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Day 508: At What Cost A Spotlight?

During the night the mystery was revealed to New Orleans in a vision. Then New Orleans praised the Brangelina of heaven and said: “Praise be to the name of Brangelina for ever and ever; wisdom and power are theirs. They change times and seasons; they set up kings and depose them. They give light to …

The Gospel According To New Orleans; Orleans Avenue 2:19-23

AP: The French Quarter Is In A Funk

“I’m paying the most rent I’ve ever paid, and I’ve got the smallest place I’ve ever had,” said Bob Clift, a portrait artist who waited in vain one recent day for customers under the live oaks on Jackson Square, outside St. Louis Cathedral.

A familiar face in the Quarter for 37 years, Clift said he is planning to leave the city after paying about $1,000 a month for an 8-by-15-foot room. “Poor people can’t live here anymore,” he said. “Including me.”

Many say that the move of the Brad Pitt – Angelina Jolie cottage industry into the French Quarter will only boost its economy and morale. If interest in New Orleans goes up as a by-product of the celebrity factor, that is great. But, what New Orleans will these tourists see if long-time Quarter dwellers can no longer afford to live there? Something I don’t want to see is rents and real-estate prices artificially skyrocketing because the Quarter is suddenly fashionable to the Hollywooderati. If my friends and other people I love to see there have to leave, is it a good thing?

Another important question: Will Brad Pitt entertain me as much as Harry Anderson did? As if Pitt and Jolie are going to show up at Flanagan’s and Fahy’s, much less hang out there.

3 comments… add one
  • ashley January 19, 2007, 12:01 AM

    But if Brangelina wind up leaving, will they slam New Orleans as hard as Harry Anderson did?

  • TM January 19, 2007, 12:05 AM

    Yeah, I read The French Quarter is in a Funk story a coupla days ago in the Houston Chronicle. It pained me mightily to read it there – I thought it had an ugly slant to it.

  • Joel January 19, 2007, 12:44 PM

    Perhaps Brad and Ang will effuse a light, fresh pine scent, and can be used to keep Bourbon Street smelling April fresh.

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