To many residents of this storm-battered city, the New Orleans Saints carried more than a trophy when they came home on Monday after winning the first Super Bowl in their 42-year history.

To many, the Saints brought a shot at redemption and deliverance from the terrors of Hurricane Katrina, which flooded 80 percent of New Orleans and killed 1,500 people when it came ashore 4 1/2 years ago.

The beer and oompah music are flowing as ever but there is a mournful tone to this year's Oktoberfest at the Deutsches Haus, a remnant of the city's once-vibrant German culture that faces demolition for post-Katrina development.

First opened in 1928 and rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina's ravages, the cultural center is one of many buildings in a historic neighborhood likely to be torn down for a $2 billion medical complex billed as a centerpiece of city's recovery.

There's a different point of view inside the center that has been a gathering place for generations of families with German roots.

Bourbon Street — where Dixieland jazz competes with karaoke bars, rock 'n' roll cover bands and strip club jukeboxes — is also one of the first places in America where opera was heard.

Now, it's being heard there again, with a New Orleans-style twist.

Performances take place in a hotel lounge called the Puccini Bar, named for the composer of "Madama Butterfly." And spectators sip cocktails while listening to the free, informal shows, which include arias from "La Boheme" and "Carmen."

The lounge is located at The Inn on Bourbon, a hotel built on the site of the French Opera House. The opera house opened in the mid-1800s and was one of the grandest theaters in New Orleans until it burned to the ground in 1919.

The idea of Brad Pitt running for New Orleans mayor has generated a lot of buzz around the city even though he isn't eligible. It also generated some laughs for the actor in a Thursday television interview.

Many residents have been sporting "Brad Pitt for Mayor" T-shirts since mid-June, when a Tulane University professor and two brothers who own a New Orleans T-shirt shop joined forces to launch a quasi-campaign to convince Pitt to run. The actor founded the Make It Right organization in 2007 to build houses for low-income residents who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina.