Broadmoor Theatre, Merchants Landing flea market, and more

The Broadmoor movie theatre is one of those places that's supposedly not permanently closed. It's still up for lease, or as the roadside sign reads, FOR L A

 

In addition to the typical car, truck and bus parking in this empty lot, someone is storing an antique hot rod under a tarp (you can see it above in the long shot of the theatre, side view). A peek under the tarp:

We couldn't get into the Broadmoor. But we could get into this gift shop next door, apparently open for business.

The question was: did we want to?

For now, we passed that shoppe by and came to a glass door at a dead end. We tried it: OPEN! I gingerly stepped in and peered inside around the corner, back in the direction toward the store. The dark hall opened into a larger area set up like a little living room with a couch and a lit lamp, and it smelled overwhelmingly of a plug-in air freshener. We decided that by comparison, the gift shoppe wasn't so scary after all and went in there. It was tended by an old woman watching the Tiger game on a small TV and smelled like a flooded basement. I'm thinking the Broadmoor Theatre next door probably isn't faring much better.

Moving on, perpendicular to the theatre was a large building that used to be a flea market.

Perhaps at one time, it was just like a mini mall.

But no longer. You know it's going to be creepout city when the first thing you see upon looking in the window is a water-damaged crying clown with a corrugated shadow.

There is so much to notice in this next photo.

First and foremost, the hot tub in the foreground. Then you have a barbecue grill, in the middleground is the ubiquitous shopping cart that by law must be present at all abandoned sites, and in the background, a child's dollhouse and a freestanding toddler swing. Our homeless friend from the last site might be better off setting up shop here.

...Although it is quite damp. Those are ferns growing on the floor.

To the rear of this grouping is (surprise) a strip mall. The half of the strip closest to the theatre and flea market is no longer occupied, as if the abandonment spreads like cancer.

The closest casualty is this Gladiators Academy, which has relocated.

What, exactly, does one learn at a Gladiators Academy?

EXTREME stuff.

Finally, a Mexican restaurant. Even an abandoned Mexican restaurant makes me hungry.

Comments

[Big Daddy]

Depressing.

[Matt]

I saw Chasing Amy in the Broadmoor back when it was first out. I remember thinking that I could have just walked right in and no one would've cared.

[Ryan]

I can remember my parents taking me to se Herbie Goes Bananas there in the late 70's! The last movie I saw there was Toy Story in the mid 90's when it was a discount theater. The floor was so sticky I didn't think I'd make it out. The sign is a really cool mid century modern sign, though. Very in keeping with the 50's and 60's ranch style homes in the adjoining neighborhood.

[Alexis]

Yep, I too frequented that theater many years ago. It was the dollar theater more recently.

Also, I think that mexican place is Panchos!! I didn't know they closed, but they had the best supapias (sp) EVER! They were an all you can eat type place, with a little flag at each table that you raised for service. Endless amusement for us 8 year olds. Though the rest of the food always made me sick.

[Alex V. Cook]

All is not abandoned in Broadmoor

The hot rod belongs to Peter of Insomkneeacks, the punk rock coffee shop/art gallery/performance space that operates on the upper floor of the theater.
http://www.myspace.com/pexcho66

Also still extant over there in the corner next to the theater is The eXchange, the best used record/CD store left in town.

[Calvin]

Ryan, the first movie I ever saw in the theater was Herbie Goes Bananas at the Broadmoor, ISYN. Crazy. I have fond memories of that place.

I'm surprised that the lady who worked the ticket window wasn't still there. Anybody know who I'm talkin' about?

And thanks for letting the cat out of the bag on the eXchange, Alex. Seriously though, it is the best.

[cokane]

I think I also saw Herbie Goes Bananas in the theater, but it was most likely not this theater since my family lived in NJ.

We did see both of those places, but the CD store seemed to be closed on the Saturday afternoon we were there. (?)

[Calvin]

If the eXchange is no more, I will have a shitfit.

[P]

The only things I remember about the Broadmoor theater were playing RoadBlasters in the lobby and watching a roach fly over my head during a movie. That flea market was a pretty awesome place to wander around as a kid(as a boy, at least). Lots of comics, used toys, and most importantly, a booth with throwing stars and all kinds of ridiculous weapons. I remember them having a big model train display in the back, as well.

