With or without power, this New Orleans gay bar remains open 24 hours during hurricanes

When New Orleans issued mandatory evacuations and ordered businesses to close before Hurricane Katrina's landfall in 2005, Tracy Deroche waited until the very last minute to shut the doors at Phoenix Bar, a popular neighborhood haunt in the Marigny. At the time, Deroche was general manager of the gay bar, located at the coroner of Elysian Fields Avenue and North Rampart Street. "We stayed open (before Katrina) until we had to evacuate," Deroche, who lives on the northshore and now owns the Phoenix, said Tuesday night. He had just returned...