• by David Goetzl , March 5, 2009

The head of the New Orleans tourism bureau is giving a quick intro to welcome attendees. Perhaps he’ll thank them for coming to the “City That Care Forgot” as the economy is never far from their minds.

But his speech offers an entrée to dish out some random musings about the city.

---The New Orleans Police Department continues to recruit officers in the wake of Katrina. And former “Roseanne” star John Goodman, a long-time NOLA resident and booster, is helping by starring in radio ads asking people to come serve.

Not sure how many in the 18-to-24 demo know John. Then again, he was in the “The Big Lebowski.”

---A perhaps overlooked gem of a hotel in the city: Le Pavillon. It has roots in 1899, but arguably its greatest night came in September of 1988 -- when the hotel began a tradition of offering peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the lobby each night at 10 p.m.

It started as a guest did something probably never seen in NOLA before or since: ordering a glass of milk at a bar. That led to him getting a PB&J to go with it -- and the tradition was born.

Some guests come in their PJs for the PB&Js.

---Why oh why did the city allow one of the most appropriate nicknames in sports â€" the New Orleans Jazz â€" to leave town when the team moved to Utah in 1979.

Cleveland kept the rights to the Browns name when that team left, while Seattle did the same last year as the SuperSonics bolted.

New Orleans would later pay the price. When the Charlotte Hornets moved to the Big Easy in 2001, they simply became the New Orleans Hornets. Are there any hornets on the Bayou?