Philadelphia and Kansas Metropolis performed Sunday in Tremendous Bowl LIX — effectively, at the least Philadelphia did — however the aura surrounding the sport was all about New Orleans and Los Angeles.
The Massive Straightforward gave everybody the right the place: the Superdome, Bourbon Road, huge bands, beads, parades and music for miles. The why was for Los Angeles, a response to final month’s devastating wind and fireplace that burned almost 100 sq. miles, upending lots of of hundreds of lives in just some quick weeks. There was the pregame present parade of stars lengthy related to Hollywood, from Brad Pitt to Tom Cruise; within the stands had been of us 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 current Grammy-winning track “Not Like Us.”
New Orleans’ message for Lamar and all of L.A. was clear: You might be similar to us.
Almost twenty years have handed since Hurricane Katrina tore by way of New Orleans in August 2005, when devastating wind and water overwhelmed town. The Superdome itself, New Orleans’ “front room,” was battered however nonetheless offered shelter to greater than 10,000 folks unable to get out forward of the storm.
Nicely earlier than Katrina, Tennessee Williams supposedly as soon as joked that New Orleans was one among “solely three cities” in America, and “the whole lot else is Cleveland.” After Katrina, might town come again?
It has. Perhaps not precisely the identical. Perhaps not solely intact. However the essence, the soul of town, it’s nonetheless there — the nice occasions roll as soon as once more. Laissez les bon temps rouler. And the soul of town will not be arduous to search out. Simply discuss to an area for 5 minutes.
Like my buddy’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 some other manner. She made a case for the meals, saying that elsewhere folks simply “eat to dwell,” however in New Orleans they “dwell to eat.”
Come on, I believed. A buddy 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 strictly 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 Road gravy. Po’boy (dressed). Fleur-de-lis. Sazerac. Krewe. Tchoupitoulas. (Warning: Some may trigger a ChatGPT meltdown.)
They even struggle over methods to pronounce the darn metropolis’s title. Some pitch down the center with “New Or-LEENS.” A couple of gussy it up with a “New Or-LEE-ANNS.” Others soiled it down with “Nawlins.” Some may discover that off-putting, however I believe 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 the perfect 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’ll be able to “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 best way out of city, Aunt Betsy went out of her solution to drop off an unlimited tin of pralines (“PRAW-leens,” by the best way, undoubtedly 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 pleased.
So what can LA provide to L.A.? What can the swamp educate the seaside? What can the Metropolis of Saints inform the Metropolis of Angels after final month’s devastating fires?
You possibly can’t maintain an excellent metropolis down. You’ll be again up, and shortly. And no matter makes L.A. one among a form, lean in to that.
From New Orleans to Los Angeles: You might be similar to us.
ML Cavanaugh is the writer of the forthcoming e-book “Greatest Scar Wins: How You Can Be Extra Than You Have been Earlier than.” @MLCavanaugh
