Legacy

Baton Rouge encompasses innovation and originality, ranging from cutting-edge industries, elbow-rubbing politicians and spirited universities to flavorful cuisine, colorful personalities and alternative attitudes.

This collection of characteristics is scattered through eclectic neighborhoods, sparkling like gems in the capital area’s sturdy setting. While generic Goliath-like shopping malls and chain stores encroach on Baton Rouge’s authenticity, local merchants throughout different zip codes are standing strong against corporate giants by selling fare and contributing flare to the historic neighborhoods that keep Baton Rouge real.

The 70808: Perkins Road Overpass Corridor

Stretching from City Park in the Garden District through Acadian Thruway, the Perkins Road Overpass area is a multifarious hodgepodge of shops, restaurants, bars and residents, exemplifying a local microcosm within the hustle and bustle of the city. This densely packed area is a local treasure containing a pharmacy, coffee shop, bookstore, grocery store, numerous boutiques, restaurants and bars within a mile and a half.

The overpass structure was built in 1937 by the Louisiana Highway Department, a creation of the Huey P. Long administration. Before then, trains stopping in the middle of the intersection caused traffic. Besides easing congestion, the new overpass also made the district more accessible to downtown and other areas, said Darius A. Spieth, professor of art history at Louisiana State University.

Spieth noted that when Perkins Road’s perpendicular neighbor, Interstate 10, moved into the area in 1964, it took away many structures, but it also increased the flow of travelers into the neighborhood with the new Perkins Road highway exit.

During that time, the area began attracting Baton Rouge bohemians thanks to the low rent, proximity to LSU and the music scene. According to Spieth, The Colonel’s Club, now Chelsea’s Restaurant and Bar, and Ruby’s, now George’s Restaurant, were the center of the ‘60s musical landscape.

Baton Rouge historian Annabelle Armstrong resides off Zeeland Street near the Perkins overpass. Armstrong, who also authored the book “Historic Neighborhoods of Baton Rouge,” said, “A neighborhood needs to put the welfare of its residents first, not the interests of those who would profit from it and do not care about the heritage and attractiveness.

“I consider that neighborhoods need to band together, establish some rules or guidelines and security,” Armstrong said in an email. “We will always have those who look to make money while not caring for the preservation of the neighborhood’s heritage.”

Christine Caluag, president of the Perkins Historic Merchants District Association, grew up in Florida, surrounded by planned communities and urban sprawl. She said areas in Baton Rouge, like Mid-City, add local flavor that attracts people from the creative class to come live and work in the city.

“People won’t move to a city without any soul,” Caluag said.

Eat: Zeeland Street Market, Garden District Coffee, Digiulio Brothers Italian restaurant,Chelsea’s restaurant, Pinetta’s Italian restaurant, Rama Thai cuisine, Frankie’s Dawg House, Zippy’s Burritos, Tacos and More, Parrain’s seafood, Schlitz and Giggles’ pizza

Shop: Billy Heroman’s flower shop, Country Corner convenient store, Varsity Sports, Coyote Moon gifts, Royal Standard gifts, Amies boutique, Noelie Harmon’s eco-shop, Cottonwood Books, Bella Bella boutique

Play: Chelsea’s restaurant and bar, Duvic’s martini bar, Ivar’s Irish Pub, Zee Zee Gardens, Schlitz and Giggles and Zippy’s Burritos, Tacos and More

See: The annual St. Patrick’s Day parade

The 70802: North Gate

A well-beaten path for generations of Tiger fans, as well as an authentic purveyor of Baton Rouge spirit, North Gate’s contagious character and sense of community reverberates with a lifetime of Saturday nights in Death Valley.

The North Gate has been a diamond in the rough — withstanding decades of changing economics and an ever-growing south side of campus — but it has maintained a sense of authenticity that has resonated with students and residents for the past 80 years.

The north side of LSU’s campus has hosted nearly 450 vendors since 1926, when the original campus moved from downtown. Decades in the shadow of the University brought the area student-oriented businesses, like grocery stores, movie theaters, clothing stores, shoe shops, restaurants, drug stores, hair salons, book stores, auto repair shops and even a bowling alley.

