A Few Victims of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans
O’Flaherty’s Irish Channel Centre and Pub
Before hurricane Katrina in 2005, our favorite place to go was O’Flaherty’s. O’Flaherty’s bar at 514 Toulouse Street was pretty big. It had 3 rooms and was a lot of fun. They sang all the old songs, took requests and the food was not bad. We even saw Garrison Keillor there one night in the Dun Aengus room. He was recording a show.
The Real Dun Aengus
Did someone say Dun Aengus? I love Dun Aengus.
This is the door to Dun Aengus located on the Aran Islands. I came to Ireland with the first Moe, the Moe that Maureen is named after, my mother. When you step through this portal, you find yourself standing on a cliff. On the cliff is a square, stone pedestal about 3 feet off the ground and 4 feet wide. It looks like it’s been carved out of the cliff itself. I climbed up and stood on it. I faced what seemed like the whole Atlantic Ocean at once. The sky and the water melted together and became one. I was inside another place. It was full of light and peace. I gazed straight forward. I could’ve jumped into the water. Then I looked down and saw my mother to the left, watching me. I stepped down carefully.
They say that Dun Aengus is approximately 3,000 years old and was used as a spiritual meeting place rather than a fortress. However, you can see by the thickness of the walls that it was heavily fortified and there are cheval de frise scattered all over the landscape as you approach. Cheval de frise were impediments to would be intruders on horseback.
O’Flaherty was from the Aran Islands and didn’t even learn to speak English until he was 15 years old. He spoke Irish Gaelic. He was very proud of his Irish heritage, as they all are, and often talked about the Irish who built New Orleans, and how much they suffered and how persecuted they were by the powers that be at the time.
Walking to Dun Aengus
Dirty, No Good for Nuthin’, Low Down…
All this to say that the following is really amusing. This was written by, again, Colonel Creecy in his book from 1860 when describing the Irish of New Orleans. He starts by saying that the vast majority of Irish immigrants are diseased and then goes on to say:
By far the greater number of them are of the lowest and worst character; reckless, abandoned, drunken, lying, dirty wretches, who are more at home at the police station than anywhere else.
I come from a long line of diseased, drunken, lying, ignorant McCarthy’s on my mother’s side. Naw, I’m just kidding. Actually, I’m not kidding. Sorry, mom. I guess every wave of immigrants goes through a hazing like this. And to this day, you can still make fun of the Irish and it rolls right off them like water off a leprechaun’s hat. Other recent arrivals, not so much. Make fun of them and risk having your head separated from your body.
One More Thing About Ireland
It’s all right if you don’t mind the traffic.
Tortorici’s
An Italian restaurant that served the best Duck Tropicana. A piano player and gaslight gave the impression that you had stepped back in time a hundred and fifty years. Truly one of the best restaurants I have ever dined in.
David and Rosalyn
We never saw them on the street again after Katrina. It was sad. At least we have a CD.
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