Missing things in New Orleans

A lot of little things are different back home. And by different, I of course mean missing and gone.

I didn't see a single streetcar. I heard they weren't running at all, but the RTA says that Canal and Riverfront lines are still up, but the St. Charles/Carrollton lines are down. Even though we drove about without "worrying" about being hit by a streetcar (it happens), we both still stopped and looked to make sure- old habits die hard. If you can find public transportation, however, you can ride free until August 5th.

After more than one hundred and thirty years, Hibernia Bank is no more. Blah-blah-corporate-takeover Capital One recently. I know it's just a bank, but it's another New Orleans institution that is no longer with us. I've banked with them for all my life; they had locations in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, so it made my college years easier. They had a few locations throughout the gulf coast, so I could always look for a friendly kelly green sign to do my banking. When we first got to Austin post-Katrina, they had a single branch location here- one less thing to worry about in those first few weeks and a definite outpost to help remember home. Part of the ad campaign for the switchover (you know, the ones that quiet consumer and end-user emotional fears in the face of rational business decisions) included the phrase "The only thing changing is our name." Dammit, I want the name.

Finally, my favorite classic rock radio station, WRNO, is changing formats. (Scroll all the way down here over at the T-P.) So, 1967-2006 for the latest Katrina victim. (Here's another blogger's opinion, for what it's worth.) So, the big brains over at Clear Channel have decided to replace a New Orleans mainstay of classic rock with no equal (literally, there's no other classic rock station in the GNO area) with... talk radio.