[The Mighty Favog]

Now you're hittin' me where I live . . . er. *lived*.

I wish you could have seen the Broadmoor Theatre 35 or 40 years ago -- it was sort of modern suburban palatial, to invent an architectural style. Red velvet curtains all over . . . one huge screen and auditorium . . . the epitome of 1960s swank.

I see the Broadmoor, and I still think of "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes." If Disney hadn't made that movie, a punk-rock band would have had to invent the name.

There was a barber shop next door. Used to get my hair cut there after Mr. Joe died and we quit going up to Scenic Highway across from the (then) Esso refinery.

The abandoned flea market was I.H. Rubenstein department store, which was a fairly swanky place -- particularly for the no-man's land between the solidly middle-class Broadmoor neighborhood and the decidedly redneck Red Oaks and Harvey Oaks neighborhoods.

OK, Villa del Rey is in there, too, so we rednecks, I suppose, were outnumbered.

I graduated from Baton Rouge High with one of the Rubenstein daughters, Madeline. Beautiful girl, and sweet, too.

Going back to the main, long strip of the Broadmoor Shopping Center, you had National Food Store on the theater end, which was where we often made groceries -- and collected S&H Green Stamps.

Next, going west, was the Broadmoor branch of the post office. The plaque inside informed you it was opened in 1960 (I think) during the administration of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The feds mark time not by years and decades, I suppose, but by administrations.

You also had Tic-Toc Shoes there, as well. When I was little, I think it was required by Congressional act that all juvenile shoes be named either X-15 or Buster Brown.

Here Tige! ARF!

Then, further down, you had my favorite place on earth . . . at least at the time. That was the TG&Y 5-and-10-cent store.

Three crucial things resided at the TG&Y -- school supplies (yuck), toys (yay!) and records (a 45 cost you 79 cents). I think you could get guns and ammo there, too -- hey, it's the South, dammit!

I remember thet TG&Y had a door directly into the A&P supermarket next door. We shopped at A&P infrequently, but I remember that they'd grind your Eight o'Clock coffee for you at the checkout aisle.

We were strictly a Community family, though. My great uncle, Norman "Cap" Saurage, founded it, after all. Truly, we were the "poor relations."

Finally, at the far west end of the main strip, you had Andrew's Rexall Drugs. I remember the lunch counter . . . and that they delivered prescriptions.

I can't remember everything on the shorter western strip (just east of Cora Drive), but I do recall Belisle Cleaners and Mr. Sam's barber shop, which is where I got my hair cut from, say, junior high into my adult years.

Mr. Sam is long dead, I think. But then again, so is that shopping center.

Finally, right on the Florida Boulevard service road in the middle of the complex, was the Fidelity Bank branch. I think it's still a bank, but I'll be damned if I can keep up with all the mergers, and then the mergers of merged entities.

As God as my witness, the Broadmoor Shopping Center may not have been the Taj Mahal, but it was a kept-up, vibrant kind of place.

Lots of the older parts, and not-so-old parts, of Baton Rouge used to be that way. Now they look like something out of Walker Percy's "Love in the Ruins."

Or, perhaps, Port au Prince. Because it IS a Third World kind of place, you know.

It breaks my heart to see what lots of Baton Rouge is now (a huge freaking dump) and remembering what it used to be.

I still can feel how damned scorching hot that parking lot was on my bare feet in the middle of August, back when I was young, shoeless and didn't give a fug. Good times.

I wonder, too, why sometimes I can't remember why I walked into a room, but I still can remember that our favorite cashier at National was a middle-aged lady named Katie. And that you could buy 45s and LPs there from a rack-jobber's set up.

[Trey]

Wow, thanks Might Favog. That was really cool!

I also used to spend a lot of time in that shopping center, albeit much later than Mr. Favog. I can remember getting shoes at the Tic-Toc, shopping at the TG&Y, and trying beyond hope to get my mom to not make us eat at Poncho's (the mexican place... there was also one on Nicholson dr.). And I saw a million movies at that damned theatre. Whoever wrote about it being sticky, yeah. It was gross towards the end there.

