Somebody asked where Hansen's was. It is located at 4801 Tchoupitoulas Street (pronounced Cha-pi-two-less) uptown. Just google Hansen's Sno-Bliz

How sad that this article started about 2 people that were much more important in the history of New Orleans than just their sno bliz stand. Sure, they created the best snow balls ever, but the story is about love and survival. How dare those of you who are trashing their memory in the form of taking a political stand. Ms. Mary and Mr. Ernest were kind, loving people that gave to the city in many, many ways. Thank you, Ashley, for continuing what they started. I'd give anything to have that kind of drive, love, and family legacy. As soon as I can get home, I'll be there.

Just plain grape, please. Two spoons (one for my dog and one for me). Her spoon is free, of course, and sometimes they'll even sneak in a free snowball for her. Or better yet...someone in the line would be so enamoured, they'd treat. These aren't memories of my childhood, but of a mere 11 years ago, when, after 25 years of hard core whiskey drinking, snowballs were my drug of choice. I had one every day to reward myself for the effort...and on a difficult day I'd have as many as it took. Sure, I became addicted that summer, and still to this day crave. But the simple incentive of a snowball can make even a 41 year old do amazing thengs. I made it...and wish with all my heart and sould that there was something like a snowball in N.E. TX.

Thanks SO MUCH for posting this story even though it had a sad ending like a lot of businesses in New Orleans. We need more stories like this one.

I spent the long hot summers in New Orleans at my grandmothers's house on Freret Street around Tulane University and the Plum Street Sno Ball stand was a favorite treat. Years later I spent 5 years in the city and much to my delight the Plum Street Sno Ball Stannd was still a favorite treat. I have grieved for the city and the people of New Orleans. I don't live far away, but my heart won't let me visit yet.

To Dewey and Denise:

Denise - Bravo on your thoughts regarding New Orleans and other areas of the world devastated by natural disasters! I'm going to e-mail you to see what I can do on a personal level.

Dewey: you have got to be kidding me. one opinionated e-mail isn't enough - you need to send another one??? get your head out of the sand and realize that although many of the news outlets have gone on to news about the war and other "current" events (hey, everyone, rebuilding IS current, isn't it?), that yes, the people of Pakistan (I have close friends who are Pakistani and have had family/friends affected by the earthquake) and Banda Aceh are in fact still in dire need of our assistance. Do they ever feel sorry for themselves? Absolutely - who wouldn't? Dewey, you are making an incredibly broad and uneducated generaliztion, as well as inferring that the people of NOLA and the surrounding areas just sit there and complain. They are a hardy, tough and resilient group of people who are doing whatever is possible to rebuild. although we may hear more about them because this happened in our own country as opposed to half a world away, that doesn't make them any more or less affected by what happened to them. If you think that the people of Banda Aceh and Pakistan aren't thinking about the "what-ifs" then you're crazy. And I say again, UNEDUCATED.

You need to stop yammering away about things you know nothing about and LISTEN. I agree with BLT - go someplace - New Orleans, Banda Aceh, WHEREVER - with your hammer and show them how it's done, if you're so smart.

You never said where exactly the hansen stand is located. Went to no this past weekend and did not find it. But we were only in the quarter.

Please Dewey,
Bring your hammer and that wonderful empathy of yours and come on down! Show us how YOU would do it!

When I was a kid, I used to spend part of every summer with my grandmother at her home on Congress St. There was a Sno-Ball stand a block or so away, but I can't remember the name of it. I just know that my cousins and I felt the need to have something from there every single day that we could beg, wheedle or finagle enough money from some gullible adult to be able to afford it! That and the taffy stand are a huge part of my summer memories, and the fountains at Ponchartrain Park, at least I think that's where they were. Most of my immediate family in New Orleans has died off, and there is no one left to ask questions of. They are all in St. Vincent DePaul.

