It was not a ghost town, and certainly wasn't "eerie" unless you were standing inside the completely empty space formerly occupied by Bourbon Street Grill. Immediately out front of the old Bourbon St. the sidewalk was mostly occupied by casual pedestrians and patrons of the nearby shops and restaurants. GONE are the large groups of desprate whores, pimps, street hustlers, motoconchos, beggars etc. that normally congest this area as to make it an annoying stroll at best and dangerous at worst. Also gone was the endless line of motorbikes occupying every available inch of parking space on the south side of Pedro Clisante.
The restaurants were doing fine. I was there around 9:00pm and had dinner at Elefante Rosso which is about 30 meters west of the Merengue Bar/Classico Disco. Every table was full on the sidewalk area and inside only two tables were available when I sat down. And again I was pleasantly surprised at the recognizable change in the general area. Normally groups of three, four and five guys at a time would pass by, never stopping to eat or order food, but hurriedly and obnoxiously making their way to the bars and discos further down the street with the usual group of street hustlers in tow. Last night this was almost non existent. There was still street traffic with some of the usual suspects, after all several bars and all of the legitimate restaurants are open.
After dinner I sat down at Cafe Cubano for coffee. Again, no more of the constant hustle passing by while trying to enjoy my coffee and conversation. Speaking with the owners for a while, they were also glad to not have to deal with the constant stream of street hustlers, whores running from the police, pimps watching across the street as their "girls" enter and leave Merengue and Classico all night. Most of the nights work for the owners was attending to their clients in the cigar shop and not dealing with much of the filth that can spew into Cafe Cubano from the overflow in the area.
Most of the other restaurants in the area had a decent amount of customers including Schnitzel House, Schlemmer Stube, Aurora's Bistro, Jolly Roger, Central Cafe and a few others I can't remember the name's of.
So the simple answer to your question . . . no, it was neither a ghost town nor "eerie", actually it was quite relaxing.
Sorry to disappoint . . .
Wow.
How different a picture than the mongers were painting if the whores were not there in full regalia. Time will tell if this continues to be the case.