More Gustav Damage: Christian Book Store and more

This is one of many businesses on Florida Boulevard whose freestanding roadside sign, as you'll see below, took a beating from the winds of Gustav.

 
But more interesting to me was that instead of all the usual crap being left inside an abandoned, er, closed for repairs business, it was standing out in the lot for the world to see.

Uninhabited River Road, part 2

See part one of this excursion here.

It's only after our River Road trip happened that I'm becoming more aware of how rich it is in historic sites and plantations. Without that previous knowledge, this next stop, J.N. Barthel General Merchandise store, was so perfectly Olde Tyme America, I kind of doubted its authenticity.

Why is the lettering on the sign such a crisp, bright white? Has this been restored, and/or is this part of a movie set? If this is a real site, you'll see below that we can date it to 1880. (But then why is that lettering in such fresh black paint?)

Here's one benefit of having a tall fiance: he was able to reach up and take this shot through a high window.

 

See the brand-new wood in the right foreground--? Movie set?

Clearly, this Jersey girl by-way-of Brooklyn is not accustomed to having such quaint antique buildings just casually hanging out unattended at the side of the road.

Dry Cleaners Past and Present, Plus ABR Birthday Contest

I always seem to notice the signs and architecture of dry cleaners, probably because they so often fall into the fabulous, future-of-the-past category of midcentury modern. I've seen numerous examples while driving around and more recently, biking around town, the latter of which leaves me neither dry nor clean.

I am making the following up because I didn't bother investigating, but from evidence available to the casual passerby today, dry cleaning boomed in the '50s and '60s, in some cases bolstered by a futuristic process called "Martinizing" that the cleaners liked to advertise in large loopy cursive lettering on their trapezoidal buildings.

This amoebic sign has a flashy retro design but is probably new.

But let's look at some other dry cleaners, some abandoned, some still operational, and some of course in that Baton Rouge category of "who the f knows?". In that occupied?/semi-operational category, we've got Government Street's Rome Cleaners, whose eternal sale on UNCLAIMED WEDDING G OWN   S depresses the hell out of me.

The land of Cotton's...and more

This is the former factory for Cotton's Holsum Breads, a brand which still exists. I've heard the aroma of delicious baking bread used to permeate the surrounding area.

The Bellemont, Part Three

Welcome back to the show. Please start with Parts One and Two, if you haven't already seen them.

Back at the main entryway, we took that left, which looks like this (not our car):



And the wedge between the 9 o'clock and noon views from the entryway looks like this:

 

The Bellemont, Part Two

If you haven't already, please see Part One of The Bellemont here.

We weren't expecting the interior area of the Bellemont to be so expansive. Here's the drive leading into the interior, complete with a tree growing out of the roof.



Here's the straight-ahead view from the main road in.




We could have branched off to the left, but first we cut straight across the campus. The further into the complex we got, the more likely it seemed that we were being watched, just because there were so many places there to be watched from.

Downtown--you'll find a place for sure

When you're alone, and life is making you lonely
You can always go
Downtown

Lincoln Theatre complex

This compound is an abandoned and semi-abandoned downtown treasure. (I think it's in the downtown? Or near it? It's hard to tell where downtown starts or ends when nobody's around.)

Today's subject: The onetime sight of the Lincoln Theatre, Pharmacy, Barber Shop, and Wash-In (I think that's what the last phrase says? Is a "wash-in" a Laundromat?)

Triple A Cleaners, plus empty houses...or not?

(I know: again with the AAA-naming business! Have a little confidence, Baton Rouge businesses!)

AAA Cleaners is another place with that Night of the Comet feel...as if people just vaporized, leaving their everyday items.

But this time...they left enough clues that even from outside, I know when this place closed down.

Purpera Building, Romano's Pack & Save, Mason lodge, and more

I had usage of a car today, so I was able to expand my territory, but sadly I was forced back to the Old Blue Eye camera. No matter, because I shall make it up to you with a cavalcade of sites...and my first confrontation.

This is the Purpera Building, as proudly announced on the crown of the building. You'd think there'd be some mention of it somewhere on the world wide Interwebs, right?