In a gentler time, during the New Orleans summer, thousands of people would sleep out on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain.

The $2 room is the one overhanging the alleyway with floor about to give way and wrapped in high-voltage wiring!

Sweet mercy.

When I see pictures of the glorious past of New Orleans, my first thought is: How in the living hell did they stand the heat in the summer?

Yes, I know. As my mother whose clan is from New Orleans says, they were much tougher folks in those bygone days.

I just bet they were. But I guarantee I smell better than any of them after a long, sticky, hot summer night spent in my air conditioned home rather than sprawled out on the front porch because it was too damn hot to sleep inside.

This image looks to me to be a repeat. The frontal scene and especially the ornate grillwork struck a memory chord. However, I searched Shorpy using various combinations of caption words or phrases (cast-iron, grillwork, ornate, etc.) to no avail.

Is this the same of smilar to a posted picture in, say, the past 6 months? (Should I mention that I have been having vivid and interesting dreams of late?)

[Did you search for "Orleans"? - Dave]

New Orleans. Jazz. SAINT CHARLES. Who needs a gilded cage?

I, too, searched for the elusive bird, never thinking to look IN the window. Guess my super-sleuthing abilities are somewhat less than super.

"I'm only a bird in a gilded cage"

It leans to the right.

I forgot to make reservations this year for the Mardi Gras parades, do you think I can still get the advertised rate?

Did anyone else search every square inch of the grillwork looking for the bird?

[Hello? They're right in front of your nose. - Dave]