A mix of businesses and countless residents have called North Gate home throughout the past 80 years.  From 1925 until about 1980, most off-campus activity happened north of campus according to Clarke Cadzow, owner of Highland Coffees in the North Gate area.  In 1929, the Kappa Alphas built a stately house where Chimes Textbook Exchange is now, the first of several fraternity houses that would be located in the formally known “Tiger Town,” according to Cadzow. Slinky’s Bar was once Chunky Moon’s Glow Hut ice cream shop, then later The Chimes Theatre. The original Co-Op bookstore now houses Highland Coffees. Other Baton Rouge businesses were former North Gate residents, like The Backpacker, Counter Culture yogurt and Chelsea’s.

Cadzow said Chimes Street provided off-campus housing for the University, but most of the apartments in the area were built east of Highland Road, especially on State, Ivanhoe and Carlotta streets.  In the 1930s, State Street was called Professor’s Row, and up until the 1950s other university employees, area business owners and families populated the area. Ivanhoe was called University Street, and Carlotta was formerly Louisiana Street until the roads were renamed in the 1940s.

From 1925 until about 1980, most off-campus activity occurred north of campus, Cadzow said. While many students live south of campus today, he said the North Gate area still offers the benefits of being just steps off campus and walkable. Most other shopping areas are strip malls dominated by parking lots and chain stores, located on busy streets that are hard to get to by foot or bicycle.  Cadzow continued that strip malls tend to look like the shopping areas found in every other city and lack character.

“The North Gates is a historic, college-town neighborhood and second oldest commercial and residential area.  The neighborhood provides a unique sense of community that helps define the city,” Cadzow said. “Because of its location and history, it cannot be duplicated.”

Eat: The Chimes, Roul’s burgers, Highland Coffees, Reginelli’s pizza, Bacio di Roma gelato, Koi sushi and Inga’s sandwiches.

Shop: Bengals and Bandits, Eutopia salon, Storyville, Chimes Textbook Exchange, The Bicycle Shop, The Ra Shop and Hi-Life Wonderland

Play: The Varsity Theatre, North Gate Tavern, Slinky’s bar and The Chimes tap room

See: North Gate Festival every fall semester

The 70806: Mid-City

Once a neighborhood of honky-tonks in the “country,” Mid-City is now a smorgasbord of blue- and white-collar residences, lawyers’ offices, thrift stores, top-ranked schools, bicycle shops, family-owned restaurants, hospitals and commercial industries that flow along the main vein of Baton Rouge into the heart of downtown.

Mid-City was originally a forested oak grove where residents gathered moss in those woods and sold their pickings to the Schlosh Moss Factory on Dufrocq Street (now 19th Street).  That factory then made mattresses out of the moss, according to Mary Ann Caffery, owner of Caffery Gallery on Government Street. Caffery said that’s why the acorn is the logo for the Mid-City Merchants Association, and grand oaks still stand guard over that history, lining streets of the neighborhood. By 1908, Governor Jared Young Sanders oversaw the extension of Government Street, bringing the country to town.

The diversity of the neighborhood’s history is still firmly rooted today, with many businesses and buildings calling Mid-City home for decades. In the early 1940s,  Calandro’s Supermarket opened on Government Street in its present location. The Circa 1857 Art and Architecture building dates back to 1920 when it was the old Griffon’s Drug Store on the corner of Government and Park Street. Doe’s Eat Place was opened as a honky-tonk in 1941 by Dominick Doe Signa and his wife, Mamie, and it later became a thriving restaurant, according to the Merchants of Mid-City organization.

Travis Hans, owner of Mid-City Bikes, has lived in the area for five years. The bohemian bike man said Mid-City is the best neighborhood in Baton Rouge because of the area’s diversity, with “the hood in the North and the plastics in the South.”

Caffery said Mid-City is a mix of social classes without any gated areas, encompassing a little bit of everything that’s special to Baton Rouge, including restaurants and entertainment, along with the largest concentration of independent, art-related businesses in the city.

“People who value art have rich, full lives,” Caffery said. “People migrate to [Mid-City] because it embraces that.”

