Here is a wonderful essay on the character of New Orleans from a New Yorker writer who is writing a book on the city post-Katrina. Essentially, he talks about how the tyranny of time prevalent in most American's lives has far less of a hold in NOLA. It's certainly worth taking the time to look through the archives of the rest of the blog.

The essay reminded me of an observation I'd been struck by after we'd spent some time in the cities of Southeast Asia. New Orleans is often described as the "most European" of the U.S.A.'s cities, because of its unique character and French and Spanish influences, especially in the pedestrian-friendly (also a phrase you can't use very often in the States) French Quarter.
To me, however, the description doesn't quite fit. New Orleans, for better and for worse, is the closest thing the States has to a third-world city. The decay-inducing intense humidity, the cracked streets, the political system - these would be some of the "for worse." The easy-going lifestyle, the very loose adherence to time and appointments, the day-to-day absurdities which force you to laugh and loosen your own interpretation of what needs to happen - these I would include in the "for better."