And Merchant's Landing! I remember getting into model trains in middle school or so (late eighties) and going there to stock up. Not long after that, when I got into punk and the like, I would go and score killer vinyls there. I know I picked up some Black Flag, Minor Threat, Misfits... I'm sure there was a ton of it.

Now that I've moved away, it's even more fun to look at these posts. Especially on a Saturday night when I'm too sick to go out. :-)

[The Mighty Favog]

I remember it must have been sometime in the early- to mid-'70s when Andrew's Rexall became Eckerd Drugs. Used to skip eating at school and horde my lunch money to buy albums . . . some of which I picked up at Eckerd's.

I miss seeing TV tube testers by the front door of drug stores, like the one that was in Eckerd's. I don't know why. Maybe it reminds me that we used to not be such a disposable society -- you'd buy a nice console TV and keep that sucker going for 20 years before making the investment again.

Call me old and nostalgic, but I also miss going to Villa Oaks Supermarket at Sharp and Red Oaks to buy a copy of Gris-Gris, and then buy both the Times-Picayune and the States-Item out of the newspaper machines out front.

Villa Oaks' deli had great Italian olive salad.

Now I think the building houses some computer club and a beauty school.

Oddly enough, there's a grocery store a lot like Villa Oaks in our Omaha neighborhood, about three blocks from our house.

Alas, I cannot buy a copy of Gris-Gris there (or anywhere), though. Gris-Gris totally spoiled me in my expectations for alternative newspapers.

It was a lot smarter, and hipper, than the city it covered "like the dieux."

[Jules]

Wow. Were those license/ID's in that drawer? I must say I give you a lot credit. I'd be way to scared to wander in abandoned places.

I love how much attention this blog is getting. Pretty awesome.

[The Anonymous Anonymous]

Were these photos taken on Goodwood Blvd, and was this complex also known as Goodwood Village back in the 80s? If so, WOW, I have memories galore, as I saw lots of dollar movies there in the mid and late 80s. (You would not have believed the line for the first showings of Steel Magnolias when it hit the theater there, it stretched across the parking lot) The floors were sticky even then, as you could buy concessions, and you could practically see the former grandeur of the place decaying in front of you. Going through those turnstiles was fun, as they were quite narrow :) When I left Baton Rouge in the early 90s, they were STILL showing "Home Alone" as a feature, I kid not!
As to the rest of the complex, all I recall is a barbershop in the strip mall there to the right, it had a rotating red-and-white striped barber's pole attached to the storefront, and the flea market! Ah, it was fun, there were vendors there who sold what seemed to be everything to a 10 or 11 year old girl: clothes, food, VHS and Beta copies of movies and some music in both cassette and vinyl form, tacky "antiques" from the 50s and 60s, jewelry, beads and lace and cloth, doilies, questionable electronics, old household implements, and even software from dubious sources. I still have some public domain software for the Commodore 64, GW-BASIC for IBM PC clones, and some early DOS shareware games that my dad bought there. Oooh, the fun of flipping through boxes of 5 1/4" floppies arranged by type of program then name, and asking the guy running the table what was on disks I was interested in! I don't remember the flea market being called "Merchants' Landing", is that perhaps a more recent name or a flaw in my memory?
If this is the complex I'm thinking of, I'm saddened to see it has fallen on such horrible times, especially the flea market. But at least the memories will be with me always. Thank you for this post!

[BRLA]

The lady that was such a fixture in the Broadmoor Theatre was Miss Kirby.

[Katie]

Hey hey hey, don't be messing with the Broadmoor.
Hahaha,
they have some KILLER shows there, upstairs at Insomkneeacks Cafe!

[T. Wong]

Anybody remember Wesley's next door to the Broadmoor? My first job was busing (or it it bussing?) tables for them.

[George]

Cinema 8 (later Cinema 12?) in the Bon Marche mall was the initial dagger in the heart of the Broadmoor theater.
The Broadmoor was really great when I was a kid in the early '70s. It seemed to be enormous at the time. I remember they chopped it into smaller theaters to try to stay in business.
IH Rubinsteens was the only place my Mom would shop for me until Cortana Mall opened. Anyone remember that the "n" in Cortana used to be pronounced in the Spanish way with the diacritical tilde?