How do you know that the Pakistani people who survived the earthquake or the people caught in the Tsunami disaster are OK and not suffering any more? Have you actually talked to them? Did you go over there and help them? You do everyone caught in a major disaster a great disservice by generalizing their suffering and dismissing their needs. A disaster is a disaster no matter how many or how few suffered because of it. I was once like you. I took for granted that major disasters and loss only happed in third world countries or overseas. I pitied them, gave a few dollars to a relief agency and thought no more about it. This is what changed my mind. A story in the Time-Picayune in October of 2005 told of a group of HIV-positive women in Africa, living in a group home for the homeless raised about $200.00 from work to send to the United States for Hurricane relief. These women only made a few dollars a day and they lovingly sent it to us. They understood what it was to feel loss of a home and family. They did not forget us and we should not forget them and every other person caught in traumatic times. We on the other hand arrogantly assumed that people do not suffer anymore because we did our part and have put it conveniently out of our minds. Are you THAT arrogant to assume that people caught in disasters, war or terror attacks don’t suffer because we do not see them on the nightly news? I recently saw a special on the town and the children of Breslan in Russia, the site of the terrorist attack against an elementary school a few years ago where over one hundred people were killed, including many children. The town still has not recovered and there was very little physical destruction except to the school. But the town itself is dying. People are moving away because it is a place of such profound sadness. I am a New Orleanean who has lost a home. But I am thankful for my life and my family. Other friends have lost loved ones and others had to be rescued from their roofs. I do not want what is happening now in Breslan to happen in New Orleans.

Despite your claim to the contrary that the people who survived the earthquake in Pakistan and the people who survived the tsunami are self sufficient and do not need our help, they I believe, would think differently. If you think so little of us in New Orleans not to help, then please be my guest and send you dollars and your prayers to the peoples of Pakistan and Indonesia. It does not bother me. I would not think any less of you in fact I would think more of you for actually doing something about the suffering in this world.

I lived in Mid-City for over twelve years, then moved to Lakeview with my husband in 2004. My husband I could not wait for Pandora’s Son-Balls on Carrollton to open for the summer. We would meet there after work. I would get a half chocolate, half spearmint with condense milk on top. It looked like bottom of the Bayou St. John, but tasted like a York Peppermint Patti. My husband would get his usual, half black cherry half ice cream nectar with condensed milk. Then we would go to nearby City Park, sit, eat our Sno-balls, and talk about our day, politics, relatives, or whatever came to mind. This was our time.
When Pandora’s opened back up this year, we were elated, given the devastation that hit most of mid-city. These days we try to keep up our sno-ball tradition at least once a week even though we currently live in Algiers. But our Sno-ball tradition gives us hope that city will come back. Every open sno-ball stand, po-boy shop, and little corner store tells us that what is unique to New Orleans is not lost and will be passed down to future New Orleaneans. As for us, we’ll be back in Mid-City real soon, come hell AND high water.

That's quite a story about the Sno-Balls--I've never had one, but they sound truly scrumptious. Not having the means to visit New Orleans in the foreseeable future, I wonder where one might find a SnoBall in Peoria, Illinois.

Re: Dewey's "What's with the continuing stories of NOLA?"

I wonder where they are--could viewers in Nevada be getting a different version of NBC Nightly than we are in Illinois?--because I haven't seen any post-Katrina coverage (except for the D-Day Museum headline) since that which aired last week when hurricane season started--even though I've been watching every night. This is upsetting because of the fact that a lot is still going on there that begs for consistent coverage.

Many other posters have already gone into what hard work it is to actually rebuild after such a catastrophe and to have to deal with insurance companies, etc., not to mention trusting incompetently-built levees during a nervewracking new hurricane season. Add to that problems bringing back to full functioning those services everyone living in the modern world takes for granted--for example, yesterday the Times-Picayune reported that New Orleans is losing drinkable water at an astonishing rate because of breaks in pipes and water mains that still need fixing. Not to mention the fact that people are still traumatized--not only from the storm but also from dealing with the myriad frustrations they must deal with after the storm.

As long as Louisiana is as she is now--with New Orleans far from being a fully functioning city--the cameras should never be turned off. Not airing any Louisiana news could convey the impression to a lot of people that New Orleans is nearly rebuilt with most everything back to normal--or, conversely, could cause people (such as Dewey) to wonder if money is being wasted on New Orleans and if her people are slacking off. NBC Nightly should continually show the hard work that is actually going on and what an immense task it is.

I miss your "After the Storms--The Long Road Back" series--please bring it back.

