The New Orleans City Council gave their official endorsement Thursday of the St. Charles Streetcar Line's application to become an official National Historic Landmark. Not just a place where Paul McCartney will serenade unsuspecting football fans, the streetcar line is featured on postcards and often filmed and cited as an obvious cultural representation to the City of New Orleans. 

Following up her plea to police on behalf of blockaded Uptown paradegoers, City Councilwoman LaToya Cantrell will be holding a roundtable discussion on Saturday, March 30. The issue at hand is the intrusion of ladders and tents, as well as the general partitioning of neutral grounds, which impedes the rights of all citizens to watch the floats go by from an advantageous angle.

by Mary Kilpatrick

Even criminals need to make drug store runs. Over the weekend, one such pharmacy fugitive learned that if you bring a gun, you get to skip the long lines. The New Orleans Police Department is searching for the man involved in the Saturday morning armed robbery at a Garden District Rite Aid. A second suspect who likes to-go drinks for free at a Hollygrove CVS also made the cop's list.

If you’re experiencing hunger pains on the parade route, don’t let fast food carts get the best of you. Cleaver & Co. is delivering Crescent City classics like red beans, gumbo, boudin, and Bloody Mary mixes by bike. The locavores are known for their whole animal philosophy, but they’re taking a stab at pre-prepared meals and putting the carne in Carnival.

While Zulu and their golden coconuts tend to steal the spotlight as the last and oldest African-American parade to round out the Carnival season, no one can forget about the first float out of the gate.  For more than 15 years, the all African-American Krewe of Oshun has rolled down the Uptown streets, kicking off the carnival season with their mix of vibrant floats and African inspired themes.   

There's one less place to get daiquiris on St. Charles Ave. tonight. Daiquiri Place Cafe, located at the corner of St. Charles and Thalia St., lost its alcohol permits by a vote of the City's Alcohol Beverage Control Board. City government targeted the spot as a nuisance bar because of violations of a 2007 agreement, which required the bar to provide security, pick up litter and close at a prescribed time.

Grub out at the Po-Boy Festival on Oak, see elaborate hats parading down the avenue, and a free film series in the Marigny with DJ Soul Sister later this evening. On this day in 1993, Pearl Jam front man Eddie Vedder was arrested and booked in OPP for a drunken Decatur Street brawl in which he spat on a waiter. Now, for more Sunday happenings.

As New Orleans gets back to work today, most public transportation is back up and running on land and air, but gaps remain by River. The Louis Armstrong and Lakefront Airports opened over the weekend. As of today, all RTA bus routes are back in service, with the exception of one detour on the Algiers Loop, which will head off Patterson to Elmira, and make its way to Veret on Opelousas, instead of its normal route. Streetcars are also back in service down Canal Street, but buses remain on the St. Charles Avenue route. The Riverfront line is also out of service. Then there is the matter of ferries.

A manager of Houston's Restaurant on St. Charles Ave. was robbed early Saturday morning. A man walked through an open back door, knocked on the office door, then pulled a revolver.

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As foretold to us by the Fresh-masters, the transformation of that one-time funeral home into a grocery store at the corner of St. Charles and Louisiana is complete. The Fresh Market opens today in the space, offering amenities that include a fully stocked produce section, deli and seafood counter and bakery. Uptown Messenger got a sneak peek of the North Carolina chains New Orleans incarnation yesterday, and found the Mousse Truffee so you don't have to.