Forty years ago today the New Orleans riverfront was overwhelmed with activity as the race continued to prepare the site for the fair which would be known as the Louisiana World Exposition. Opening day the following yeart, May 12, 1984, though long anticipated, suddenly seemed all too soon.
I have said of New Orleans that the city was founded along the riverfront in 1718; yet New Orleanians did not fully discover the river until 1984.
For most of the years after its founding, the riverfront would be blocked by levees, warehouses, docks, ports, and even the Jax Beer brewery. Among the most common riverfront signs were warnings not to trespass.
That began to change globally by the early ’80s as those cities blessed by a big river began shifting their loading activity away from their old docks. They moved to new spaces up and down their river to accommodate modern containerized shipping where goods, already boxed, were placed on larger ships.
Suddenly, cities saw an opportunity to develop their old abandoned waterfront into sites for recreation, leisure and tourism – a far different use from loading grain and off-loading bananas.
New Orleans had an advantage over most cities because the river that created it is wide, deep and picturesque as it carries freight to and from the Gulf and the world.
It happened that in 1984 as fair-goers walked the outer walkways of the pavilions and rode the sky rides they were amazed to rediscover the river. They had known about it but, unless their situation required them to occasionally take a ferry or cross a big bridge, they could live most of their daily life without seeing it.
So, 1984 brought an awakening. Some of the new construction was intended to be reused after the fair, including the buildings along the river that would become the catalyst for Riverwalk and the aquarium. Leisure was now at water’s edge.
Last week, the newly remodeled Audubon Aquarium of the Americas opened at the site of the original aquarium that opened in 1990. Now the once nearby Insectarium has been relocated under the same roof, and there are more touchy-feely displays. Ron Forman, the president and CEO of the Audubon Nature Institute, points to a towering water tank exhibit themed to the Gulf of Mexico. From an upper level, Forman mentions, visitors can look down as though peering into the Gulf. At a lower level they can glance through windows to see the underwater activity. There is a rain forest exhibit. There are also penguins, beetles, stingrays and sharks. A common reaction I have heard from locals was that “I have not been here for X years.” Now they can start new and keep on coming.
Forman, the guy who many years ago saved the zoo and developed the Audubon Institute, should be remembered as one of the city’s most important developers. He speaks hopefully that the revamped facility along with plans for expanding Woldenberg Park (another Forman project), plus new hotels such as the Four Seasons, the rebuilt ferry terminal and cruise activity, should bring more prosperity to the riverfront.
There is a lot to see but I must admit that, beyond the bugs, birds and bivalves my favorite view is seen from the lobby where an expansive view opens to the river. There is such a majesty to watching the big ships glide around the curve that gave the Crescent City it nickname. Too bad so many people were denied it for so long.
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