Saturday, April 27, 2024

As the Coronavirus Pandemic Spreads, the French Quarter Empties.

A photo essay by J.S. Makkos.

Jackson Square amidst the quarantine: “Edwards seeks disaster declaration” in the headlines of the morning paper. While people here speak skeptically about “social distancing,” a street sweeper makes the turn.

An eerily empty Cafe Du Monde, in the French Quarter of New Orleans.

There are many boarded-up businesses on Jackson Square, here the Cafe Pontalba.

A vigilant maître d’ near the Omni Royal Orleans stands smoking a cigarette across from a vacant Napoleon House on Chartres Street.

A timely exhibit with words of wisdom at the New Orleans Pharmacy Museum.

Royal Street is booming like a ghost town under the quarantine.

Canal Street looking nothing less than bleak this Wednesday morning around 8AM.

Bourbon & Iberville: New Babylon under the Mayor’s orders and Governor’s call for quarantine.

The Old Absinthe House is shuttered while in the background: workers on Conti St. use a mobile crane to lift a large object onto a rooftop of a building. In the foreground: a social distancing warrior vainly searches for morning coffee.

Workers scrubbing an exceptionally empty Bourbon Street while contractors keep busy renovating a dance club near by.

City workers untertake a timely excavation near Preservation Hall on St. Peter Street.

One die-hard resident wears his resistance on his T-shirt: “Fuck Trump”.

A French Quarter resident in a distant mood from a balcony on Bourbon Street.

A cook from The Quartermaster Deli in sublime contemplation on Bourbon St. & Ursulines Ave.

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J.S. Makkos is an archivist and photojournalist who manages a collection of over 30,000 historic New Orleans newspapers. He is currently a doctoral candidate in Cultural Preservation at Louisiana State University's School of Art + Design and a resident of the French Quarter in New Orleans.

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