Another One Bites the Dust...

A steamy Sunday night, the crowd is dressed in red and black, the staff in French maid uniforms. A band is playing in the background as people mingle reminiscing of past parties and wonder what will happen in the future. At 11pm a brass band starts playing and the crowd starts a second line around the club, many with tear in their eyes... Another typical night in New Orleans... Not quite...

We were once again spared a direct hit from a tropical system - Barry decided to pay a visit on the panhandle of Florida instead - But we did not miss another type of direct hit. The "Top of the Mart" lounge on the 32nd floor of the "World Trade Center Building" at the foot of Canal Street and the Mississippi River is the latest casuality in the name of progress and more hotel space for downtown New Orleans.

The 35 year old city landmark that has been home to generations of prom nights, lovers watching sunsets, proposals, and weddings, is going to be missed by locals and visitors alike. With, what is perhaps, the best view of the city "Top of the Mart" rotates clockwise (still using its original motor) at 3 feet per minute offering spectacular views of the French Quarter, Mississippi River, Algiers Point, the Central Business District and Canal Street. Many a New Year's Eve party goer has enjoyed watching the fireworks over the Mississippi at "eye level."

From the murals and Carnival Krewe plaques on the walls, depicting both the history and traditions of New Orleans, to the red crushed velvet drapes around the windows this is a uniquely New Orleans kind of place.

The "Top of the Mart" has witnessed countless Carnival parades rolling down Canal Street, seen the last of the old Canal Street streetcars in the 60's and their rebirth at the start of the new century. The first 18 floors of the building will be redone and open in November as a 700 room Crown Plaza hotel. The lounge is being taken over by Rande Gerber (Cindy Crawford's husband and heir to the Gerber baby food fortune) who, with some local partners, will reopen it as an updated "swank" lounge called "Whiskey Sky." Will it still rotate? Most think not but only time will tell.

While Sunday, August 12th was the official closing party the lounge will not actually shut down until Saturday, August 18th so there is still time to relive some of those old memories or to take a last look at another uniquely New Orleans landmark that following in the path of the purple of K&B drugstores, shopping at Krauss and Maison Blanche or "makin groceries" at Schweggmans - is passing into our memories...

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