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Alexandria
Register Thank you for visiting the Alexandria Retrospective Web site. You can view more entries via the Register Index. If you haven't already signed the Register, we would be pleased if you would join the many others with Alexandria connections who have viewed this site, and take a minute to sign the Register! We moved to Alexandria in 1959. I attended Menard Memorial and worked as a bellboy at the Bentley. My father was the District Manager for Schlitz Beer. Bernie Herpin Thanks for the memories! Louise Leaumont Smith Thank you for this journey.....for visual connections to such a special time.......special people.....special memories. Carol Edwards McLane I have wonderful friends and memories in Alexandria. What a great town to grow up in. Leon Medica I thoroughly enjoyed the memories. Thanks for including my parents' in your Mom and Pop segment. I will forward the URL to everyone from Alexandria I have addresses for in hopes they enjoy it as much as did I. Sam Damico The 2003 Heart of Spain opening has awakened old and good memories! Jim Butler had a good article in the Town Talk before he retired. I was reared on Texas Ave and a Saturday bus trip to 'town' was a weekly adventure. Thanks for a job well done! Lanell Poe Jones I came to Alexandria in 1963-4, in my class A uniform, seeking a little recreation which Ft. Polk did not provide. For me, DeRidder and Leesville were to be avoided. Alexandria was the closest "civilized" place. K. Owen Brings back memories. Thanks. Dianne Blankenship My high school classmates and I were stationed nearby in 1961 and 1962. We had a lot of fun cruising around in the old red Corvette. Although it did attract a lot of trash. To this day, we still have a lot of laughs about things that happened back then in Alexandria. During August of 1962 we were sent home. We are all happily married to the girls we left at home, but still recall the generosity of the people we met in Alexandria and how they helped fill the void until we were able to go home again to our loved ones and families. Dick Like visiting an old friend. George Feazell I found your link on www.roadsidepeeks.com. I don't know how long you have been out, but I am going to get all over The Town Talk for not putting a notice on the front page. I will also list your site on CENTDA SITE. Thanks. Robert D. Caldwell Discovered your site while researching "Reed & Bell" root beer mugs. We have five for sale in our PA antique shop, and it turns out they're all the way from Alexandria! A very moving portrayal of how sweet town life once was. Our shop is named "YESTERDAY'S Treasures", and the greatest of all treasures are memories. Don Eidam Memories! Tommy Brasher San Jose, CA USA - Wednesday, November 13, 2002 at 02:56:38 (GMT) Enjoyed your photos and comments about Alexandria. Isn't it sad that so many of those wonderful old businesses and buildings are gone. Loved the brick streets, the Thornton Library and Rosenthal Elementary. Thanks! Marcia Lynn Morris What a trip! As an Air Force brat who spent her high School years (I went to ASH from 1980-83) cruising Jackson Street, your web site was a little like returning to a home I'd almost forgotten I had! Wish there were an easy way to get some "people updates" - I've often wondered what became of my classmates. Thanks for the tour. Lori Albritton Edvardsen One of the better places online to spend a hour; I grew up across from the (then Pik-N-Pak) store you have pictured on Monroe Street, and it was my very first job, where I earned fifty cents an hour as a "Part-time part-time" boy, and I remember it as if it was yesterday, though it was in 1961. A picture of Bolton high school and Alex