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Lakeview: From Debris to Delight
- BOUNDARIES: Canal Blvd., Filmore Ave., Argonne Blvd., Harrison Ave.
- DISTANCE: 1.56 miles
- PARKING: Free on the street and the Harrison Ave. neutral ground
- PUBLIC TRANSIT: RTA Bus #45 (Lakeview)
Imagine your neighborhood wiped out by a powerful hurricane, its winds ripping off roofs and water from a nearby levee breach reaching as high as 9 feet. Residents of Lakeview didn’t have to imagine it—they lived it. On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina obliterated this upper-middle-class community, destroying its homes along with its quality of life.
While many survivors relocated to other parts of the country or to less-affected parts of New Orleans, others vowed to rebuild. Improvements in levee strength and flood control helped their cause, and today the neighborhood is as strong and vibrant as ever.
Lakeview is considered one of the safest areas of New Orleans, and most residents have no qualms about taking an evening stroll to Harrison Avenue, where they can shop at Lakeview Grocery, grab dinner at chef Susan Spicer’s Mondo, or splurge on an ice-cream cone at The Creole Creamery.
Activities abound in Lakeview as well, from church and school fairs to the monthly Harrison Avenue Marketplace, sponsored by the Friends of Lakeview and the Lakeview Civic Improvement Association. The event features an art market, music, and food from area restaurants.
Begin in front of Robert E. Smith Library, one of 14 branches of the New Orleans Public Library. Like the rest of Lakeview, the old library was flooded so badly that it had to be rebuilt from the ground up. The process took more than six years, but when the new building finally opened in 2012, it was bigger and better than ever. In addition to 40,000 volumes, the 12,700-square-foot library has a colorful, fully stocked children’s corner, 17 computers, meeting space, and a self-checkout system.
Turn right on Canal Boulevard and walk four blocks to Filmore Avenue. Canal Boulevard, which runs from City Park Avenue to Lake Pontchartrain, is actually an extension of Canal Street, which runs from City Park Avenue to the Mississippi River. Canal Boulevard is largely a residential thoroughfare divided by a parklike neutral ground. Due to the breach of the 17th Street Canal—on the west side of Lakeview—no one escaped the Katrina flooding in this neighborhood. Consequently, houses were either restored or, like the library, built anew. It’s easy to spot the new ones: Many are two- and three-story mansions, some of which dwarf their neighbors. Others are restored early-20th-century cottages and bungalows. Almost all of the houses were built high off the ground.
Turn right on Filmore and walk five blocks to Argonne Boulevard. As you walk, imagine the piles of debris that littered the neighborhood during the Katrina recovery process. Many residents lived in trailers provided by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and for a long time, Lakeview resembled a mammoth mobile-home park.
Turn right on Argonne Boulevard and walk four blocks to Harrison Avenue. Before Katrina, Argonne was one of the most attractive streets in Lakeview, and it is once again, with most homes sporting lush and meticulously maintained gardens and lawns.
Turn right onto Harrison, Lakeview’s main commercial strip. At the corner is The Velvet Cactus, one of several new restaurants that have opened in Lakeview since Katrina. The Mexican restaurant’s relaxing patio is great for sipping a pineapple-cilantro margarita or any number of other tropical drinks. Inside, the walls are adorned with the works of local artists, and most of the art is for sale.
As you make the turn on Harrison, take note of the building across the street and to your left: That’s Edward Hynes Charter School, one of the city’s top-rated public schools. After Katrina, the original school building was torn down to make way for this new state-of-the art-campus. Students, at least those who returned to New Orleans, were schooled in temporary quarters while construction ensued. When the new Hynes opened in January 2012—more than six years after the storm—it was considered a crucial step in the neighborhood’s recovery.
As you continue down Harrison, you’ll pass an assortment of businesses, from salons to banks. Some, like Jaeger Burger Co. and Cava (a bar and bistro), are new to Lakeview since Katrina, while others, like the Sneaker Shop (a shoe store) and Lakeview Harbor (a burger joint), are longtime fixtures. One of the most celebrated newcomers is Mondo, chef Susan Spicer’s “flavors of the world” eatery. In opening Mondo in 2010, Spicer, a Lakeview resident, felt strongly about bringing a new dining concept to the neighborhood. She succeeded, with crowds flocking to the eatery daily for dishes like Thai shrimp-and-pork meatballs, Szechuan eggplant stir-fry, and wood-fired pizzas.
Walk one block. To the left is a strip of businesses that include The Steak Knife, a neighborhood steakhouse; Reginelli’s, part of a local pizza chain; and Parlay’s, a legendary corner bar that claims to have the longest bar in New Orleans, at 60 feet.
Walk one block to Memphis Street. To the right is St. Dominic’s Catholic Church, one of the largest in New Orleans. St. Dominic’s parish dates back to 1924, though Lakeview’s first formal place of Catholic worship—a small wooden chapel on nearby Chapelle Street—opened in 1912. As Lakeview grew, so did St. Dominic’s need for a larger worship space, and in 1961 it moved to its current location on Harrison. Behind it is St. Dominic’s Catholic School, which serves students in pre-kindergarten through grade 7. One of the most memorable days in the church’s history occurred on November 27, 2005, when St. Dominic’s held its first Mass three months after Katrina. The church had been gutted, and there was still no electricity or residents in Lakeview. But that didn’t matter to church parishioners who came from far and wide to attend the service. “This is the nucleus that holds this community together, and this is the nucleus that’s going to bring the community back,” a parishioner told USA Today.
Across Harrison from Smith Library is St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and School, which got its start in a small room at Lee Circle in downtown New Orleans in the 1830s. Like St. Dominic’s, St. Paul’s moved several times before settling into its current digs on Canal Boulevard. It struggled to survive after Katrina, as illustrated on its website: “For three weeks the church and school sat under eight feet of polluted water and debris. The result was the total destruction of the first-floor interiors as well as two single-story buildings that had to be demolished. With 80 percent of the city flooded and businesses ruined, the tragic scattering of our people ensued.” With the help of volunteers from around the country, St. Paul’s plunged into the rebuilding process, transforming mountains of debris into a source of pride. But it didn’t just help itself— it helped all of Lakeview, opening a Homecoming Center to help restore lives and rebuild homes. Today, its services include raising money for communities that have experienced similar disasters.
Your walk ends at this corner. If you want a quick bite to eat or a sip of something cold, check out Nola Beans, at 762 Harrison, or The Creole Creamery, around the corner at 6260 Vicksburg St. And be sure to stop at Little Miss Muffin (766 Harrison), a whimsical boutique next door to Nola Beans that sells everything from children’s clothing to home-decor items.
