17th Street Canal and West End Panoramas

The Third Battle of New Orleans Panorama flickr photostream

Yesterday a friend and I decided to go over to R&O's for lunch. As we were more than halfway there we remembered that R&O's isn't open on Tuesdays. Once we got to Bucktown, as expected, the place was closed. Turns out, according to the sign in the window, they are also closed on Wednesdays as well post-KTMB, at least for the time being. We decided to eat at II Tonys instead and were not disappointed. After we finished our lunch I asked the waitress about the status the restaurant remaining in it's current location. About two months ago the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced the location of II Tonys was needed for the now under-construction floodgates. She told us that this is no longer the case and the restaurant will remain as is despite it's proximity to the new floodgates and eventual new pumphouse.

After lunch and wanting to enjoy the ideal weather conditions before heading back to the office crypt, I decided to take some panorama shots of the floodgate construction, the 17th Street Canal floodwall breach, and views of West End and the two harbors at the marina. Overall, the marina appears in much better condition than it did back several months ago (like nearly everywhere else in New Orleans), but sunken and "beached" boats and flooded-out vehicles remain scattered throughout West End. Debris still remains in many places, but much has been cleared in the past couple of months compared to how it was. Nearly every boathouse is completely decimated with its bottom and sometimes its second floor completely blown out from the force of the storm surge. The pedestrian bridge that connected West End to Bucktown survived the storm (unlike the Georges-destroyed original Brunings, the "temporary"/"waiting on insurance" since Georges Brunings, The Dock, Jaegers, and Fitzgeralds) but has been dismantled to allow barges and work boats access to the floodgate construction underway at the mouth of the 17th Street Canal and Lake Pontchartrain. The collapsed West End Lighthouse rests on the ground and the burnt remains of the Southern Yacht Club have been bulldozed and replaced with temporary modular buildings.


Check it out for yourself here. For maximum detail, be sure to view each image at its original resolution.