LoBianco's Gro. & Beer, Unknown car joint, Winn Dixie

Last Friday was an epic photo-gathering expedition for me. I was out nearly three hours in the midday sun, covering five abandoned sites, also stopping for excellent Lebanese food at Arzi's and narrowly avoiding heat stroke. Problem is, this is a photo blog and my g-damn digital camera won't stop washing everything in blue. So I've decided to post the remaining three sites I shot that day all in one post, before switching over to use my bf's fancier camera. After this post, say goodbye to the blues!

Here we have LoBianco's Gro. & Beer at Government Street and Steele, in the classic Old South style that I have actually never seen outside of movies and TV.

Could this sun-faded promotional Stroh's poster be sadder right now? Not really.

Despite the festive beer-tab-garland and Mardi-Gras and beer promo decor, I can't really think of a time that has felt less appropriate for letting it Stroh, and less like Miller Time. Nevertheless, I still nerd out over people leaving so much behind for me to discover when they abandon ship.

It's only a Gro. and Beer, but even a Gro. and Beer has probably taken its part in changing at least one person's life, I'm thinking most likely in the drunken impregnation category. 

Here is some folk art.

And this just looks so Southern. Also, it stunk to hell of sun-cooking garbage.

Off to a car place of some sort!

I'm guessing this site at Government and Glenmore Avenue was a service station on the site of a former gas station.The garages are currently being used to store mattresses and bags of mulch.

This mysteriously-labeled door leads to the office.

And lookey what's stowed in the office!

We've already got an old Lite-Brite in a different original box, but not an old Samsonite card table like this.

Finally, after multiple unplanned sidetracks, I arrived at my destination: the Winn Dixie supermarket  on Government St. at Rebel that when driving by, I wasn't sure whether it was open and pathetic-looking or permanently closed.

But it looks like Dixie didn't win this one.

You really don't see too many abandoned supermarkets. Pretty post-apocalayptic, huh?

These guys mostly cleaned up after themselves, though. I once heard about this discount supermarket in the town of Warren near my hometown in Jersey that closed down and left all the food where it was. By the time the health department got in there two weeks later, there were maggots all over the meat. Of course that could have been urban legend, but my young metal horror-loving self wanted to believe. 

Speaking of horror, I think I found a clue as to the downfall of this Winn Dixie. I think these clowns brought forth some sort of evil clown holocaust, as depicted in this horrifying poster.

Is that bullshit really supposed to make you want to attend this event? No, thank you. I don't like stuff that murders me. Speaking of which, there was some sort of security-looking dude off to the edge of the parking lot, peering into car windows. I decided to get a closer look.

"I THINK YOU FORGOT TO TURN YOUR OVEN OFF," he yelled to me.

"Oh yeah? Why's that?" Was he saying I should get back in the kitchen?!

"IT'S HOT OUT HEE-YOW!"
"Oh yeah. Heh heh..."

I also found this off-brand of soda, Chek, which marks another entry into my off-brands of Dr. Pepper super-nerd-out collection. Dr. Chek!

At this point I'd exhausted all of my camera's memory. Maybe next time, D-Jay's School of Beauty, Inc. (possibly still occupied?).

Comments

[Beth]

Hey-steve has this record with dick clark doing an ad for Dr. Pepper-pushing the "HOT Dr. Pepper-even more delish with lemon"
Classic.

[Beth]

Hey-steve has this record with dick clark doing an ad for Dr. Pepper-pushing the "HOT Dr. Pepper-even more delish with lemon"
Classic.

[Amanda]

Did you ENJOY A BEAST?

I also love that the clowns have not only brought about the downfall of the Winn Dixie (and humanity), but folded the paper to dispay their own message: "Top us." You can't!

[jew]

I really love these posts at work. I love discovering shit too, it makes me feel like a spy.

[cokane]

Beth, hot Dr. Pepp sounds horrendous. But maybe it's Dick Clark's secret for eternal-teenagerism.