[Jay]

I love the Broadmoor sign, with the majestic 3 spires with lights at the top.

I saw one movie there, about 15 years ago. The floor was positively adhesive and I had to wash my jacket when I got home. To the best that I could identify, it was candy, chocolate, spilled and dried but still tacky sugary soft drinks. My wife had many fond Broadmoor memories from her teenage moviegoing years, but for me it was only disgusting.

[damian]

I worked at the theatre as a projectionist. I'd sneak a huge serving of nachos past ms. kirby; i think she knew. I remember the concession workers passing out tissue for the movie "Beaches"; you know the Bette Midler song "Wind Beneath My Wings". On other movies, i sometimes pumped up the music at the end, and people would dance on the stage.

[jessy]

i remember seeing "Trainspotting" at the Broadmoor theater in high school. that theater stunk SO BAD. i remember thinking that the smell was very fitting for that movie.

[Evan Gomez]

many fond memories of looking for star wars figures at the flea market. Thank you merchant landing flea market for the Boba Fett and Lando Calrissian action figures!

[eyesnears]

I went looking for some 1960's B.R. History and found this place. Thanks for the recap folks, now I don't feel so old anymore.

I'm Glen Oaks Class of 73 and remember very well how swank and high class Broadmoore was. I even dated a Womans Hospital OBy/Gyn Head doctors daughter and thought I was moving on up to the south side. Then I went in the Navy and lost contact with a long lost love. My how time really flies these daze.

Thanks for refreshing the old noodle. I don't really feel old, but the condition of B.R. and all my old stomping grounds makes me sort of feel old and ashamed with some guilt, that I let it get this way. I settled in Florida among other places as I did become somewhat of a vagabond with righteous colors. My life kept me searching for a new home always, but I'm back to my real home and I still love it so. I never really turned my back on Baton Rouge, I just went walk-about for a long time, as the Aussie's say it. Wow, what happened? But I know the writing was always on the wall.

I hope we can continue to bring back the good old days on this cool site. I like to write, so I may have found another home on the web. I'll try and contribute, if you folks want me as a new member of your group. If anyone objects to an ex Greg's drive-In curb boy, soda Jerk, Cook, Ice Cream Maker, Girl Watcher, Hot rod driver, etc. etc. please say so now or forever keep your peace. Peace Baby.....oh man, talk about cornpone already. ;) I'll try and act like I got some smarts sometimes. Bye, eyes-n-ears

[Jimbeaux]

I just found this great site! I thought I was the only one with this type of nostalgia. I hope you accept me here and allow me to contribute. I have lived in Baton Rouge all of my life (been around the world but still call this home). I have lived in Broadmoor, on Goodwood, Blvd. for the last 9-10 years. I am a 1983 graduate of Belaire High School and currently work for the Governor's Office. I am somewhat of a storehouse of useless(to some people)facts about Baton Rouge. I know everything from where the Civil War encampments were to what now occupys what was the nation's first Picadilly downtown. Again, I hope I can contribute. If there is anyplace in particular anybody wants information on or wants to visit....let me know. Jim.

[e.]

Oh my gosh! The memories here!!! I moved to the Broadmoor subdivision in 1976. Shopped with my mom at National and A & P, rode my bike to see Rocky (a half dozen times!) at the theater, shopped at TG&Y, brought my little brother to Coney Island (the arcade place in the shopping center in the 80's), worked at Tic Toc shoes (for years!), worked one Christmas at IH Rubensteins (that became "Merchant's Landing"), bought lots of blue eyeshadow at Eckerd's, raised a flag or two at Pancho's, and graduated from Broadmoor High School. I miss that shopping center. I miss the feel of the old neighborhood - which was truly a NEIGHBORHOOD. Sure wish someone with some extra bucks floating around would take an interest and either revive that place (doubtful), or put it out of its misery.

I've long since left the Broadmoor area. My mom is now buried across the street at Greenoaks - and whenever I visit her there, I look across the street and get nostalgic about that shopping center and a simpler time of being a teenager in that neighborhood in the 70's.

Thanks for the memories!

