Closed for Storm

I am a retired "senior", I have seen and/or experienced many acts of nature over my lifetime. My fond expression, because it is true, "Mother Nature always wins in the long haul."

In the case of the new amusement park in New Orleans, opened as Jazzland in 2000, it didn't take very long. Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005 pretty much did the deed as it did to much of the rest of New Orleans. The park has remained closed and abandoned since that time.

This documentary deals with all that, plus some recent years efforts to either rebuild it or re-purpose it but so far it still stands dilapidated, just a ghost of its short glory years. The title comes from a sign at the park's entrance which still says "Closed for Storm."

I found this documentary very interesting with interviews with many people, some video of the park when it was new and thriving, some current video of the ruins, and a view of New Orleans neighborhoods in the Katrina aftermath. What the documentary could have used was periodic subtitles that specified when, e.g. "June 2010" or "May 2020" to inform exactly when certain things were represented by the documentary. But overall pretty interesting. I have never visited the park but do remember driving by on I-10 headed east.

I found it on Amazon streaming videos.

UPDATE: March 8, 2023 - It was just announced that a deal has been made for a 4-year, $500 Million project to clean up the site and convert it into a brand new theme park. Most details are not yet available.