This month marks the dubious anniversary of our COVID-19 quarantine. It’s been a long year, and many of us are itching to do, well, anything at all. Luckily, spring is also here, and getting outside is the perfect socially distanced way to get out of those sweatpants, off the couch and off to the beach, biking path or neighborhood park.
We are fortunate to have good neighbors along the Gulf Coast with a plethora of places to go and things to do for solo, couple or family vacations…and they are all just a hop, skip and jump away. Our Gulf Coast guide has plenty of ideas for a daycation, long weekend or extended getaway.
If a staycation is more your speed, we explore some of the unique neighborhoods that make New Orleans home. From the historic Treme to the recently popular Freret neighborhoods, we highlight the local landmarks, hidden gems and well-loved spots that locals love.
It’s been a long quarantine year, but the end is in sight and we have much to look forward to this summer and fall. Our new normal changes daily, but through it all we are lucky to have a community so very rich in culture, food, music and history and neighbors that always are ready with a helping hand, advice on the best places to eat and drink or even just a friendly “hey, how’s your mom’n’em?”
They say that “good fences make good neighbors,” but here in New Orleans, we’d also add deep porches, open screen doors, (socially distanced) neutral ground barbecues and a shared passion for the city we call home.
Thanks for reading and thanks for being our neighbor.
BONNIE WARREN
Besides wanting to know about architecture and design, readers of magazine home sections are also curious about the people who live inside. What do they look like? What’s their story?
Bonnie Warren, who wrote home sections for New Orleans Magazine for most of its history, as well as for national publications, understood the people factor and made it an imperative for a home to be included.
Warren, who died Feb. 7, was the magazine’s longest lasting freelance contributor, as well as having once served as editor during the magazine’s early years.
Elsewhere in her career she was a publicist who held high profile accounts including Brennen’s Restaurant, the Krewe of Bacchus and Houmas House Plantation
and Gardens.
She knew the world of the media from both sides, as a participant and as a promoter and excelled at both. She will be missed by the many people who were part of her story.
– Errol Laborde