Eat: Bistro Byronz, Brew Ha Ha coffee, Doe’s Eat Place, Fleur de Lis pizza, Monjuni’s Italian Cafe and Grocery, Rotolo’s Pizzeria, Superior Grill, Yvette Marie’s Cafe, La Carreta, MJ’s Cafe

Do: Yoga Bliss, RedStick Cross Fit, Agame Yoga and Meditation Center, Corks n’ Canvas

Shop: Circa 1857, Mid-City Bikes, Calandro’s Supermarket, Hemingway’s cigar shop, Little Beaux Feet, Match Point Tennis and Fitness Boutique, Sabai Jewelry Gallery, Time Warp, Honeymoon Bungalow, Bohemia, Caffery Gallery,  Elizabethan Gallery, Gerard Furniture and Gallery

Play: Corks n’ Canvas, Superior Bar and Grill, Phil Brady’s

The Towns: Spanish Town, Beauregard Town and Downtown

In 1699, Sieur D’Iberville and a boat of sea-legged garçons traveled along the swampy shore of the Mississippi River and stumbled upon a red cypress pole, marking the border between two Native American nations. The explorers dubbed the area the city Le Baton Rouge. After switching hands between the city’s French founders, the British and Spanish, Baton Rouge’s cultural identity remains as diverse as the numerous countries that claimed it.

Spanish Town reflects the colorful exchange of cultures since its establishment in 1805, making it the oldest neighborhood in town, according to the Historic Spanish Town Civic Association. But if you visit the residents who live there, Spanish Town is much more than a historical site.

The zeal of the thriving neighborhood located minutes from downtown can be seen in the hodgepodge of residents that range from artists to attorneys, all proudly supporting the neighborhood’s mascot, the pink flamingo — seen strutting frequently during Spanish Town’s annual Mardi Gras parade.

Beauregard Town is the younger,    lesser known brother of Spanish Town, named for Captain Elias Beauregard, whose property was used in 1806 to create Baton Rouge’s second subdivision, according to the Beauregard Town Civic Association. Beauregard envisioned a town laid out in the grand manner similar to European cities with parks, formal gardens and public buildings. A plan drawn by French engineer and surveyor Arsene LaCarriere La Tour featured public squares, plazas and pleasure gardens, a convent, hospital, college, coliseum, cemetery and cathedral, according to the Downtown Development District website.

Located downtown, Beauregard Town is bounded by the Mississippi River on the west, North Boulevard, East Boulevard and South Boulevard.  It once also included the former warehouse district, Catfish Town, before the revitalization development occurred in the southwest area of the neighborhood.

While Beauregard’s grand plan didn’t fully materialize, the tree-lined streets, shotgun houses and welcoming porches offer a glimpse of the area’s ambitious past and promising future. Since the 1960s, this historic gem has been neglected, but recent efforts from the city, residents and the Beauregard Civic Association are revitalizing the ageing area.

While Beauregard Town has lived in the shadow of its serendipitous sister neighborhood, Spanish Town, the area has its own unique disposition.

Tarek Shahla, attorney in Baton Rouge, lived in Beauregard Town for five years. Shahla said while the area is still recovering from numerous years of neglect, the neighborhood is slowly but surely becoming a staple  in the downtown area.

“Beauregard Town is one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Baton Rouge, and it is definitely one of the friendliest,” Shahla said. “Few neighborhoods can compare to its sense of community and its history.”

Eat: Pastime Pizza, Frost Top, Little Village, Tsunami Sushi, Strands Cafe, Stroube’s, Capital City Grill, Schlitz & Giggles, Harrington’s Cafe, Serop’s Cafe, Atrium Buffet, Capital Corner Creamery, Christina’s, Downtown Seafood, Fresh Salads & Wraps, Poor Boy Lloyd’s, Riverside Patty, Sadaf Cafe Greek & Lebanese, Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant, The King Bar & Bistro at the Hotel Indigo

Shop: Capital Grocery, Beauregard Gallery and Bistro

Play: Spanish Moon, Little Village, Tsunami Sushi, Strands Cafe, Stroube’s, Capital City Grill, Schlitz & Giggles, Harrington’s Cafe, Serop’s Cafe, Atrium Buffet, Capital Corner Creamery, Christina’s, Downtown Seafood, Fresh Salads & Wraps, Poor Boy Lloyd’s, Riverside Patty, Sadaf Cafe Greek & Lebanese, Lucy’s Retired Surfers Bar & Restaurant, The King Bar & Bistro at the Hotel Indigo