Masonry Magazine October 1983 Page. 5
New Orleans '84
The place to be January 26-31 for MCAA's 34th International Masonry Conference & Trade Show at the Hyatt Regency.
Laissez les bons temps roule! (Let the good times roll!). That seems to be the unofficial motto of New Orleans, one of the most unique and delightful cities on earth. Generally referred to as the "Crescent City" (because of the curvature of the Mississippi River at that point), it is world-famous for its cuisine, its jazz, its centuries-old architecture, its colorful history, its swinging way of life. No wonder Rhett Butler headed for New Orleans when he dumped Scarlett!
Whether you've been to New Orleans many times, or have never been there at all, it is a place you'll always remember once you have experienced its Old World charm and easy-going lifestyle. (Those who have been there are always eager to go back for more.)
So red-letter the dates January 26-31, 1984 on your calendar. That's when MCAA's 34th International Masonry Conference and Educational Trade Show will be held in New Orleans at the Hyatt Regency Hotel-situated right next door to the fabulous New Orleans Superdome. The official program and proceedings for the Conference and Show are being developed, and will be available to MCAA members soon. Watch for more news in the mail and in the pages of Masonry.
Back to New Orleans. In the 1800s, New Orleans was a naughty but nice town, where proper Creole ladies and gentlemen rode carriages to the first opera house in America, while the bawdier element found entertainment in the elaborate houses of ill-repute. On one hand, New Orleans was a cultural center, on the other, a rough-and-tumble river town.
Today, the brothels are gone. Gambling is limited to two race tracks. Quaint streetcars traverse the tracks up and down St. Charles Avenue (but not Desire Street). And the trolley made famous by Tennessee Williams stands in the French Market. Paddlewheelers still wind their way up and down the river, carefully avoiding the modern ships and barges which make the port the largest in the United States and the second largest in the world.
Preservation Hall in the French Quarter offers toe-tapping, thigh-thumping jazz and Dixieland music-nothing more. Some of the music world's truly great jazz musicians perform here, serving up the sassiest blues-to-bouncing music around, much to the delight of the listeners.