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After 32 chaotic days of desolation and darkness, clashes with armed gangs of looters and long hours spent repairing damage from the bruising blows of Hurricane Katrina, Art Depodesta reopened his restaurant at Cooter Brown's on Sept. 29.
Paul Cosma, owner of the neighboring Uptown Auto Specialists, said business at Cooter Brown's has been brisk despite New Orleans' ghost town status.
All the SWAT guys and cops from out of town are coming in, Cosma said. Last night 30 of them came by in an hour. But who knows what's going to happen in the long run. It's the whole uncertainty of everything. None of us know what's going to happen.
Depodesta said all he can do is get his place up and running and hope for the best.The colleges are a big part of our business so without them it will definitely hurt, Depodesta said. This was going to be a record year for us ... but if we can hold out until after the first of the year business will pick up again.
Depodesta pays $30,000 a year for insurance and $5,500 a month in utilities, but he said the rising price of gas worries him most. Everything comes in by truck and if they have to pay more for gas the delivery prices go up which means I could have to jack the price of a burger up to $10 and if that happens no one gets paid, Depodesta said. The structural damage to the Cooter Brown's building was limited though the roof peeled off directly above Depodesta's newly renovated second-floor apartment. He and Cosma patched it up only to have Hurricane Rita undo their work.
The real damage occurred inside the restaurant freezers, Cosma said. Can you imagine...