Banda Aceh and the tsumani, Pakistan and the earthquake. Either one killed more people, destroyed more homes and uprooted more people than all the hurricanes in America last year yet the people have been forgotten by the media in this country.

With or without outside help those people are rebuilding. They aren't concerned with self-pity, worrying when or if the next earthquake will happen; sitting around in government-paid housing suffering from post tramatic stress. They didn't put their lives on hold until things settle down or the memories are too painful - they are getting on with their lives and if that means rebuilding then they rebuild. If it means moving on then they are gone.

Sno-ball was a Friday feel-good story but it shows that there should have been more accomplished.

Dewey, I have just come back from N.O. I am from there and my family still lives there. And funny thing is, before I left I wanted to have a snoball from Pandoras. And I cannot tell you the smiles my family and I had on our faces when we saw that Pandoras was up and running and crowded! It was so good to see that something had withstood the storm.
Perhaps you do not realize the extent of the lost and devastation to each individual in N.O. I must point out, not everyone had flood insurance. I knew of some who did not even have homeowners insurance because the homes had no mortages. Please recall, by most standards, N.O. is a poor city and many of its inhabitants were poor. So how do they rebuild? What billions of dollars? I know of no one who has received these monies to rebuild. Most folks I know who finally received flood insurance settlements used it to pay off the mortage, thus leaving them with nothing to rebuild. And don't forget many jobs were washed away with the storm as well leaving many having to relocate in order to feed their families. And resources such as builders and contractors are spread thin. So, think about all these variables, when you are wondering about why you still see so much damage after a year. And understand why a story about a sno-ball stand re-opening might make someone else smile and think N.O. hasn't lost everything, despite it all.

I grew up in the Irish Channel part of New Orleans and Hansen's Sno-balls were the best by far. It was common to see over a hundred people in line in 100 degree weather waiting for one of those works of art.

I remember the sno-ball shop didn't always have set business hours. But when they did open, word spread quickly and people would come from miles around.

Thanks for reminding me of the good ol days!!!

Dewey,
I hope you were three sheets in the wind when you wrote your comments. If not, seek professional help. You get things right just like a true follower of the W for 2004.
Though I must admit, Presdient Bush has been steadfast in his promises to help New Orleans.

Hey, I'm a New Orleans native & I live in Reno. Don't know Dewey but if I ever meet him, I'll
set him straight. People who don't know New Orleans just can't comprehend the extent of the devastation and the complexity of the economoic, political and cultural issues of rebuilding. Everyone is frustrated!

Thanks for the sno-ball memories. I too remember summer sno-balls from William's Plum Street Sno-balls. I lived on Fern Street then. This was before the days of styrofoam cups. They used those paper cups with the pointed bottoms. We would suck the juice out from the bottom when they started to melt. The only thing that comes close to it in my experience is being a tourist in Rome during August. It was so hot (like New Orleans) and I saw Rome by walking from Gelato stand to Gelato stand. It was the only way I could keep cool. Sno-balls & gelato, quite different but oh, so wonderful on a hot summer afternoon.

Dewey must not have ever been to the beautiful city of New Orleans and two filed an insurance claim. It's hard enough when you are filing an individual claim but when thousands of people filing, it has to be a nightmare. Our subdivison flooded when we lived there and a year later families were still living in trailers in their driveways waiting on materials and/or contractors. All the money in the world is not going to help unless it gets to the right people. Dewey if you're so smart why don't you take a little trip south and see if you can help out.

There are many people and businesses trying to rebuild in New Olreans, but until you go through the disaster, please don't take such an accusatory tone.

People have forgotten New Orleans (and Mississippi) now.....but they are still dealing with it all.
The insurance companies contract out to independent adjusters. My friend had 5 adjusters (they must burn out) and take your file with them (and don't even tell you) So after waiting weeks for a return call (after you call them daily) a new adjuster calls to set up a time to come "start" your claim.

That is only the tip of the iceberg, You have to go back and forth a million times to get everything included on the claim and get the money.

THen if you have the financial means you may have started to try to fix your home, with contractors rates at about three times the pre storm rates (and 3xs what insurance wants to pay). Then they want money and don't do it correctly and you have to get another contractor to fix what was already "fixed", but done wrong if they even show up to finish (even unpaid they leave the job). That is if you even get them to show up to give you a quote to start with.