Jr High would be nice, and maybe a shot of what I hear is now a mall, but I remember it as Westgate shopping center (I think it was West) on MacArthur Drive. My first job while in Distributive Education (they don't have that up north) (you go to school in the morning and work in the afternoon and get high school credit for working) was at Krogers, at the other end of MacArthur drive, down past the water tower. The Don theater was a place where a kid who wanted to work could get three or four bucks helping to sweep out the aisles and between the rows of seats after the theater closed for the day, or in the morning before it opened. Just down the street from the Don was a Western Auto store, and there was a Tandy Leather Company store there as well. Went back home in '88 to bury my dad (my mom was waiting for him at the cemetery in Pineville) and was saddened to see what had happened to Alex - everything in the general vicinity of the jail (actually the jail was the top floor of the building, but we all called the whole building the jail) had been leveled and it reminded me of pictures from Europe in WWII; Alex hadn't gotten the deep water port yet, or the fancy buildings on the waterfront. I do appreciate the signs, but pictures of individual stores would be nice, too. Bought my first suit at Caplans when my mom died, and my dad, years ago, was the night watchman at the Town Talk, and he worked days at the Imperial 400 motel as the desk clerk. I could have died in that town and been happy doing it; I see these pictures and you would not believe how much enjoyment they bring me. Thank you for the effort, and if you do add pictures, please let me know. I will save your url in my files and hope that it stays active for a long, long time. Peace... Hank Mudge (shiloh47@stny.rr.com) I WAS RAISED IN ALEXANDRIA WITH FOND MEMORIES. I REMEMBER THE OLD DEPARTMENT STORES SO VIVIDLY. I REMEMBER RECEIVING $25.00 ONE EASTER WHEN MY FATHER HAD RECEIVED HIS INCOME TAX CHECK AND GOING TO KRESS AND BUYING ME A LIZ TAYLOR BLOUSE. OF COURSE, THERE WAS NUT BROWN POWDER AND A COLONGE IN THE BLUE BOTTLE CALLED EVENING IN PARIS. DURING HURRICANE BETSY, MY SISTER, DOROTHY HAD TAKEN ME TO THE PARAMOUNT THEATHER AND WHEN WE CAME OUT OF THE MOVIE IT WAS STORMING AND WHEN WE FINALLY GOT A CAB TO BRING US HOME, IT COULD ONLY BRING US TO THE CORNER OF RAILROAD AVENUE AND KINGS LANE SINCE THE TELEPHONE POLES HAD BEEN BLOWN DOWN. I REMEMBER LAWSON PHARMACY ON LEE STREET WHERE I WAS GIVEN FOUNTAIN DRINK AND ICE CREAM SODA. I'M STILL WAITING TO HAVE A DR. PEPPER SODA WITH ICE CREAM THE WAY I DID AT LAWSON'S PHARMACY. THE RITZ THEATER WAS AN AMAZING RELAXATION FOR THE WEEK. I REMEMBER GOING TO SEE CHUBBY CHECKER AND DON'T KNOCK THE TWIST. I REMEMBER LISTENING TO THE SONG THE DUKE OF EARL AT THE RITZ. MY HOME CHURCH WAS NEWMAN UNITED METHODIST CHURCH WHICH WAS LOCATED ONE BLOCK FROM ST. JAMES CATHOLIC CHURCH. THE GOOD SHEPHERD FUNERAL HOME LOCATED BEHIND THE KALB STUDIO IS A PART OF MY MEMORIES FOR WAKES FOR MY MOTHER'S FAMILY MEMBERS. I REMEMBER IN 1971, GRADUATING FROM PEABODY HIGH SCHOOL AND WAITING FOR AUGUST SO THAT I COULD ENTER DILLARD UNIVERSITY. I WANTED A WHOLE NEW WORLD WHICH I DID NOT SEE HAPPENING IN ALEXANDRIA. WHEN I WAS A FORTH GRADE STUDENT, I WAS BLESSED TO BE BROUGHT TO NEW ORLEANS TO PONCHTRAIN BEACH AS A PART OF THE CLASS TRIP FOR THE YEAR. COACH WALTER BALLENTINE BROUGHT OUR SCHOOL GROUP TO NEW ORLEANS AND I KNEW THAT ONE DAY I WOULD LIVE IN NEW ORLEANS. WHEN I GO HOME, NOW IT HAS CHANGED SO TREMENDOUSLY. ENGLAND AIR BASE IS JUST AMAZING. I THANK GOD FOR MY FAMILY AND MY TEACHERS WHO HAVE BLESSED ME. MY FATHER WORKED FOR HOLSUM BAKERY FOR 33 YEARS. I DON'T REMEMBER SEEING A PICTURE OF THE BAKERY BUT DID