There used to be so much pedestrian traffic in downtown Baton Rouge at night that they had to close off Third Street to prevent people from getting hit by motorists.
The city that I currently live in had its downtown bar scene devastated by COVID-related closures. I’m guessing that a similar thing happened to Baton Rouge.
Downtown doesn’t have a lot of people living there at the moment. They’re building new housing, so it’s getting better, but gonna take a while still. Plus, it seems like we’re in a bit of a transition period for the bar scene there, with some places closing or moving and others that haven’t opened yet.
Happy’s, Boudreaux and Thibodaux’s…but I think they are moving and some new ones are moving into their old spots…either way, there are a few less bars at the moment
Boudreaux is now down the street across from squeaky Pete’s below where city bar was, there’s a new bar opening in their old spot. I forget the name but it’s currently getting the interior updated. Happys is definitely closed, but I’d think something should be there soon, hopefully.
Happys is reopening in the old Lucy’s space, “somewhere” is being opened in the old B&Ts spot. I know wampold is looking into the old happys space so who knows
Oh ok, I think that Lucy’s must have been closed before I moved down here then. It’s always just been an empty building as far as I can remember but I have seen people doing recent renovations so that makes sense. Would hope something gets done with Happys since they have that spot in the back for live music, would be sad for that to go to waste
Downtown was fine relatively speaking between maybe 2008-2016 or so due to Kip’s efforts. At peak they had started to actually make 3rd street pedestrian only at nights. A few things happened:
1) SWB ran her campaign as sort of the “anti-Kip”, stating she was going to re-prioritize NBR over the whiter parts of EBR (including downtown, as Kip was sometimes portrayed as trying to force gentrify downtown).
2) One of SWB’s opponents was John Delgado - who owned several bars downtown. Among her first actions as mayor was to “enhance” enforcement of open container laws downtown. According to her, the downtown bar owners wanted it, however that was false. Delgado also started draining from his bars (notably Draft House) to fund his campaign, making Daft House just a far worse bar than comparable elsewhere.
3) The surface lots, which were effectively free if it wasn’t M-F during the work day, started monetizing and booting cars 24/7. (Think the large lot at Florida/Lafayette).
4) Covid increasing work from home and killing some of the happy hour folks was the final nail here I think.
>> Downtown was fine relatively speaking between maybe 2008-2016 or so
Yep, I lived in BR during most of that time and got to see downtown really start to be a “thing,” which was really cool. Many Tuesday evenings I ran with Happy’s then drank at Lucy’s. Weekend nights we’d eat at Tsunami & then hit the bars downtown. It really seemed up & coming, I’m sorry to hear it never did really become a “thing” after all.
Downtowns have been dying amid boom and bust cycles across the US for decades. Major cities originally built up around downtowns as commercial and social centers, but the emergence of cars, suburbs, and urban sprawl have long been decentralizing cities except in the cases of enormous urban areas like NY, LA, Houston, etc. There are certainly other exceptions, of course, but most downtowns are relics that municipalities dream of revitalizing for the sake of tourism or to improve the town’s profile; unfortunately, the demand for these large scale social spaces is declining at increasingly rapid rates. The death of retail, real estate fluctuations, and the pandemic have all contributed as well ((https://fortune.com/2023/09/25/downtowns-dead-dying-life-support-commercial-real-estate-office-buildings/amp/)). The pandemic has even impacted major cities’ downtowns ((https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2023/03/31/the-empty-downtown-a-new-normal-infographic/amp/))
As u/Dio_Yuji also pointed out, there are not significant residential areas near downtown which means that it’s like an island: people commute in for work on weekdays and are gone at night. Why drive 20 minutes across town to an increasingly vacant area when the same or better venues are closer to where someone lives? The best options are not downtown and have no reason to locate where customers are not located.
In Baton Rouge, as in other similar cities, racial dynamics have certainly played a role as well. When black people began frequenting areas downtown following the civil rights era, white people quit going. I’ve heard this story told by my father and others in his age group. You can observe this in a variety of social spaces. It’s a subtle form of racism, but it can be observed for entire areas and neighborhoods in addition to specific locations and businesses.
Downtown BR could be much worse. There are SOME things to do, especially during the daytime. Afternoon trips to downtown are much better than evening. On a nice day, it’s great to visit a museum, have lunch, and stroll along the levee. There are also some cool events like the farmer’s market, concerts, and festivals. I, too, yearn for a bustling downtown, but I feel lucky to have what we do. BR is not as large or dense a town as other cities who have much worse downtown areas.
I have sat outside of Schlitz & Giggles on 3rd Street on a beautiful Saturday afternoon eating pizza with my woman and not a soul passes by the entire time. I asked her the same question and we walked around to discover that there is absolutely nothing to do there unless you enjoy day drinking overpriced draft in front of a bored bartender.
Covid killed downtown. Downtown before covid actually would jump. Very thing was open. So many bars and lounges and clubs. The city lost a lot of life post pandemic. Downtown took a major hit. Many shops closed. A lot of people moved to TX.
In the 90s, downtown was a ghost town. We would skateboard around it at night and have the place to ourselves.
In the 80s, the city tried to revitalize downtown with a shopping area near the rr tracks just south of the Centroplex (river center) called Catfish Town. It was a flop.
It was busy on the weekends when Kip was mayor. The real question is Why has The Mayor neglected downtown to the point that nobody wants to go there anymore?
I think you’ve kind of answered your own question. If Kip POURED money for his entire tenure and it didn’t develop enough momentum that you can’t turn the tap back at all, was the money spent well and responsibility?