And don't get me started on the government, they are not going to save the city - it has been pushed to the side. Apparently there is not enough money to be on their political agendas.

They can't even get a company to truck out the flooded cars that are now stripped (tires stolen) sitting under the highway awaiting removal for 9 months (if they even got brought to that point out of the neighborhoods)

Please contact your congressmen and senators and ask them to help at least by making sure the levees are stregthened so that one of the oldest most historical cities in the country is not lost
THey can't do it alone and need fellow americans to call out to the goverment to make a difference.

Would you let New York get taken down or washed away?

I am not from New Orleans, but have friends there and recently visited to help them, I feel it is worth saving. I have contacted politicians regularly to remind them.....Have you?

Dewey, I am not sure why you chose to go off on a rant about things that you obviously know very little about, when all the author of the article was trying to do was shed a little positive light on an incredibly bleak situation.

The extent of the damage caused by katrina is so extensive and widespread that all local and state agencies are completely and utterly overwhelmed. I am a fourth generation New Orleanean and have witnessed the devastation firstahnd. This is not the WTC or Oklahoma city or a few blocks leveled by a tornado. A full 80% of the city proper has been renedered unusable for the foreseeable future. Never mind the mind boggling devastation done to St. Bernard Parish and Plaquemeines Parish. Two low lying municipalities just to the south of the city that took direct wind hits as well as severe flooding. Words can not describe the situation in those two parishes. More than likely you have never heard of either one of those Parishes but they are home to tens of thousands of hard working individuals. The dilemma of how to dispose of the piles of debris still there almost a year later is almost insurmountable.

So though a story about snow balls may seem trite or inconsequential to you, it is a proof of life to those who are living this nightmare. The people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas are incredibly resilient and will most assuredly move forward and rebuild their lives house by house, street by street, one Snow ball stand at a time.

Warren Vincent
New Orleans, LA

i grew up in new orleans and sno-balls are a very fond memory. sno cones just aren't the same thing. cream of necter with condensed milk....yum! my heart breaks to think of what the people of new orleans are going through.

Why we are not rebuilding? Well, Dewey, due to the incompetence of the U.S. Corp of Engineers, the areas of levees that didn't collapse but could have due to being built with the same materials have not been replaced. Some of the people here have been traumatized and are waiting for all of the levees to be repaired before rebuilding and another hurricane hits and more water pours into the city. The Corp did not take care of this city,as it should have. They have admitted that they were at fault for the flooding.

There are many people down here dying due to Katrina after the fact. Take a look at the daily deaths reported in the Times Picayune. There are many more post Katrina than pre Katrina daily.

On the sno-cones: My husband compares EVERY sno-cone to the ones he grew up on in NOLA! He claims none are as good, except the one guy who bought his sno-cone ice machine in NOLA.

On Dewey: Rebuilding? Heck - debris is still being removed! Settle with insurance? There's a huge water / wind problem with the policies (now being corrected by the state legislature). Money coming to the area? None of the locals have seen it. And repairs? We can't get contractors in Baton Rouge, for necessary ADA accomodations because they're all busy in NOLA, St. Bernard, Slidell, the MS Gulf Coast, several hours inland from the MS Gulf Coast where wind damage was sustained, Lake Charles, etc etc etc. But each contractor can only do so much. And they are BUSY with the work they have ... for those who have gotten their insurance checks.

Steve Majors evidently never ventured downstate from Western New York to New York City. These "SnoBalls" are not unique to New Orleans. They have been a beloved staple forever in the Puerto Rican community, where they are known as "Piraguas". They are popular in every city with a Caribbean Latino population. They are also popular in the Cuban community in Miami.

Here's another quite valid reason the rebirth isn't on a faster track: quite a few N. O. locals are genuinely concerned that they'll make all the repairs only to find themselves in the same situation this summer. The Corps of Engineers (who work for the U.S. Government, not the city) simply haven't been able to deliver the promised levee and floodgate repairs by the appointed day, June 1. My mother was displaced by 3 ft. of flooding from her home in suburban Metairie, and while we actually know a reliable contractor who would fix it, we're nervous about the levee repairs, and we aren't the only ones.