[SVO]

Well, I wish I hadn't seen these photos! I grew up in North Baton Rouge, graduated from Istrouma in 1967 (when it was still a real school) along with BRHS, Broadmoor, Lee, Glen Oaks, Baker, and Woodlawn. My dad worked at Standard Oil and in the late 50's, he bought a lot in Broadmoor on Cora Dr. I was excited about this because even as a youngster, I new the good old days of the Monte Sano area were numbered, plus because I church I friends all over Baton Rouge.

But, this move was not to be for some time. You see, my dad grew up during the depression and didn't believe in borrowing money - you had to pay CASH! Why? Because there was always another depression 'right around the corner'. So, we stayed in North Baton Rouge way too long until my mother finally convinced him to start construction on a house in January of 1969. The address is/was 1285 Cora Dr. in case anyone is interested. If Greenbriar went across Cora drive it would have gone through our front door.

So, the house was ready and we moved in late May of 1969. I was a student at LSU and working part time at the old Sears down on Florida Blvd by Wilson't jewelers (worked there too years later in 1972).

I remember Rubensteins and bought several special girls Christmas presents there, plus the usual British Sterling, English Leather, and Canoe cologne for myself. Christmas was always a special time around this area and for a long as I can remember, my parents used to bring my sister and I over to this area to look at Christmas lights because so many people decorated with so many lights back then. The movie theater was a special place at Christmas and the parking lot was always full. I don't remember the first time I went to the Broadmoor, but it seems like I saw the Disney movie 'Polyanna' there, or was that the Gordon up town. Also, I saw some Elvis movies there, and many others that I can't even remember. I do remember that it was one if the biggest single theaters around and very comfortable.

I remember the post office (before it moved over there on Sharp Rd), I remember TicToc, National and A&P (which became a book store after closing I think). I barely remember the Rexall drug store probably because by the time we moved there it was already an Eckerd's. I got more than a few hair cuts there by the theater also.

I remember the big open field where Cortana is now, and the really great Baton Rouge State Fair that was there the fall of 1969 and 1970. One of those years, Kenny Rogers and the First Edition played out there and took my girl out there on my first motorcycle.

Then, life moved on and I graduated from LSU, and moved on. My parents remained at 1285 Cora Dr. and my first child went to Broadmoor Elementary school, but before that she was in daycare at the house right there across Cora Dr. from Luckett's photography.

I ended up living in Slidell and working on the space shuttle fuel tank project. I'd come home to visit my parents every 4 to 6 weeks or so, but thought that the Broadmoor Theater would ALWAYS be there.

In December of 1984 we learned that my dad had cancer and we lost him in May of 1985. My mother remained at 1285 Cora Dr. living alone until her health started failing in 2001 and my sister and I sold the house at 1285 Cora Dr. - a house that had seen MANY happy days even though I wish I could have made it there sooner than 1969.

My son, who was born in 1984, used to come spend 3-4 weeks in the summer with my mother. He knew all the boys in the neighborhood down on Cora Dr. on the other side of Goodwood. They would love to go down to Poncho's and eat - Jon's favorite place. In fact, you won't believe this, but I still have one of the pinatas and a sombrero that he got a Ponchos.

My father is buried over in Greenoaks, and I have 2 plots there myself. Anyone remember the house in RedOaks that had a gazillion Christmas tree lights at Christmas and all the displays? Remember Capital Schwinn, Fun Fair Park, Ryan's Steak house, New Generation, the Mobil Station on the corner of sharp road and Florida, and when McDonald's opened. Many many memories here.

And oh, my son Jon? He is a late graduate of LSU and if you went to any football games in 2008 or 2009 and saw the colorquard before the game, you saw my son. He is captain of the color guard and carries the American flag!

How sad to see the old Baton Rouge go, but we all know why don't we? Think the letter 'N'. And I'm not ashamed one bit to say so.

[ecs]

Ninjas?

[SVO]

Does anyone remember the drive inn restaurant that used to be on Florida Blvd, on the same side as Miller Buick, but on the other corner? It was named Alessi's and had the best curly-que french fries. And then, of course, there was the venerable Hoppers! Used to be one on the northeast corner of State St. and Highland Rd. just north of LSU gate.

