The Empty Quarter: A Memoir of My Stay in the French Quarter During the Plague Years 2020–2021 (The Almost Complete Works of The Artist Maxy)

“The Empty Quarter” or The Rub' al Khali , is a 250,000 sq mi. sand desert encompassing most of the southern third of the Arabian Peninsula that covers some including parts of Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.Thanks to pandemic relief benefits i was able to afford to return to my spiritual home in the “Empty French Quarter” of New Orleans from October through December of 2020 and for June and July of 2021.And I discovered that, like The Rub' al Khali, the French Quarter was not avoid of life but was dotted with oases of life and joy.I rented an apartment in a converted creole cottage just across Esplanade on the Faubourg Marigny side of Chartres Street. It was very “affordable” as landlords in The Quarter were desperate for tenants.While a back injury limited my foot travel, my apartment was extremely conveniently located: it was a 2-short-block walk, almost daily, to Café Envie on Decatur and Barracks for alfresco breakfast and coffee. (The view down Barracks Street to the French Market was dismal.)Soon Decatur Street became my haunt:After breakfast I would walk across the street to stand in front of the shop, Kruz, and wait to hop on the #5 or the #55 bus down Decatur to explore the Quarter and visit my old stomping grounds.I might get off at Jackson Square or onto St. Louis and Chartres to the Napoleon House (I had been hanging out there since the 70s) for a cool drink and a “half-muff” or red beans and rice. Shopping for food at Rouses on Royal; essentials and RXs at Walgreens and Wilkinson.While the French Quarter seemed emptied of life when I initially arrived it was also quietly beginning to emerge from Covid restrictions.My friends and most locals were assiduous about masks and social distancing. Tourists not so much. Many avoided crowded parts of the French Quarter particularly on weekends, and stayed away from Bourbon Street entirely.I spent socially distanced time with George & Patsy, Owen & Jude, Russell, Gene, Margarita and Wesley’s wife Nicomus, old friends from back in the 70s.Restaurants, bars and other venues which had difficulty adhering to social distancing restrictions, mask mandates, sanitizing and other protective measures struggled to stay afloat or remained closed. Retail businesses on Royal Street were closed or struggling. At times there was an eerie silence.I discovered affordable places to hang out at night on Decatur for food and drinks such as Turtle Bay and The Abbey which soon opened serving drinks through a window to patrons on the sidewalk. Later that year Checkpoint Charlie reopened.Through almost all of 2020 live music, the other lifeblood of Nola was shut down. There was some street music and The Jazz Museum at the Old Mint provided regular outdoor concerts and a screening of David Byrne’s “American Utopia”.The Prytania bet on New Orleans by opening a mini-multiplex in Canal Place. I joined the fitness center in Canal Place where I reconnected with Walter, an old friend from the Meridian Hotel gym in the ’90s. After a late afternoon workout it was a short bus home for a nap before the evening festivities.During Halloween 2020 the Quarter came alive, full of masked tourists and locals. But some venues were too alive, crowded by throngs of tourists either ignorant or defiant of Covid restrictions. Read more