NOTE THAT YOU MEMTIONED IT ALONG WITH THE CONTINENTAL TRAILWAYS BUS OFFICE. WERE THE TWO BUSINESSES CONNECTED? LOIS W. WHITLEY I grew up in Alex., and enjoyed this site. BUT...where is the Hokus-Pokus sign? LAURA MCINTOSH Words seem empty as I try to describe my pleasure at seeing the 1940/50 Alexandria we knew then. It is hard to "go back" though you've done a grand job of helping us do just that. Thanks much. We are sincerely grateful. Best, June Bartlett Hall I have enjoyed viewing "Alexandria Louisiana Retrospective", I like you was born in Alexandria 52 years ago and it has always been a very special place in my memories and heart. No other place can match it. I will forward this on to other members of my family who I know will enjoy this also. Thank you Brenda Hall St Louis, mo USA - Thursday, October 03, 2002 at 20:33:36 (GMT) Thank you so much....I have internet friends in Louisiana, and you have given me a feel for their hometown. Mike Lake I grew up in Pineville from the time I was 4yr. old until I left in 1947 to enlist in the Army Air Corp. I returned after discharge in 1950 and worked at Hotel Bentley, then England A.F.B. until 1965 William H. Wilson Orange Beach, AL USA - Wednesday, October 02, 2002 at 12:26:29 (GMT)
I really enjoyed your site. I too spent my childhood in Alexandria, La. often at my grandmother's on Albert Street across the street from the Pontiac dealership. Often would walk with her "up on Bolton" as she would say to see movies at the Don Theatre or to A&P. Again, really enjoyed it. Bill Wilson Great site! As a native of Beaumont, Texas, I can appreciate the "way things were" and I commend your effort to keep those memories intact. Some of my ancestors made their way through your area on their way from Va. to Tx. just in time for the War of Texas Independence (circa 1830s). I hope to visit your city next summer. Thanks for the tour! Patricia Nowlin San Diego, CA USA - Thursday, September 26, 2002 at 06:25:11 (GMT)
Thanks for the memories. I'm from Alexandria, and I was born in Pineville at Huey P Long Hospital. If any of my family or friends
see this hello from Joseph in Iowa. Black male 33. Today's date: September 24,2002..P.S.
I attended AJH jr. high and Bolton High School..Thanks.. I have been gone from Alex for years. My father still lives there at 88. I enjoyed the virtual tour. It brought back some great memories. Thanks John Franklin Bossier City, LA USA - Monday, September 23, 2002 at 19:03:09 (GMT) Enjoyed the tour!!! Very nice site Zaneta Athens, Greece - Monday, September 23, 2002 at 17:36:46 (GMT) Thanks for the retrospective. For your information, I have authored a book entitled "Fading Textures, Vintage Architecture, Industry, and Transportation in Northeast Louisiana" 400 pp. 377 photographs. Published by ULL, Center for Louisiana Studies. Lee Estes Monroe, LA Ouachita - Tuesday, September 17, 2002 at 02:50:38 (GMT) Your name is so familiar-did you know a Gene Baker in your youth in Alexandria, did you live close to Chester Street? There was a Freeman family close to us-thought I might ask. Denise Taylor
It was fun to look at the pictures. I was born in Alex in 1953. My grandfather was Irby P. Lacour,business owner of the old IRBY'S DERBY, politician, campaign manager of Huey P. Long and Commissioner of Streets (parks) and Highways(?). I grew up on Chester Street, 203, to be exact. Walked to Prompt Succor every day, had my crossing guard for many years until he retired. Every Saturday went to Borden's for ice cream. Walked to the Don Theater hand in hand with my brother, picked pecans for summer money and had a wonderful childhood with my grandmother, Ruby. My family still lives there and in Pineville. However, it seems you can't go home.