[Kimmen]

Whoa. I think the Mighty Favog and I are of an age- all the locales are right, the only one missed is Dr. Wyman Walker's office on the "short" arm next to the Belisle cleaners. Got all my shots there for many years, from huge glass syringes with re-used needles. It's a wonder we all lived.

Interesting blog- BR just makes me sad whenever I go back.

[Jeanette C]

Now, I'm really old. I remember watching all the James Bond movies (at least twice) while being at the Broadmoor. You know the ones with Sean Connery? LOL Yep that is when the Flea Market was Rubesteins (a fine department store). Lots of memories there. Especially the big pickles, popcorn, milkduds and cokes. So sad to see it like this....Lets see, they did have a Pizza Place next to it for a little while. I guess I am remembering when it was new. They had an area with glass so that smokers could go smoke and watch the movie standing up. Lots of memories of James Bond though.

[MFR]

Don't know if anyone is still reading this blog. I worked both at I.H. Rubenstein's and the National Food Store. Mr. Culotta was the food store manager. Great guy. I remember seeing not only movies at the Broadmoor Theater, but a live band on stage one Saturday morning. They were called The Basement Wall. Had a popular song in Baton Rouge back in the 60's. One of the writer's above mentioned Christmas lights at a house in Red Oak Subdivision. I believe that was the Messenger's house. I used to go to the Rexall Drug store and eat at the soda fountain. My mom took us to the TG&Y alot too. It would be nice to see some old photos taken back then of these areas if someone knows where to find them online.

[Bill Keeley]

Ah yes One fellow pretty much had the shopping canter nailed down. I remember going there, growing up in Broadmoor and Sherwood Forest neighborhoods. My father advertised for I.H. Rubensteins and I was in all the commercials along with my sister and brothers. In later years Mr. Gilbert I don't remember either owned or leased the building making Merchants landing into a flea market. Mr. & Mrs Gilbert ran Just Trains inside the building where you could find all sorts of eletric train treasures. They were great people to know.I well remember getting all my shoes at the Tick Toc shoe store all the buster brown shoes and Keds bought there for me to wear as well as the more formal shoes for kids. Every Sunday after chusrch at Braodmoor Methodist I always went shopping with my mother at the A&P they had S&H Greenstamps as well. We always stopped in at Andrew's Rexall Drug Store got a coke and candy and sometimes a coke float at the soda fountain bar they had there what great memories that are long gone in the past. My dentist was in the western side of the shopping center son of the home builder Barileaux I think I spelled the name right. On the corner of Florida Blvd. and Cora was the Conoco we always stopped at and always received service at the pumps clean the windshield checked the oil and filled up the tank. There was a lady at the Broadmoor Theater at the ticket window for ever. Remember her through the years till she was an old lady, no insult intended but she was there forever an icon. All the memories there, all the good times.

[Bill Keeley]

Ah yes Wesley's Pizza there they also own the PasT Times located downtown under the I-10 on ramp west bound for the New Mississippi River bridge, went to school with Randy and Kim Wesley, they were friends of mine. Still have a that piece of led from the pencil Kim jammed into leg for acting like a jerk in 5th grade, Mr. Sidney Porter was the teacher at Audubon Elementary school. Great Pizza to be had at Wesley's they did a great job!

[wp]

The drug store had the best hamburgers/fountain drinks around. At about 9 years old i once attached a lizard to both ear lobes and sat down at the lunch counter...wow, the reactions i received from the workers! haha

[Ken O]

Oh yeah, I was one of the standard bearers of the Broadmoor Shopping center. I grew up just a few blocks behind it and spent an awful lot of time there. TG&Y, check! Rexall, check! (Dad used to give me the burnt tubes from the TV or shortwave radio and a dollar and I'd go pick up new ones). Tic-Toc, oh yeah.. Wesley's over by the theater came either before or after Larry's Pizza, which was where I had my second job ever. (First was as bag boy at National Supermarket. Mr. Culotta was the manager. There was Mrs. Betty, Terry, Beaux and a few others who's names I can't recall...) Sam's was the ONLY place to get a haircut (and an ear cut if you weren't still. Sam had glasses that had to be an inch thick!) The bank out in the parking lot... Anyone remember Coney Island arcade? That was the suite where Pancho's ended up years afterward. Oh, and the movies I saw in that theater.. Clint Eastwood flicks, Herbie, Smokey and the Bandit! Oh man, the memories....

