Preserving 'Cities Of The Dead'

Preservationists made a pitch several years ago to turn this storied city into "Hollywood South" — an alternative and cheap place to make movies, a living production lot peppered with riverboats, mossy trees, striking architecture and gothic, above-ground cemeteries known as "cities of the dead.

ow, some of those same preservationists are up in arms, contending that a fabled cemetery in the lush Garden District has fallen victim to the very industry they helped beckon to town. The municipal cemetery, called Lafayette No. 1, has become such a popular filming locale, they allege, that it has been trashed, trampled, spray-painted and otherwise defaced."