The Hotel Bentley in World War II

As the “flagship” hotel of Central Louisiana (CenLA), the Hotel Bentley was to experience visits during World War II and the Louisiana Maneuvers by several military notables. The hotel is located just to the north of the Alexandria City Hall, at the corner of Third Street and DeSoto Street. 

Visitors have included Major General George Patton, Lieutenant Colonel Omar Bradley, and then not-so-well-known Colonel Dwight David Eisenhower. 

Generals George C. Marshall and Matthew Ridgeway are said to have visited the Bentley also, as well as then-little-known Second Lieutenant Henry Kissinger.

Entertainers also stayed at the Bentley, many of whom performed for the troops.

Here's a great story by someone who was young, and part of the Alexandria downtown crowd during the War ...

One of my favorite spots in the Bentley was the Canteen Room.  Lena Mae, the girl that worked in the office with me at Grants, and I went to the Canteen Room every Friday after work. 

The place would be packed with soldiers in uniform (not a civilian man in site except those who worked there).  Those were the days before someone mandated there must always be some type music playing at all times.

We wouldn’t be in there long before the “This is table # __” started.  In case you are not familiar with that, the people at one table would start ‘singing’:  “This is table #1, #1, #1 – this is table # 1  - where the heck is 2”.  Another table would answer “ This is table # 2 (etc etc etc).  Amazingly we all thought that was so much fun.  It was an opening for people to get up from their table and join in singing with another group.  On a couple of occasions it went around enough that we started renumbering and got up to table #100.  (Gosh, we were a simple group – sure took very little to entertain us).

However, eating in the main dining room at the Bentley had an entirely different atmosphere.  It required you dress to the 9s including hats and gloves for the ladies. 

And on their way to the Bentley, young shoppers might stop at the C. A. Schnack Jewelry Company, today in use as the Diamond Grill.

Here's a first-hand account ...

Schnacks would keep rearranging their window display weekly, but ever so often they would totally redo the displays. 

We always knew when it was coming since they would put privacy curtains up the day before so that no one could see what was going on. 

One of our routines was to take our entire lunch hour the day they opened the windows and just stand there looking at all the gorgeous jewelry! 

Vintage Postcards of the Hotel Bentley