French Market Comeback

Located between Jackson Square and the Bywater and right next to the Marigny, New Orleans' French Market, the oldest open air market in the U.S., features all manner of tourist tchotchke and Mardi crap. There are also some tremendous deals on jewelry and hand-crafted accessories.

It is one of the few places I have found where I can find a large assortment of men's rings to fit my fat fingers, so it earns top spot on my personal New Orleans Tourist Shopping To Do List.

This trip, I was shocked to see how small the market had become relative to its pre-K (or pre-Katrina) days. Today, the space seems to occupy just over a football field's worth of vendor stalls, where in previous years, it was easily three times the length, and I'm remembering about double the width.

"You're right," confirmed Chong, a jewelry seller, who along with her father runs a stall offering custom silver creations. "Not everyone has come back; not everyone can."

While the area where the market is located suffered much less than so many other parts of the city, folks lost entire inventories in homes and warehouses across town.

According to Chong, theirs was one of the first four to return to the market as soon as folks were allowed back in. "There were only four of us, but we sold a lot," she remembers, mostly to military, police, and other security outfits. Her recollection is a combination of matter-of-fact and acknowledged irony: "They all wanted souvenirs. I even went door-to-door, selling Katrina shirts," she said. "Those sold real well."