[marcus]

im trying to start my business and location is everything!!!! but most of these buildings have no contact info does anyone know how i can get them

[truck rental]

The "CLOSED" sign is amazing! I never saw such a sign before! This is awesome- just to drive around our beautiful country- treasure haunting for the fabulous and fascinating!

[Cheap Escorts]

somehow found your blog while looking for a post for a class, but I have to say I'm glad I found it ...will definately come back sometime.

[Cheap Escorts]

somehow found your blog while searching for a article for a class, but I have to say I'm glad I found it ...will definately read some more post sometime.

[Oralee GolubRubye HeeterPeter LochridgeDodie Twining]

somehow found your blog while looking for a article for a class, but I have to say I'm glad I found it ...will definately subscribe sometime.

[Woodrow Spiers]

I used to live in Banks subdivision (North Baton Rouge)in the early 1950's. The Monte Sano theater on Scenic highway used to be the "Ann" theater. Near it was an ice house that sold the coldest watermelons in town. I remember when the two-lane asphalt Scenic was torn up and replaced with a four-lane concrete highway. Louisiana Creamery delivered "Lily" milk, and Santa Maria also made deliveries. Before homogenization, the cream could be skimmed off the top and made into butter by shaking it in a jar.

[Woodrow Spiers]

We left North Baton Rouge in the mid 1950's and moved to Denham Springs. I ended up working at Tastee Freez, the local hang-out, along with Frostie Inn across the highway. We began offering BBQ ham po-boys to compete with Hoppers near "the circle" in BR (now the Florida Blvd/Airline Hwy interchange). Got our ham from Pastime restaurant under the bridge in BR. In Denham, near the intersection of Florida Blvd and Range Ave, there was a drive-in theater (the "Joy"). Now, there is an abandoned Winn-Dixie being converted to an Albertson's on that site.

[krist]

wow, great pics. thanks for the pics! i spent many a day in my childhood at Broadmoor, Pancho's and the antique mall.

[Katherine Eagerton]

I lived right across Florida Blvd. at the Mirage Villa apartments for a while, when you took these photos actually (Sept-Dec 2008). I don't remember the Broadmoore before it was abandoned but the Mexican resturant was Panchos I think. Used to hang out at the coffee shop upstairs too. So weird to see all these pics of my hometown- I've seen almost every place you've shared but never really realized how many abandoned places there are here.

[Kim Wesley]

I have really enjoyed reading the stories about
Wesley's and the Broadmoor Theater. I'm
Sorry about the led Bill! What did you do to
Make me so mad?? We still have the Pastime
Downtown and it has been declared a National
Landmark. Please stop in and see us. Same great
Food. Kim Wesley!

[larry dawson]

i remember dancing with Molly M in andrew's drug store parking lot at 2 a m...in 1962..it was just one of those moments that stay with you

[paul b]

My first haircut was at Mr.Joe's Barber shop ( he used to be a boxer) his shop was located to the left of the theatre entrance and he had an asst. named Kitty. Years later he had a stroke and I ended up meeting Sam Cali across the shopping center from Joe's. Sam cut my hair till I left Baton Rouge at 18. We became good friends and hunted rabbits together up in Satsuma La. I would get a cut from him each time I returned to BR until the late 90's when he passed away from a Brain tumor. Olli still runs Broadmoor Barber shop and is a local legend and I assume you can still catch "Cap" there too talking politics and smack. The theatre was pretty good back in the 70's & 80's I saw several movies there I guess my last around 1990 and by then it was going downhill pretty bad.
Panchos Mexican was there too.

[paul b]

Does anyone remember Maison Blanche? Now that was a store. Also where the filmed the wonder wheel incident in the toy.

[Jesse Lambert]

My mother and I worked at the Broadmoor under the Ogdens, Bill, Fred, and Ms. Kirby. Ms. Kirby was one of the sweetest human beings I have ever met and it was a pleasure to work with her at the theatre. I still recall my co-workers well. We often talked about the Broadmoor in it's hay-day and how sad it was to see it fall. It was a simpler time, and if I might say, I time that people could learn from.

