re: The Old NOLA East - pictures from the Plaza at Lake Forest

That was the best shoppong mall in the New Orleans area back in the 1970s. We ysed to drive there eventhough Lakeside was 10 minutes from my house.

When the oil bust came and then the federal government pulled the contract at Martin Marietta in 84-85 it left the East with a lot of apartment housing stock. The around the same time there wS a redistricting of council districts. The result was New Orleans East fell under the purview of Johnny Jackson who had Desire and the lower 9th. That forced out any representation for the East on the city council.

Jackson began to empty Desire into the apartments and doubles in the East...particularly at first off Bundy and Bunker Hill area off the interstate between Crowder and Bundy. Then came the apartments on the south side of the interstate between Morrison and Crowder. You had straight up subsidized and Sec.8.

At first it was not so bad, but after a while, anchors to the area started to feel it. The Plaza became extremely unsafe by 1990 and the higher end stores were abandoning at a rapid pace. Then Mardi Gras of 1991 happened. There used to be neighborhood parades out there and at the Thursday night parade there was a murder at Crowder and Lake Willow where one gang banger walked up to another gang banger and shot him in the head. After that houses really went up for sale. People were paying to get out.

After a while the whole area collapsed and with it the Plaza. Maison Blanche was now gone, by 1995 Sears had shuddered and Dillard's had become a clearance Dillards.....basically because it had the highest shrinkage percentage of the whole chain. Grocery stores started to feel it as well to the point that before Katrina there were maybe 2 for the whole area. By that time the only people with any money out there were a few Doctors and Saints players in Eastover.

My first job was at the B. Dalton bookstore. I didn't realize at the time what an easy job it was. Later I ran the cash register at Farrell's. Had to listen to the Centipede arcade game all day but it was better than any of the other jobs there.

Notice the picture of the ice skating rink and the crowd gathered outside waiting to get in----you don't see no "fatties".


Amazing how much this countries population has become so obese in the last 40 years.

I was a “pit”. In the mid ‘80s I was a Holy Cross boy living in Chalmette and I was dating a preppy Cabrini girl from Metairie. Her friends called me a “pit” - first time I had ever heard that term. I was smarter than all of them and had a more expensive car than their dads were driving, so I gave zero f@#ks what they called me.

80’s Pat Benatar milf…

Did you somehow think that pictures of the inside of a mall would convey what New Orleans East used to look like? This thread is definitely clickbait.

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When the oil bust came

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Could the Louisiana politicians saved the oil industry with major tax incentives? It seems a lot of the majors packed up and moved/consolidated in Houston. Maybe major tax incentives would have prevented the mass exodus to Houston.

That's a good question. My guess is probably not. Louisiana did so much off shore whereas Texas had a lot in the ground on shore. But, irrespective Texas had a lot of intrinsic advantages that Louisiana just doesn't have. Houston had something the New Orleans area did not....land and with it, the ability to easily manipulate infrastructure like freeways, airports, etc. New Orleans is wedged between a River and a lake and swamps. It's an island. Houston is not, Dallas is not. Atlanta is not and certainly cities like Tampa are not.

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The Pits were the kind of stylish type, nice clothes, well groomed, not particularly tough guys, but could be convinced to mix it up if need be. Wore perma-press pants, button down or polo shirts, leather shoes of varying styles.

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In the 80's, Pits were the metal heads - long hair, sometimes teased up, black metal band t shirt, ripped jeans.

Then you had the Rahloods who were the hey-brah types - feathered mullet, wispy mustache, probably working on their El Camino in the front yard, possibly wearing a jean jacket with the sleeves cut off.

Both would kick some preppy arse by the Lakefront.