When I went there in 2008 there was a TON of abandoned and destroyed houses and buildings, like whole neighborhoods... They weren't within walking distance of the french quarter though... St. Bernard Parish is a place we frequented. Met up with this cool old timer local there named... I'm not kidding... John Wilkes Booth... He took us around and showed us some awesome spots and told a lot of really cool stories... I wish I could do it all over again now that I'm a little older and more mature. We did this thing called "voluntourism" through the St. Bernard Project, they set us up with a place to stay and food as long as we worked on rebuilding a house 6-8 hours a day. It was sooo cool... I don't know if any of this helps, but that was my experience.