Les Bons Temps
The bar in the Hyatt Regency in downtown Houston has never seen so much action outside of the Super Bowl. With the hotel booked up with hurricane and flood victims, it's been packed, appropriating the most famous of New Orleans traditions: Mardi Gras.
Daniel Kramer
Herbert Williams, 33, and his son were part of the
group cleaning up in sinks at the Dome.
Daniel Kramer
Click here to view additional photographs by Daniel Kramer.
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"We brought Bourbon Street to the Houston Hyatt," says one victim. Working behind the bar is a tired and tight-lipped Lucio. When fully staffed, the bar has only about six people working, but at the moment it's just he and another employee. He's had to shut the place down at 2 a.m. and kick everyone out to their rooms, unusual for normally staid hotel bars. The most popular drinks are sweet ones with rum, like the Crescent City's famed hurricanes. The party has happened here and at other hotel bars every night since Sunday, when those who got out early began arriving.
During the day the bar is still full. While Lucio talks, a customer comes up and orders a triple Scotch. The TVs play CNN, and patrons talk in quieter tones. Surprisingly, it seems like most are avoiding looking at the TV. With New Orleans still underwater, there isn't much to do other than wait. That, and throw parties.
Mixed Signals
It's hard to criticize public officials for miscommunications during chaotic times like Katrina, as it can be difficult as hell to get coordinated. But those miscommunications can bring added grief and hassle to victimized people already at the end of their rope.
Shortly after noon on Friday, September 2, Harris County Judge Robert Eckels's office issued a press release headlined in all caps "THE ASTRODOME IS NOT TURNING AWAY EVACUEES."
"The gates are open," the release said. "When a bus arrives, medical personnel board the bus and determine the medical needs of the persons on board."
Which was fine, except that at the same time there was a large electronic traffic sign -- the kind that typically warns of an accident blocking traffic ahead -- blinking prominently on the southbound side of State Highway 288, a main road to the Dome.
Its welcoming sign? "EVACUEE SHELTER IN SAN ANTONIO OR DALLAS."
The sign may have been intended for Katrina victims in their own cars, but it was impossible to tell. And not all the buses transporting Louisianans had working radios for drivers to clear up any confusion.
So while the press release said "Come right in," the highway sign said "Don't let the proverbial doorknob hit you on the ass, guys."
Welcome to Houston, in other words.
Cultural Mission
During their mass exodus to Houston, countless Katrina refugees faced price-gougers who exploited their suffering for profits in the form of jacked-up costs for gas, food and lodging. Fortunately there are other, more humane opportunists also seeking gains from the Katrina catastrophe.
Rather than dollar signs, they see a unique chance for cultural enrichment. After all, they argue, New Orleans was home to many of the world's most celebrated chefs and musicians. And here they've landed, en masse, in H-town.
"We need to get an order pad or a knife in their hands and get these people to work," says John T. Edge, a member of the restaurant committee for the James Beard Foundation, which is urging restaurants in Southern states to hire and find apartments for evacuees.
Terry English, a Houston-based jazz and classical pianist, called an emergency meeting of local musicians August 31 at the Magnolia Hotel downtown, where he often plays. It's there that he founded NOAH (New Orleans And Houston), an organization that aims to house and secure gigs for musicians transplanted from the Big Easy.
English started a Web site -- www.noahleans.com -- that includes a database linking New Orleans musicians to professional Houston players. He has also entreated local music stores to offer free instrument rentals and started a "buddy system" in which local musicians share their instruments with refugees.
"I really want people in Houston to get excited about this," English says. "Just think of the music of New Orleans on the streets of Houston. What if Houston became New Orleans in exile? How rich would that be for our community and our culture?"
Maybe the first song they should play is "Shake Them Titties" by the Rebirth Brass Band. Just to give the full New Orleans flavor and all.