Amanda, good observation. I do not want to try topping them.

Jew, Yay! I've always wanted to be a spy. Except what with my blogging everything, I'd suck at it.

[Big Daddy]

Actually hot Dr. Pepper isn't as gross as it sounds.

We used to have to sell it in high school when we worked the football games.

[julepandme]

are those clowns hurling dynamite? Either way they are scary. And that Winn-Dixie does look sad.

Hey do they have Piggly-Wiggly in LA? I don't know if it's that far west. And how about RC Cola? I think that's one unknown to you yankee types.

[Kartek]

The abandoned supermarket in Warren is not an urban legend. I remember when it was still operational and it was pretty sketchy. It's wasn't a chain store so that probably didn't help the rotting food situation.

[Kartek]

Look! Even clowns are afraid of each other. I knew it.

[Jay]

Friends of mine who, er, know these things say that LoBiancos spent its last years as a front for gambling. A former neighbor used to be a frequent visitor, allegedly.

One early morning I was in the street chatting with another neighbor, when we saw our alleged gambling neighbor walking home. He was wearing a suit, and walking in small steps, a la Tim Conway on the Carol Burnette show. My friendly neighbor saw him looking good in a suit and projecting her voice said, "Hey, you look great, where have you been?" He held up a hand to his ear to show he couldn't hear, so she waited until he got closer to repeat.

But as he got closer, we could see he has sticks and leaves in his hair, and stains and smudges and other potentially unspeakable filth all over him. My now shocked neighbor asked her question, but dropped the first part and asked a gaped mouth "Where have you been?" His reply? "Heaven only knows."

He walked on and my neighbor and I agreed that was a true statement, although I was much later told that it was probably LoBiancos.

[cokane]

Jay,
Either you are more skilled than I at writing fiction, or you are the best ABR commenter ever, or both.
I read this out loud to the fiance, LOLing here and there--the Tim Conway reference? Awesome.

[cokane]

Jay,
Either you are more skilled than I at writing fiction, or you are the best ABR commenter ever, or both.
I read this out loud to the fiance, LOLing here and there--the Tim Conway reference? Awesome.

[Jay]

Thank ya, thank ya very much.

There is at least one more abandon building you have photographed that I have a _TRUE_ story for. I haven't been through the whole site, I don't normally have time with my boy running around.

But the story will probably be boring, not sure I could take the pressure anyway.

[Lynn]

I was sad when the Winn Dixie on Government closed, but I feel worse for the unfortunate people who can't shop there anymore. Albertson's is so much more expensive.

I wore a flag from the last Piggly Wiggly in Baton Rouge as a cape to school one day. Complete with a paper bag crown and pig scepter, I was King Pig for a day.

[domino]

Actually - LoBianco Grocery is not abandoned. Uncle Joe still lives there. Of course, he doesn't sell anything anymore, but he loves to get visitors. I don't think he could have been the man on the street that was mentioned in the earlier post. If someone tried to talk to him on the street he would have invited them inside for a beer and would have talked their ear off about the good old days. The grocery store was opened and run by my Italian immigrant grandmother 80+ years ago. I grew up staying there every time we visited our Baton Rouge side of the family.

[reese]

i remember meeting Uncle Joe as a kid at LoBianco's after snooping around the property much like you were. he was quite old when i met him 15 years ago and invited me and my father in and showed us some magic tricks. His store looked like he hadn't moved anything since it had closed (and I think it and another grocery store were competing with Calandro's down the road - which won out in the end). I'm surprised he (and his shop) are still around. Ahh Government Street. Is the vacuum shop still there?
thanks for putting up these pics by the way, they've made me very homesick, but in a good way.

[cokane]

Thanks for all the extra background info, everyone. Reese, glad to be of assistance--and the vacuum store is still here.

[cokane]

Thanks for all the extra background info, everyone. Reese, glad to be of assistance--and the vacuum store is still here.