Three in a row on Florida Road

First up we have UPT Restaurant, otherwise known as Matrixx Restaurant and Tavern.

Open 10 AM. Til.... Til when? There's not even a question mark. But I think we know the answer. Open 10 AM. Til not anymore.

What sort of restaurant was this? From the context clues, it looked like a place where a man could take his lady to share some pink zin together. A place where the stars of Poetic Justice could be waited on by a Ken doll. And that right there is a sittin' crate if I ever saw one.

Let's go around back.

That's about the prettiest view back here, because our friend the amateur muralist was also commissioned to illustrate the parking lot walls. From this mural, we can deduce the The Matrixx was a very accepting place, where a mechanic could come in his coveralls to dance with a shemale, where lesbians were free to pose like Johnny Castle and Baby, and where a Rastafarian could freak right along next to some wheelers and dealers from some earlier time period.

Next door is J's Upholstery Entp.

One of the J. Upholstery buildings also used to be a hair salon.

Outside was a white van for the business that looked like it was in running condition, but the business phone number painted on the side was disconnected. Inside: table for six, with little or no dust.

And more abandoned furniture!

Hello, awesome unclaimed and hopefully not haunted mirror?!

And now on to Miracles on Florida Street. Er, Road.

Best part?

How is this lawn more freshly cut than mine?

Here's J. Upholsterly's signless signpost, and in the background is the Deco home of Kingdom Life Interdenominational Church.

Rather, was. I didn't go over, thinking they were still open. But I just called their phone number I found online and it was temporarily disconnected. So it's really four abandoned buildings in a row. I'll end this with a question: What's that red light for on the front of the building?  Oh, Baton Rouge. So full of mystery.

Comments

[jew]

Awesome, i love murals! That red light reminds me of the one in The Aviator... possibly Howard Hughes is inside?

[Barou Native]

The building UPT was a club. It has had many names over the years. Everytime there would be a shooting so they would close for a bit and then open with a new name. UPT stands for Uptown. If you look in old "The Advocate" editions from 2002-2003 you will read about all the violence there. Around that time a guy was killed by a stray bullet while sitting in traffic near the club. It closed not long after that.

[Jules]

Very cool murals. But wow does BR seem creepy!

[Kettle]

I always wondered about UPT when I'd drive by it. The cemetery up the road (I think it's 21st street?) makes me sad, though.

[Big Daddy]

Actually, those English Rococo chairs that look like Chippendales are worth a lot of money if they're real.

[Google image search Chippendale Chairs since typepad won't let me link.]

Sorry, design school talking.

[ecs]

You know an area is blighted when even the church is empty. Highland Park, a district of Detroit, is left with churches and Popeye's...a few years ago, the city went bankrupt and could no longer afford police or fire services, so not a lot of businesses are thriving...

[JJ]

The Bail Bonds office down Government st has a similar mural that looks a lot like the ones on florida..I think the guy behind bars has a thought baloon with Please come!

[Kartek]

That reminds me of a class I had where they talked about really urban areas going back to nature....like in Detroit. Maybe that's what's going to happen in BR?

[laura]

mocking poverty is very witty, especially from an out of town white girl who is content to be a leech on the back of said impoverished community. haven't you noticed how awesome the people in this town are, giving you a warm welcome despite your snottiness? so the question is, what are you going to contribute to this place?

[laura]

mocking poverty is very witty, especially from an out of town white girl who is content to be a leech on the back of said impoverished community. haven't you noticed how awesome the people in this town are, giving you a warm welcome despite your snottiness? so the question is, what are you going to contribute to this place?

[br resident]

Laura-

Can you please express for the rest of us who aren't quite following your deductions regarding Ms. Kane's "racism" and "leeching" just what is it you are spouting off about?

Oh, and just a warning...be careful when you sit down, that stick up your ass may poke all the way through your brain as it must be huge to make you want to write such a response.

Is your name "Natalie", by chance?

[cokane]

barou native, I didn't find any of those articles online, but yikes! thanks for the background.

kettle, i still want to check out that cemetery.

big daddy, cool! you take the Chipp chairs, I'll take that mirror...

JJ--ha, I think I've seen that!

laura, if you found something to offend you in this blog...maybe you shouldn't be reading blogs. now back i go to leeching on the back of impoverished communities!

br res, mmm hmm!

[bpr]

BR has a plethora (Would you say I have a plethora of abandoned buildings? Yes, El Guapo.) of dilapidated, abandoned buildings. I'm glad that people are taking an interest in documenting them. This town has a history of eating its historical buildings for no good reason.

Getting off of the main thoroughfares can be an eye-opening experience. If you haven't, you might want to check out the blocks between the Lincoln Theatre and the new Carver Library for some amazing spaces and dilapidated buildings.

- if you have a library card you can search the Advocate's archives (excluding classifieds, advertisements, and syndicated material) back to 1985-86, through the database, newsbank, offered by the EBRPL.

