NEW ORLEANS -- The drinks are flowing and the music is bumping.
From the moment she opened her doors, it's clear the party followed Bertha to the new Bertha's Place.
"It's not a bar, it's not a club, it's a place where people get together and show much love," Bertha Bradley said.
The grand re-opening comes after a fire broke out next to the original Bertha's Place on Basin Street back in January. The bar and restaurant was damaged beyond repair. It was demolished this week.
"I had been there 23 years," Bertha said. "I didn't expect this to happen. It was a tragedy and I didn't know where to go."
Now, it's time to make new memories at the new location on St. Bernard Avenue. It's complete with two full bars and a dance floor, but more important is the same hospitality that Bertha Bradley is known for.
"It's not the building, it's the person," Mike Dummett, a regular, said. "Wherever she goes, she is going to be loved and we are going to support her."
The old location was landmark for many, but you can't go back. Bertha says the only was she's going is forward, even if she has to shed some tears along the way.
"I thought the road was closed, but God opened a bridge and I'm so thankful," she said.
And the community she's catered to for decades came over that bridge with her.