Bar owners in New Orleans prepared for a soft opening, and an uncertain one, as they began letting customers in Saturday (June 13) for the first time in months.
Capacity is limited to 25%, live music remains prohibited, and nobody knows how many tourists will show on Bourbon Street in the age of COVID-19.
Pam Fortner, owner of six French Quarter venues, is opening only two of them, both on Bourbon, where the customary blocks-long frat party atmosphere ended in an abrupt shutdown in mid-March.
Now, she’s not sure what to expect. She sat at a sidewalk table at Royal and St. Ann on Thursday, eating a Caesar salad and deriving hope from the occasional out-of-state license plate she saw amid sparse traffic. “I think Saturday will be busy,” she