[Alistair]

I have a feeling the Ken-doll waiter is a not-so-subtle racial fantasy entertained by the artist and management, alike. The idea of a lily-white waiter serving people who resemble the cast of Poetic Justice probably appealed to most of the club's clientele, as well.

[laura]

No racism implied (not sure why it's in quotes, br rez, cause the word wasn't in my post), though I admit I slipped into a bit of it myself...sorry about that.

It's just a bit tough not to choke on jokes made by a gal who likes to "tell it like it is" about a place about which she clearly knows nothing. Sometimes humility is more appropriate when you're new somewhere; smug is hard for me to digest.

I read plenty of blogs that are funny, and critical, and constructive, and yet avoid the mind-blowing smugness and egocentrism of this one. And Colleen, if you don't like responses like this, maybe you shouldn't be publishing a blog.

What you're making fun of, is called blight, and there are people who live in it and who don't have the option to move due to something called generational poverty. It's a thing that lots of people in this town are working pretty hard to change, and it's freaking infuriating for you to mock a place as if it doesn't mean anything to anyone, as if nobody lives here--or even worse, as if the yokels who live here don't get to be part of the conversation. Trust me, the conversation about what's wrong here and what to do about it has been going on since long before you got here, and it will continue long after you've left.

So feel free to tell me about the stick up my ass (it's called a social conscience), tell me to stop reading the blog (done and done, after this tirade), call me Natalie if you must, but for fuck's sake, please go talk to the people whose neighborhoods you're writing about, who live in poverty not two blocks from these buildings: and don't do it like a patronizing anthropologist, but like a human being who might be able to learn something from another human being with a vastly different life from you.

The best part about my plan is this: if you actually bother to ask about places like UPT, or about the "10 til" thing (it's a regional thing), the stories you'll hear will be far more entertaining that your tepid speculation.

Okay. I'm done.

[laura]

No racism implied (not sure why it's in quotes, br rez, cause the word wasn't in my post), though I admit I slipped into a bit of it myself...sorry about that.

It's just a bit tough not to choke on jokes made by a gal who likes to "tell it like it is" about a place about which she clearly knows nothing. Sometimes humility is more appropriate when you're new somewhere; smug is hard for me to digest.

I read plenty of blogs that are funny, and critical, and constructive, and yet avoid the mind-blowing smugness and egocentrism of this one. And Colleen, if you don't like responses like this, maybe you shouldn't be publishing a blog.

What you're making fun of, is called blight, and there are people who live in it and who don't have the option to move due to something called generational poverty. It's a thing that lots of people in this town are working pretty hard to change, and it's freaking infuriating for you to mock a place as if it doesn't mean anything to anyone, as if nobody lives here--or even worse, as if the yokels who live here don't get to be part of the conversation. Trust me, the conversation about what's wrong here and what to do about it has been going on since long before you got here, and it will continue long after you've left.

So feel free to tell me about the stick up my ass (it's called a social conscience), tell me to stop reading the blog (done and done, after this tirade), call me Natalie if you must, but for fuck's sake, please go talk to the people whose neighborhoods you're writing about, who live in poverty not two blocks from these buildings: and don't do it like a patronizing anthropologist, but like a human being who might be able to learn something from another human being with a vastly different life from you.

The best part about my plan is this: if you actually bother to ask about places like UPT, or about the "10 til" thing (it's a regional thing), the stories you'll hear will be far more entertaining that your tepid speculation.

Okay. I'm done.

[cokane]

bpr, thanks, I don't think I've been over that way yet.

laura, this blog is pretty much my way of asking about these places, and in some cases people have responded in the comments with background on them. I love when that happens. I'm not blogging as an anthropologist or a journalist, just someone new who's intrigued.
I use the same "smug" voice throughout this blog. Surely you're not suggesting I use a more somber voice because of the race issues involved with this particular site.

[cokane]

bpr, thanks, I don't think I've been over that way yet.

laura, this blog is pretty much my way of asking about these places, and in some cases people have responded in the comments with background on them. I love when that happens. I'm not blogging as an anthropologist or a journalist, just someone new who's intrigued.
I use the same "smug" voice throughout this blog. Surely you're not suggesting I use a more somber voice because of the race issues involved with this particular site.

[Caitlin]

I think I have a photo of the Bail Bonds office JJ is talking about - I was on Government St. when I took it. If it's the same one, there's a real door that has a sign saying "Please use other door" and there's a painted door next to it. Not quite sure how that works.

The picture of the 6-piece dining set is pretty damn creepy, especially with the window reflection. Definitely getting a Haunted Mansion feel.

[Inbtr]

Colleen, thanks for blogging areas of Mid-town BR that have fascinated me for years. I have lived in the area for decades. The UPT murals are very telling of the psyche of the clientele. "Laura", you really have a problem. I suggest that you are a guilt-ridden liberal who confuses curiosity with smugness. Colleen, you need to get the murals of the bonding place on Gov't and the railroad on the blog. Keep up the good work. Also, some of us a LSU have wondered about the history of the Turkish Bath.

[Anne]

The building with the furniture used to be Mason's. It was a furniture refinishing place. They did excellent work.