Smiley Anders for Jan. 30, 2012
Here’s evidence that driving east from Baton Rouge to Denham Springs and Hammond was a hassle long before our congested Interstate 12 came into being.
John Sample says when he came to LSU on a golf scholarship in 1957, the Traffic Circle at Florida Boulevard and Airline Highway was a major landmark:
“Florida was the only thoroughfare to Denham Springs, and was two lanes from Foster Drive to the circle, and two lanes from the circle all the way to Denham.
“It seemed like the one two-way bridge across the Amite River was always closed for floods.
“Even Government Street and Goodwood Boulevard stopped at the old Downtown Airport.
“Old Hammond Highway was two lanes all the way from Jefferson Highway until it joined Florida near the bridge.
“Getting to Hammond and back took half a day, even though there was very little in between.”
Which reminds me
When I was a kid my dad worked for Swift & Co., the meat packer, and often called on restaurants to take orders.
I remember once when he came home and told my mom, “I just went out to the Distefano’s new restaurant, The Village.
“It has the cleanest kitchen I’ve ever seen — you could eat off those floors.
“It’s a nice place, but I don’t know if it’ll make it because of its location.
“It’s way out by the Traffic Circle. …”
Crew-cuts, duck-tails
Continuing our stroll down Memory Lane, Raymond Cothern says, “Having grown up right off Florida Boulevard, here are some landmarks folks may remember:
“Coco’s Lumber Co., where A. Hays Town had his lumber milled; Kadair’s, with a young Howard Kadair behind the counter; Griffith’s Drug Store with comic books galore; Sunshine Ice Cream’s ice cream parlor and second only to Hopper’s as a favorite hangout, Leo’s Roller Rink, with girls in white skates and crew-cut guys, or ones with longer hair and duck-tails.
“Those were the days, my friend.”
Happy New Year!
Last week I got this educational missive from John Hu:
“Today (Jan. 23) is the Chinese New Year, Year of the Dragon.
“I Googled it and found the following:
“The dragon, considered the most auspicious zodiac sign in Chinese culture, is often associated with good fortune and intelligence and is believed to be the sign of those destined for success.
“Apparently, the Chinese will try harder in order to have a dragon boy/girl in 2012, starting about nine months ago, and they have about three more months to go.
“The Chinese state news agency Xinhua says China is expecting a five percent increase in the number of babies born in 2012.”
Looking for people
Adam McGovern is scanning more than 200 old 4-by-5 film negatives of photographs taken by his grandfather, James H. McGovern, from the late 1940s to the late 1950s.
Says Adam, “He was a freelance photographer for hire during this time and at one point took all of the crime scene photos for the Baton Rouge Police Department.
“Most of the photos I have are family shots, and I’ve been able to place most of them.
“Some, however, have proven to be a little tougher to decipher.
“One group of pictures in particular centers around a man named Cecil ‘Butch’ Eckles and seem to have been taken in the late ’ 50s.
“There is one picture of him on top of the then newly-constructed grain elevator at the Port of Baton Rouge. There are two more pictures of him playing the piano.
“So if anyone out there knows who Cecil ‘Butch’ Eckles is, let me know and I can email the digital scans.”
Adam’s at adammcgovern81@gmail.com.
Worthy causes
Dream Day Foundation benefits from the 12th annual Wild Game Cook-off Saturday at 4 p.m. at the new recreation center next to Sandy’s Daiquiris on U.S. 190 in Erwinville.
For more information visit http://www.dreamdayfoundation.org/.
Lukewarm endorsement
Dr. Bill Smith says, “I once knew a fine and wise old-time family doctor.
“He was a master in the art of damning with faint praise.
“If he had a patient who needed to see a specialist, such as a surgeon, and the patient named one he would like to see, but one that the old doctor did not wish to refer to, he would say, ‘Now, that will be fine. I think in a few years, he’s probably gonna be a really good surgeon.’ ”
Dead reckoning
Faye Hoffman Talbot, of Jackson, says, “My sister, a friend and I rode to Mississippi last week to buy fabric.
“Not long after we left, my friend turned to me and said, ‘Where do y’all want to be buried?’
“The scary thing is that I didn’t even think this was a strange question.
“We are all in our 60s — but couldn’t we talk about the weather?”
Write Smiley at Smiley@theadvocate.com. He can also be reached by fax at (225) 388-0351 or mail at P.O. Box 588, Baton Rouge, LA 70821.