4/17/2023 0 Comments Cooter the looter![]() ![]() All over the city, hand-lettered signs are going up in the neutral grounds (the grassy medians where the streetcars normally run) announcing re-openings of restaurants. And this was in the least affected part of town.īut now things are creeping back to normal. ![]() Yesterday I had a long conversation with a woman who told me she was transformed literally overnight from an anti-gun “California liberal” to a rifle-packing vigilante who regarded every black person who came into sight as a potential threat. I’ve spoken to several people who stayed here throughout the worst of the post-storm confusion. Even here in Riverbend, this peaceful, blue-collar neighborhood where I lived for two years, the streets became a war zone. Every time I flash on my mission, I’m chilled to remember that it’s only been six weeks since all of New Orleans plunged into anarchy. In an hour or so, I’ll be interviewing one of the cooks, a man who spent the days immediately following Katrina sitting in front of the bar with a shotgun to warn off potential looters. It’s a wild, rowdy Sunday afternoon scene, and it all feels so normal I could almost forget why I’m here in New Orleans. Just about every other pair of eyes in the place is glued to the big screen on the back wall, where the hometown Saints are running neck and neck with their archrivals from Atlanta. I was lucky enough to grab a chair and a spot against the rear bar beneath the lone TV showing the action from back in the North Country. It’s a big, sprawling sports pub with two working bars and rows of long wooden tables, all of which are currently packed. I’m sitting by myself in the corner at Cooter Brown’s on Carrollton, sipping an Abita Amber and watching my Vikings getting humiliated by the Bears. ![]()
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