Our Daily Bleg: What Should I Know About New Orleans?

I’m moving to New Orleans in a month (and continuing as editor of this blog from there).

I’ve gotten mixed opinions about quality of life from people who live there, but they all agree on two things: the food is spectacular; the weather is sweltering — and obviously, at times, extremely threatening.

So for readers who live in the Crescent City or know a lot about it, I have four questions:

1. Where’s the best area for a 20-something female from New York to live. (I won’t have a car for the first month.)
2. Why are open-flame heaters still widely used in the winter?
3. I want to volunteer: which organizations are doing the most for the city’s recovery?
4. What’s the single most important thing a new New Orleanean should know?

Since I won’t pay $2,635 for a U-Haul truck, there’s a good chance my moving vehicle will look something like this:

Photo: The O.C. Register