Philadelphia and Kansas Metropolis performed Sunday in Tremendous Bowl LIX — effectively, at the very least Philadelphia did — however the aura surrounding the sport was all about New Orleans and Los Angeles.
The Large Simple gave everybody the right the place: the Superdome, Bourbon Avenue, huge bands, beads, parades and music for miles. The why was for Los Angeles, a response to final month’s devastating wind and hearth that burned almost 100 sq. miles, upending a whole bunch of 1000’s of lives in only a few brief weeks. There was the pregame present parade of stars lengthy related to Hollywood, from Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise; within the stands have been people like Paul Rudd and Anne Hathaway. After which Compton’s personal, Pulitzer Prize-winning Kendrick Lamar strode onstage for the halftime present, ending together with his latest Grammy-winning tune “Not Like Us.”
New Orleans’ message for Lamar and all of L.A. was clear: You will be similar to us.
Practically 20 years have handed since Hurricane Katrina tore by New Orleans in August 2005, when devastating wind and water overwhelmed the town. The Superdome itself, New Orleans’ “front room,” was battered however nonetheless supplied shelter to greater than 10,000 individuals unable to get out forward of the storm.
Nicely earlier than Katrina, Tennessee Williams supposedly as soon as joked that New Orleans was certainly one of “solely three cities” in America, and “every little thing else is Cleveland.” After Katrina, might the town come again?
It has. Possibly not precisely the identical. Possibly not totally intact. However the essence, the soul of the town, it’s nonetheless there — the great instances roll as soon as once more. Laissez les bon temps rouler. And the soul of the town just isn’t arduous to search out. Simply discuss to a neighborhood for 5 minutes.
Like my pal’s Aunt Betsy. Whereas visiting New Orleans just lately, at brunch I sat subsequent to her. She’s lived her life in New Orleans and wouldn’t have it another means. She made a case for the meals, saying that elsewhere individuals simply “eat to reside,” however in New Orleans they “reside to eat.”
Come on, I believed. A pal joked to me that New Orleans is “both the best-run metropolis within the Caribbean, or the worst-run metropolis in America.” There are graffiti and potholes, and blue tarps on plenty of homes. I noticed a cat-sized useless rat.
However even Katrina couldn’t kill the tradition. It’s catastrophe resistant. It grew again, and can at all times develop again, which is why this metropolis’s message is precisely what Los Angeles wants to listen to proper now.
The soul of New Orleans continues to be primarily oral. They’ve bought so many good phrases. Faubourg. Hubig’s. Impartial floor. Rougarou. CheeWees. Bourbon Avenue gravy. Po’boy (dressed). Fleur-de-lis. Sazerac. Krewe. Tchoupitoulas. (Warning: Some would possibly trigger a ChatGPT meltdown.)
They even combat over methods to pronounce the darn metropolis’s title. Some pitch down the center with “New Or-LEENS.” Just a few gussy it up with a “New Or-LEE-ANNS.” Others soiled it down with “Nawlins.” Some would possibly discover that off-putting, however I feel it’s nice. It reveals they care.
Some New Orleanians could also be wealthy, however cash doesn’t matter a lot right here. The peasants eat like kings. Cafe Du Monde: open 24 hours a day for beignets, money solely. Parkway for po’boys, particularly the roast beef. Turkey and the Wolf sells one of the best Reuben sandwich in America (and it’s meatless, made with collard greens). Or Hansen’s Sno-Bliz for a sizzling day, 86 years operating — so you possibly can “air situation your tummy.” All these rough-cut delicacies will set you again lower than a ten-spot.
Tradition is for everybody. Music and menu-making are mass-spread contagion actions that transmit tradition. Welcome the world by doing one thing nowhere else does.
And coronary heart is the cherry on prime of all of it. On the way in which out of city, Aunt Betsy went out of her technique to drop off an infinite tin of pralines (“PRAW-leens,” by the way in which, positively not “PRAY-leens”). It was that final little contact. The heat. The kindness. Or was it somewhat little bit of a gross sales pitch for her beloved metropolis? I can’t say, however the pralines are gone and I’m very, very joyful.
So what can LA provide to L.A.? What can the swamp educate the seashore? What can the Metropolis of Saints inform the Metropolis of Angels after final month’s devastating fires?
You may’t hold a very good metropolis down. You’ll be again up, and shortly. And no matter makes L.A. certainly one of a sort, lean in to that.
From New Orleans to Los Angeles: You will be similar to us.
ML Cavanaugh is the writer of the forthcoming e-book “Finest Scar Wins: How You Can Be Extra Than You Have been Earlier than.” @MLCavanaugh
