Scenic Highway

If you find abandoned buildings, vehicles, and discarded furniture scenic, then Scenic Highway lives up to its name.

Co-explorer Kara and I arrived in this unfamiliar part of town on bicycle with her dog, Miss Lola Mae, trotting alongside for protection. 

As Kara, another newcomer by way of North Carolina, observed, it looks almost Caribbean here sometimes. I've never been, but knew what she meant.

The money shot of the day was found just past the corrugated-metal building on the left, and is found here after the jump. 

OK, this isn't it.

This isn't quite it yet.

This is.

I really need to get a banner made for this blog, and that should be involved. Anyone? Where's my intern?

You really know you're from the Northeast when a Spirit of '76- themed bus with "Baton Rouge, La." painted on it still puts this jingle in your head.

Whew! That was exhausting. Time for a little resty-poo.

Or, to really let it all hang out, perhaps some time in the hot tub.

Just up the street is a former auto paint and body shop offering COMPLET BODY WORK and FREE ESTIMATES that according to the arrow are from on high.

 

We considered going into this green house which one time must have been lovely, set as it is in this grove of oaks, but decided hell no.

In the interest of brevity, I'll show you where we went instead (just as foolish, if not moreso) in the next post.

Comments

[therese]

My network firewall blocks out YouTube, so I have no idea what you've linked to. But my Northeastern mind immediately went to that old Massachusetts tourism ad: "The spirit of Massachusetts is the spirit of AMERICA! The spirit of the red, white and blue!"

Am I right? Do I win?

[cokane]

YOU'RE A WINNER!

...As is anyone who visits scenic Massachusetts. The spirit of America. (TM)

[jason]

I love how you have a "HOT TUB!" category. But I'm a bit afraid to click.

[ecs]

I thought I was your banner making 'tern?

I'm on it!

[ecs]

These posts make me want to buy some of these buildings and make them into a house for me. Except not in Baton Rouge.

[kartek]

I'm guessing Lovers Lane in BR is a lot different than the Lovers Lane in Princeton. The signs for LL in Princeton are twice as tall as normal street signs to stop the street sign thieves. I can always tell it's the street from a long distance by the crazy tall signs.

[Jack]

So I'm late to the game: Do people still own the property? Or is it just abandoned? I feel I have a calling.

[Alistair]

Here the most stolen sign is from Manson Street.

[hankaaron]

I am intimately familiar with a couple of the photos in your essay. The first one, which has the steeple, is on the corner of North 19th and Spanish Town Rd. It was where I attended church from the time I was born, up until I was about a pre-teen. The congregation moved to a new church at that time. That was over three decades ago, but I still remember the distinctive stained glass colored windows.

Another building was the yellow-white building currently used as a church. However, it was originally a small warehouse that provided non-perishable goods to most of the small, family-owned, convenience stores that were in the area. It was called Royal Specialty. I started work there, part-time, my Senior Year in High school and continued for my first three years of college at Southern U. Again, that was about 30 years ago.

There used to be a Duplessis Cadillac dealership directly across the street from the building. In fact thirty years ago, it was an area vibrant with business even though the area was rather low income. But the area was hit hard by the eighties (Reganomics) and never recovered.

Royal Specialty was owned and run by an Italian name George Campagna (whom employees addressed as Mr. George). It was a small operation run by the owner, one salesman, and one delivery/salesman. I was there temporary help and worked afternoons on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I bring this up just so I tag on an amusing story.

Once, the owner and the two other sales guys, hired a chemist to develop their own brand of cough syrup which they called “Layor” (Royal backwards). Once they had a supply of product, they sold it through the local stores which they already had supply contracts with. At first the sales were very slow, but suddenly there was a huge surge in demand. The sales were so great that the stores could not keep it in stock. And they all thought they were going to be very rich!

Well it turns out that the cough syrup’s active ingredient was codeine. So drug addicts (and probably some kids too) were buying up the stuff to get high. But also, it was genuinely very effective as a cough suppressant. Eventually, after a few months the FDA caught wind of the product and confiscated all the reaming bottles!

[Bellingham Hot Tub]

Very encouraging ideas and implementation. I am completely satisfied and agreed to your ideas. Thanks for having it here.

[Henry garcia]

..this reminds me off wild west !!!