel so young anymore and i've done a bit of yelling myself - though for things human beings should generally be expected to yell about - for midwestern inner-city things. not people with cameras on fixed gear bicycles.

tangentially i do remember it being on Baltimore, it was probably sometime in 2005.

[chaglang]

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[ignatius]

Was in New Orleans for several days last weekend and can say it is no longer dead. Haven't been since 90s and didn't see much then so got a better street experience this time. The French Quarter is hopping if not a little too touristy, especially Bourbon St. (just see it once). The Uptown to Carrolton area is nicely functional, maybe a mix of w39th with Hyde Park but with Southern architecture and streetcar going through. Downtown is in very good shape and lively, hotels were busy over the holidays. Didn't make it through the flooded areas but good to see the city functioning well otherwise.

Food was surprisingly a dud everywhere we went, including highly rated places. Lots of shortcuts taken everywhere - stay away from the French Quarter if you want well prepared cajun/creole food as they cater to tourists who don't know the difference, not foodies who understand how cajun should be prepared. Small eats OK but even some PoBoy's were not what I expected.

The most fun night was in the gutter, to the East of the FQ on Frenchmen St in front of place called Cafe Niegrill I think. It's a reggae joint, which was cool but it's the street that was kicking with locals and it was absolutely a blast dancing with locals to a 12 piece street band, not with tourists. Think run down Westport dropped in downtown KCK with the indigenous crowd. It's actually smaller than Westport but for us was much much more fun than the touristy crowd in French Q. Not to downplay FQ, which is very cool, very big, uniquely NOLA. But now a giant tourist trap.

[grovester]

Frenchmen has done a pretty good job of maintaining itself despite growing popularity. I'm worried a couple more seasons of "Treme" might be more than it can handle. Already stories of douchey developers buying up property for less than desirable plans.

I worked at the Faubourg (precursor to Snug Harbor) back in the early 80s. I still have nightmares about giant coolers of shrimp.

[brewcrew1000]

New Orleans is a hipster hotbed right now. Didn't think anyone really watched Treme to make a difference, that show is done after next year anyway

[FangKC]

The same thing happened to the village where Ballykissangel is set.