Relocation Advice - New Orleans
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Hey guys.
Recently landed a staff position on the ground floor of Gamesloft's upcoming New Orleans Studio.
I'll be a west coast transplant that has never been to the area, so I really don't know what to expect, or where I should even look for a place. So just looking for any advice about the area.
I've heard that I really need to fly out there and see a place in person if I plan to move into some areas of New Orleans, as there are still some areas that are in the process of re-building.
I'm also curious about the suburb towns and how they compare to the city itself.
Any advice is helpful at this point, as google searching doesn't really seem to help much when most of the info is from tourism sites.
Recently landed a staff position on the ground floor of Gamesloft's upcoming New Orleans Studio.
I'll be a west coast transplant that has never been to the area, so I really don't know what to expect, or where I should even look for a place. So just looking for any advice about the area.
I've heard that I really need to fly out there and see a place in person if I plan to move into some areas of New Orleans, as there are still some areas that are in the process of re-building.
I'm also curious about the suburb towns and how they compare to the city itself.
Any advice is helpful at this point, as google searching doesn't really seem to help much when most of the info is from tourism sites.
Replies
Carpooling / public transportation would be nice, but I'm fine commuting from outside New Orleans if it comes to it.
Yeah, the flood zone thing is something that is defiantly effecting my decision, but it doesn't help that on average, the whole city sits 7 feet below sea level.
From what I've heard from others, a lot of the city is still in a perpetual state of being re-built. So on one block, you can have literally a brand spanking new home built from the foundation up in a nice neighborhood, and a few blocks down it becomes shady because nothing has been done to the area.
For a guy moving from the other side of the country just looking at the general info found online and on the real estate websites, to me it just seems like too much of a craps shoot to really peg down a decent place to live. Just because I'm unfamiliar with what neighborhoods / wards are safe neighborhoods to live in / above the flood zone.
I'm actually pretty curious about the outlining suburbs of New Orleans, and if things are a bit more predictable / stable in those areas.
I'm already looking online at everything, but I feel like I can really benefit from some advice from someone who has either lived or been there in the last 5 years.
Thanks guys.
If you can afford and and it's near to work I'm sure living in the older part of the city would be great.. I'm pretty sure that's one of the least effected areas by flooding but I could be wrong.
It's definitely a party town, hope your liver is prepared!
Things I remember most clearly...
The traffic made me want to die, it was a REALLY diverse place to live - you had all sorts, and it had a big "party" mentality as mentioned above, also...good food to try. Oh, bit of a side note, Mardi Gras parades and the like - lots of people, fun to experience at least once, but don't let yourself go too much. Shit can be dangerous sometimes. Especially in New Orleans, pretty hectic.
If I had to make a suggestion, I personally would try to live in one of the outlining suburbs. Gives you (a little) freedom of choice when participating in that cajun lifestyle.
All three areas are south of St Charles St; Rampart/St Claude.
Uptown is roughly between Louisiana going West to Audubon Park/Tulane University;
Garden District is between Louisiana going East to Downtown, boundry is roughly under the Ponchatrain Express Way;
Magazine St runs from Lower Garden west, through Uptown, with alot of bars and antique shops along the way.
French Quarter is East of Downtown, from Canal to Esplanade;
Bywater is between Esplanade and Poland. East of Poland is the 9th Ward.
North of Bywater past St Charles things start to look really run down.
@ Two Listen: Not sure if you've lived or have driven around the San Francisco bay area, but if you have, would you compare the traffic over there to over here? (As it gets pretty bad over here during commute hours.)
The "dangerous" thing is kinda what worries me the most. As much as New Orleans has a rep for being a big party town the truth of it is that I'm really not all that interested in that. I'm moving out there to work with my wife, and all of my stuff, and the last thing I want is for me to be in a "fun" part of town only to get my Cintiq, or computer equipment stolen to a home break in.
Its kinda why I'm more interested in the surrounding suburbs, as Its my hope that they are a bit more stable then what I hear New Orleans is. But sadly, because they aren't big towns, its hard to find information on them.
The danger I was referring to was mostly tied to my Mardi Gras comment, the parties and such. Seems like accidents mostly. When I was down there it wasn't so much a danger of shit getting stolen, it was the things that happened at night during the parties or on the streets with people being stupid. Accidents and things, mostly. I was younger down there, and so didn't obviously get into any of the night crowd myself. It was easy enough for my family to mind our own business.
And like I said before, there's diversity, so if you find the right area I think you should be just fine. To be honest on the whole, I found a lot of the people down there to be overall more tolerant than a lot of people up north. They're sort of forced to be.
Congrats on the gig too! I heard they were starting a new studio there. Gameloft is sprouting up everywhere.