It has all changed and my visits are to Forest Lawn and to Greenwood Memorial where I shed a tear and talk of the good old days when life was simple with my grandmother, Ruby, who is buried next to Irby, my grandfather. Then I walk away and regret that my grandson does not have what we had. The simplicity, the imagination, the love and time spent on the front porch swing. I am researching my roots and intend to spend a week at the courthouse and revisit all the old sites where my life began and the memories made. Thank you for doing this-all the nights of window shopping at Wellans, sodas at Kress, what a feeling it brings back. Denise Taylor LOVED YOUR WEB SITE! I just had a wonderful time recalling the "old days" and absolutely adored the photos--cannot thank you enough! Karen Leopard McKnight Enjoyed the tour and the memories it brought back. Thanks. Ross Jackson Houston, TX USA - Thursday, August 15, 2002 at 23:18:17 (GMT)
Thanks for the journey down memory lane. I'll never forget going to Wellan's every Christmas to do our shopping and look at the windows. I'm not even sure how I got to your site. It was just part of a pleasant trip on the superhighway. Kathy I loved your site! It brought back lots of great memories from when I was growing up there! Audra (Sussman) Warmka OKemah, OK USA - Monday, August 05, 2002 at 03:56:45 (GMT)
Thank you so much for the memories!! Indeed this is a beautiful site! I grew up in Alex in the 70's and moved away (in 79). I graduated from Bolton in '77. I went back for a visit this summer and the city is soooooo different. I loved seeing the picture of the Don Theater where I got my very first job! Once again, great work on this site!! I love it. Debra Matthies Wow! What a lovely piece! As a transplant, it was really interesting to see some of the older pictures! Thanks. Liz Merryman I fell upon your site by accident, and am so glad that I did. I spent years 5 thru 28 there, including 8 years "hard time" at St. Rita's. All of the old pictures brought back memories of happier and more simple times. Thanks! Shannon Wilcox-Mangham My uncle Albert and my grandmother owned that Lee street TV store in the fifties which was really their dry goods hardware everything store which I guess predated 5&10's. My father, the progressive doctor from the east had persuaded them to try these new televisions and be the first in Alexandria to offer them. My grandmother, the stubborn french woman wouldn't give up her other stock and I remember visiting the store both before and after the introduction of television sets and it always was filled with other stuff in those dark and dusky interiors. My uncle who was never much of a businessman was soon surpassed by other appliance stores and I guess Lehmann's slipped back into its sleepy ways. My grandmother died in 1960 and Albert died in 65. thanks for the memories. Melanie Radley Thanks for doing this for many grateful Alexandrians. This was fun and I appreciate your taking the time to put it together. T Pate Alexandria, LA USA - July 20, 2002 Really enjoyed your site. Thanks for taking the time and effort in producing it. M Wellan Just saw your web page on Alexandria. Great pics! B King Houston, TX USA - July 14, 2002 I enjoyed seeing all the old businesses that are no longer around. Thank you. M McElroy USA - May 30, 2002 I enjoyed the pictures so much and the memories you included. I appreciate growing up in Alexandria much more since I've been away. Thank you again! J Kappel New Iberia, LA USA - March 21, 2002 Thank you so much for the Alexandria Retrospective. A friend of mine in South Louisiana found the site and emailed the URL to me. Again, the pictures and text are excellent, and we thank you! C Taylor Alexandria, La USA - March 16, 2002 I have just finished touring your Alexandria Retrospective and found, just as you said, that it stirred many wonderful memories. P McCauley Huntsville, AL USA - December 29, 2001 Although I don't keep up with anyone from Alexandria, I've shared your site with several people from Louisiana who have Alexandria "connections" and they also found it very enjoyable. Thanks again! J Hudson Kobelski Virginia Beach, VA USA - October 2, 2001 I enjoyed the pictures and text of the Retrospective today. Brad Smith Alexandria, La USA - March 18, 2001
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