Southern Mom posted a response to a blog recently posted by Pontchartrain Pete. Seems SM feels she has a different view than me and Pete of the French Quarter. After having given this some thought, I’d tend to agree with her. Here’s what I think is going on.

Pete and I have many (separate) memories of partying in the Quarter back in our respective heydays. In fact, some of that partying has left us with no memory at all. SM, never having been a big drinker, was never one to get too into the party scene (although she is the reason I ever visited the Blue Crystal). She was always a great friend to go out with because by default she’d be the designated driver. Looking back, I am certain she just LOVED being the lone sober one in the group. What a good sport! No wonder she’s bitter.

SM says that she tends to notice the vomit, the drunks and the men peeing in alleys. And, understandably enough, that turns her off of the Quarter. I am afraid that for me and Pete, some of that vomit was once (and only once) ours; we were once (well, maybe more than once) those drunks. Neither of us ever peed in the alleys–but we both have been with friends that have done so. Maybe our own personal histories with the Quarter make it easier for us than SM to look beyond those flaws.

For me and Pete, going into the Quarter is like revisiting an old friend. She’s still smelly and being violated by today’s youth, but she wears it well and is happy to have us return with newfound respect for her. And we DO respect her. She’s beautiful and reliable and charming. We love her architecture and her rich history. I love that many of the buildings in the Quarter were standing when my ancestors arrived here 150 years ago and are likely to be standing in another 150 years. My father’s great grandfather was a barkeep in the Quarter over a century ago; I love that he and I have walked the same streets. Pete’s ancestors owned property in the Quarter–places that still exist today as they existed then.

Maybe it’s our guilt for having violated her in the past that makes me and Pete make amends to the Quarter by dealing with the dreadful parking and the priceyness without complaint. It’s the least we can do.