Lakeview, New Orleans
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lakeview is a section of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the north west of the city.
It was first developed upon drained swampland and is bordered by water on three sides. By Lake Ponchartrain in the north, by the 17th Street Canal on the West side, and by the Orleans Avenue Canal on the East side. Major north-south roads are Pontchartrain Boulevard, West End Boulevard, and Canal Boulevard; major east-west roads include Harrison Avenue and Robert E. Lee Boulevard. The greater Lakeview area is divided into various neighborhoods, with Lakeview proper in the north east quarter, West End to the north west, Lakewood to the south east, and Navarre to the south east.
With its easy access to the waters of Lake Pontchartrain, Lakeview has a large sailing and boating community and is served by two yacht clubs, the New Orleans Yacht Club and Southern Yacht Club. The neighborhood is dominated by two large parks, New Basin Canal Park and City Park. Lakeview also incorporates the historic and recreational West End neighborhood.
[edit] History
In the 19th century and early 20th century, the area was mostly undeveloped swamp. The New Basin Canal was cut through the area in the early 19th century.
Large scale residential development of most of the area began after World War II with the predominent housing style being bungalows. It has always been one of the few predominantly caucasian neighborhoods in New Orleans. Originally it was mostly middle class, but became more economically upscale. In the late 20th century, many McMansions replaced older more modest homes in much of Lakeview.
[edit] Hurricane Katrina
Lakeview was the second most damaged area of New Orleans, after the Lower Ninth Ward. Storm surge crushed the floodwalls of the 17th Street Canal and inundated the neighborhood in a matter of minutes, uprooting trees, and even completely washing away some houses upon impact. Some areas received as much as fourteen feet of floodwater. Fortunately, most of the residents had the means to escape the city before the storm came ashore, but their homes were not so lucky. When the water was pumped out, the scene became even more grisly, as there was more furniture in the streets than in most houses, and despite beliefs that everyone in the neighborhood had left, decaying bodies were found in the attics of several houses, additional corpses were discovered as late as March of 2006. Despite all of this, most people say that they will repair and restore their homes and try as hard as possible to rebuild their lives just as they were pre-Katrina. As of April 2006, only a handful of homes have been restored. A good number more of the 2 story homes have been reoccupied in the upstairs while the flooded downstairs is gutted and repaired. But the majority of houses are still unoccupied, many still filled with flood trashed possessions and infestations of mold.
