8 Louisiana Things Everyone Over 50 Remembers That Younger Louisianans Never Saw
Some of Louisiana’s best-known places are gone.
But people who grew up near them still remember them fondly.
Here’s a look back at the places Louisianans over 50 remember.
1. Pontchartrain Beach
Pontchartrain Beach opened as a whites-only portion of the New Orleans lakefront in 1928, according to 64 Parishes.
The beach formally desegregated on July 1, 1964.
Two roller coasters, the Zephyr and the Ragin’ Cajun, were among the rides you could try there.
Many people who grew up in New Orleans still talk about those coasters.
You had until September 1983.
New Orleans Historical lists falling attendance, rising insurance costs, pollution concerns in the lake and the coming 1984 World’s Fair among the reasons the park closed.
The entrance and exit building of the Ragin’ Cajun was the only structure remaining.
Hurricane Katrina damaged the building in 2005.
The levee board removed it in 2007 to fortify the levee system around the University of New Orleans technology park.
Psst! How much do you know about Louisiana’s history? Take our quiz and see if you can ace it.
Quiz
Louisiana History IQ
Answer eight questions on Louisiana history and culture. We bet you can’t get them all right. Prove us wrong?
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815, after the treaty ending the War of 1812 had been signed. When did the news of that treaty reach New Orleans?
2. Muller's Department Store
Muller's Department Store was the major retailer between New Orleans and Houston, according to the Institute of Southern Jewish Life's encyclopedia.
Prien Lake Mall opened in 1972, which created unprecedented competition for the department store.
If you shopped in Lake Charles in the 1970s, you may remember that Muller's opened a smaller store at Prien Lake Mall in 1975.
A small Muller's store followed in DeRidder in 1980.
It wasn't enough.
Muller's closed in 1985, and the building then sat idle until 1995.
3. Shreveport Journal
The Shreveport Journal published from 1902 to 1991, according to the Library of Congress.
The paper came out Monday through Saturday.
In 1976, Attaway sold the Journal to businessman Charles T. Beaird.
The paper ran until 1991.
The Handbook of North Louisiana reports that the Shreveport Times attributed the Journal's end to bleak circulation, unfavorable demographics and its editorials.
If you opened the Journal on March 30, 1991, you held its last issue.
4. K&B Drug Stores
K&B began as Katz & Besthoff, a drugstore that Gustave Katz and Sydney Besthoff opened at 732 Canal Street in New Orleans in 1905, according to New Orleans Historical.
The chain had 18 locations by 1955.
You may know the slogan: “If it's purple on the outside, it's only the BEST from Katz and BESThoff on the inside.”
By the time Rite Aid purchased the entire chain in 1997, you could find K&B at 186 stores in six states.
A MyNewOrleans.com columnist wrote about watching a work crew take down a store's big purple K&B sign in 1997, to be replaced with the Rite Aid logo.
The purple came down.
The St. Tammany Parish Library says many people vowed never to shop at Rite Aid again after the 1997 buyout.
Rite Aid also stopped the process of changing signs and slogans to Rite Aid at certain former K&B stores for several months.
By 2018, the same column said K&B lived on as an item for memorabilia collectors.
K&B also lived on as a lyric in a Benny Grunch song about local businesses that aren't there anymore.
5. England Air Force Base
England Air Force Base in Alexandria was a 2,400-acre facility, according to a University of New Orleans thesis.
England went into service in 1943 as Alexandria Army Air Base and took the England name in 1955.
The first Base Realignment and Closure round in 1988 made closing England a possibility.
A highly visible group of mostly elected officials fought to save the base.
The effort failed.
The Air Force had set the last day for December 15, 1992.
The base closed that year, according to a 2022 Environmental Protection Agency profile of the former base.
An Air Force impact statement from 1990 put the base's annual economic impact at about $143 million, mostly from salaries.
If you lived in Alexandria in the early 1990s, you lived in a city of about 50,000 residents.
The same profile says Alexandria International Airport occupies over 2,000 acres of the site.
England Airpark Community also has a golf course and bowling lanes.
6. Tulane Stadium
Tulane Stadium had seating for 35,000 when it opened in 1926, according to Tulane's athletics site.
Tulane Stadium hosted the first Sugar Bowl in 1935.
The Saints came later.
They played there from their first game on September 17, 1967, until December 8, 1974.
Tulane Stadium also hosted Super Bowls IV, VI and IX.
If you watched the Sugar Bowl there on New Year's Eve 1974, you saw the final collegiate game played in the stadium.
The last game of any kind there was between De La Salle High School and Archbishop Rummel High School on November 1, 1979.
Demolition was complete in 1980, according to Fox 8.
7. 1984 World's Fair
The 1984 World's Fair, formally the Louisiana World Exposition, ran in New Orleans for six months starting May 12, 1984.
According to 64 Parishes, it was the only world's fair to declare bankruptcy while the gates were still open.
People still came.
If you visited the grounds in 1984, you were among millions of visitors.
Developer Pres Kabacoff leased the Federal Fibre Mills building, a warehouse, during the fair.
At the fair's close, Kabacoff and a business partner bought it.
They turned it into the first warehouse-to-residential project in the neighborhood.
The fair also resulted in the completion of the first phase of the city's new convention center.
The Riverwalk Mall took shape as a result of the fair, and the fair's International Riverfront building became the Julia Street cruise terminal.
How Far the World's Fair Fell Short
The Louisiana World Exposition tallied around 9.2 million customers by its close, according to 64 Parishes, which cites the New York Times.
That was around 44 percent shy of projections.
The fair finished at least $100 million in the red.
8. Baton Rouge State-Times
The State-Times was a Baton Rouge newspaper that Charles Manship and James Edmonds purchased in 1909, according to The Advocate's company history.
In 1925, Manship created a morning edition of the newspaper called the Morning Advocate.
If you read a Baton Rouge paper between 1925 and 1991, you could pick up both the State-Times and the Morning Advocate.
The State-Times closed in 1991.
The company history ties the closing to television news and the public's changing reading habits.
The Library of Congress catalogs the paper as State Times Advocate and records a final issue on October 2, 1991.
Jazzland's Old Ride Names
Jazzland opened in New Orleans in 2000, and you could find the names of many Pontchartrain Beach rides there, according to New Orleans Historical.
Six Flags made a deal in 2002 to buy Jazzland out of U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
Six Flags closed the park for Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
The park never reopened.
Mega Zeph at Jazzland was a nod to the Zephyr, the roller coaster at the shuttered Pontchartrain Beach, according to the New Orleans Public Library.
Mega Zeph was billed at speeds up to 60 mph.
11 Things Professional Louisiana Pet Sitters Notice the Minute They Enter Your Home
Your dog may be the first to greet a pet sitter at the door.
But while you explain your routine, the sitter is already picking up on details you may never have noticed.
11 Things Professional Louisiana Pet Sitters Notice the Minute They Enter Your Home
9 Things the Word “Natural” Doesn't Guarantee Louisianans
A Baton Rouge shopper reaching for anything stamped “natural” is leaning on a word with surprisingly few rules behind it.
Here's what that word doesn't guarantee, in Louisiana or anywhere else a label uses it.