[usaffed]

'75 Buccaneer Grad. I painted the inside of that theater back in '77.

[Audley Blythe Loewen]

I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts. Very nostalgic! I grew up on Madras Drive and graduated from Broadmoor in 1970. Met my now husband, who graduated in '69 at the Broadmoor Presbyterian church in 1968. He and his band, "Rock Candy" we're jamming and my friend and I just happened to go over there that Friday night. We had our first date at the Pizza Inn (or was it Pizza Hut?) right next to the Broadmoor Theater.

Ah, sweet, innocent years! I miss them so.

[David]

....that was a Superfresh (formerly A&P) shopping cart in the pic inside Merchant's Landing.

[The-Killjoy]

I've been in there recently. There are holes in the roof big enough for plantlife to grow on the ground and standing water alongside it. The second floor is collapsing, I'm too heavy to venture all the way across without stepping through. The train set's still in there, tracks and all; although kids have ravaged the place with alongside time.

[bedroom furniture]

great man :D

[Kimberly]

Reading these comments made me very nostalgic, and certainly thankful for those with good memories who are willing to post what they remember about this truly epic shopping center. I spent countless hours in Poncho's Mexican Restaurant and Mr. Sam's barber shop as a child in the 80's. When my family would go out to eat, Poncho's was one of our favorite choices. I can remember getting my tray and feeling so grown up to be able to choose which of the dishes I wanted as I walked down the line, being served heaping spoonfulls of refried beans and enchiladas. Then you had the little topping bar (I think it was by those half-walls in the above picture) where you could eat as much of their guacamole as you wanted! When you needed more, you hailed the waiter with a tiny Mexican flag at your table. My brother and I would fight over who's turn it was to pull the little string to raise the flag. Then came the sopapillas and honey! Oh, they were so warm and delicious! Next childhood memory - Mr. Sam's. It was wonderful to read these comments because, sadly, I had forgotten his name and I was overjoyed to read it above! I spent an hour there every other week because my Daddy would take me with him when he got his hair trimmed. If I had good behavior I got a Chicklet out of the gumball machine. I always read a magazine when I was in there that had an advertisement for Sea Monkeys on the back cover. That ad creeped me out.....even more than the doll, above. It was this uber-freaky picture of a Sea Monkey with a face and webbed fingers. Thanks to everyone for the wonderful trip down memory lane!

[R]

I saw Orphan Annie here

[Claire French]

What a hoot this site is!! I remember the Flea Mkt in the old Broadmoor Theater. I loved that place. I had a garage sale once upon a time and, some of the items I sold appeared at the Flea Market . I also seem to remember a bank in the front of the parking lot that had many drive-through lanes. Luckett's Photography was on the side street. It is now located on Bluebonnet Blvd. at Gail Drive.

[Frank]

Does anyone remember a Kajon Food Store in that area in the 80s. I'm trying to pin point the location and the people I've asked don't remember it.

[Nan Nakos]

anyone remember Jerry's Club .. during the 60s? It was on Nicholson drive in what had been, I believe, Rock's drive in, not far from LSU. Local folk bands etc would play there.

[Bdun]

Anybody remember the Mary Lee donuts across the street for the Broadmoor?? A dozen hot glazed donuts cost .59 cents. You can't buy a dozen donut holes for under a buck. The donuts were absolutely great back then not so sure about now so long Broadmoor!!!

[Nan Spillman Nakos]

Is anyone reading this Blog any more? I was hoping someone would remember "Jerry's Club back in the late 60s or so. Folk groups played there...it was behind what had been (if I remember correctly), Rock's drive in on Nicholson drive

Nan :)

[Suzanne]

I am trying to find the name of the little "gift" shop in the Broadmoor shopping center I guess in the 60's. it was located close to the movie theater and maybe next to the National Food Store.

[BR Native]

Looks like four years since the last post, but I'll chime in. The Mary Lee Donuts store was owned by a family who had girls at Belaire when I was there. They family was very nice. I saw some great movies at the Broadmoor and as a teenager spent a lot of time and quarters at Coney Island.
Raised a lot of flags at Pancho's too... I'm pretty sure we ate there the night I graduated high school.