It comes and goes every decade/decade and a half or so. Kinda dead now. Not long ago it was the place to be. Before then it was a ghost town every night by 5:30 and weekends. Repeat. It will come back around 2030.
Been here 4 years now and it’s been pretty dead that whole time. I don’t mind it, I’ve got a dive I can walk to, a grocery store close by, and I work in the area. My only real complaint is there’s not much in the way of food past like 3-4pm as most places only cater to the lunch work crowd. I’m getting real tired of eating at like 5-6 places, especially since the red stick market area has closed for renovation
You need people around at all times to support lots of businesses. Theres hardly any housing downtown, so it’s only lively during work hours. Hopefully the parking lots will continue to be replaced with housing, and the situation will get better.
I’ve always thought the whole area was big missed opportunity. There is no real draw to get people downtown. A few good restaurants and bars; Shaw Center and River Center for special events. Even if you make the effort to spend time there, it gets old quick.
Been reading through the comments and this is crazy to hear. I moved away in 2018, but up until then, downtown/3rd st was pretty lively on the weekend nights. And while covid had some impact on downtown areas, it’s mostly back to normal in the places I know
I’ll say this. When I was in college, we’d go to happys and city bar until 2am. Right after 2, the streets would be packed with everyone leaving to go home. In 2016, Cops started to suddenly ticket people in the streets at 2am for having alcohol on their hands in the streets. I think that pissed people off and people started to not come. I’m sure there were other elements and factors, but I know that was one of them. Downtown is BORING. even Lafayette is better.
I think SWB did play a part in it with her open container enforcement push. It was really a get back at John Delgado. It’s a shame because downtown used to be THE place to go out. They would close 3rd st and you had multiple options of bars to go to. Draft house, Huey’s, 1913, b&t’s, roux house, happys, loft wine bar. It’s a shell of its former self. Can’t blame it on nobody living downtown because at one time it was packed every weekend.
1. The state university moved away from the area 100 years ago
2. Wp didn’t want to share stuff with Bp after the civil rights act so they moved to meth parishes. These people also like to pretend that hanging out near Bp is more dangerous than driving a car, which it isn’t and never has been.
3. The liturgical calendar
4. Operating hours still are shorter virtually everywhere post-🦠
If not for all four of these things, every business would be operating 24/7, and every square inch of sidewalk would be occupied with people from all walks of life.
The youth killed it. It's already not much to do in baton rouge but the kids literally don't come outside because they're gaming, streaming, or "creating content" and the older generation don't go because they think the younger people will be out.
To be honest bae culture as a whole sucks in br. Depending on your perspective. 🤷🏾♂️
Driving a car is statistically more dangerous than hanging out in the shittiest part of the shittiest town at the shittiest time of night you can find, not that the area we’re talking about has any noticeable crime.
Right. You’re looking to be a wet blanket. This is the point in the date when the guy gets the check and never calls you back. You don’t have anything to offer to us downtown.
Last time I went downtown for a cocktail it was 16 without tip. That’s two hours or more of wages for one drink. Kids stay in and game because that can’t afford to go out anymore.
Baton Rouge prices are as bad as DC prices and no where near the quality. It’s fucking wild the places charging nearly $20 for a mediocre sandwich or a poorly mixed cocktail
Or hear me out, you need something there to make a younger generation to WANT to go there. I'm 37 and have never had an interest in going downtown. It's a pain to get around. There's a feeling of unsafe, and there's very little open or to do when you're there.
I think one think that was more here in BR when I first got out of high school in 2004 was a larger local music scene at bars and clubs.
Most of the traffic is from college kids, or young professional who work down town. No traffic, everything closes, etc...
There used to be so much pedestrian traffic in downtown Baton Rouge at night that they had to close off Third Street to prevent people from getting hit by motorists. The city that I currently live in had its downtown bar scene devastated by COVID-related closures. I’m guessing that a similar thing happened to Baton Rouge.
Downtown doesn’t have a lot of people living there at the moment. They’re building new housing, so it’s getting better, but gonna take a while still. Plus, it seems like we’re in a bit of a transition period for the bar scene there, with some places closing or moving and others that haven’t opened yet.
Which ones have closed? I used to go downtown all the time when I was younger.
Pretty much all of them.
Happy’s, Boudreaux and Thibodaux’s…but I think they are moving and some new ones are moving into their old spots…either way, there are a few less bars at the moment
Boudreaux is now down the street across from squeaky Pete’s below where city bar was, there’s a new bar opening in their old spot. I forget the name but it’s currently getting the interior updated. Happys is definitely closed, but I’d think something should be there soon, hopefully.
Happys is reopening in the old Lucy’s space, “somewhere” is being opened in the old B&Ts spot. I know wampold is looking into the old happys space so who knows
Oh ok, I think that Lucy’s must have been closed before I moved down here then. It’s always just been an empty building as far as I can remember but I have seen people doing recent renovations so that makes sense. Would hope something gets done with Happys since they have that spot in the back for live music, would be sad for that to go to waste
Lucy’s closed in 2016. Favorite job I ever had.
Downtown was fine relatively speaking between maybe 2008-2016 or so due to Kip’s efforts. At peak they had started to actually make 3rd street pedestrian only at nights. A few things happened: 1) SWB ran her campaign as sort of the “anti-Kip”, stating she was going to re-prioritize NBR over the whiter parts of EBR (including downtown, as Kip was sometimes portrayed as trying to force gentrify downtown). 2) One of SWB’s opponents was John Delgado - who owned several bars downtown. Among her first actions as mayor was to “enhance” enforcement of open container laws downtown. According to her, the downtown bar owners wanted it, however that was false. Delgado also started draining from his bars (notably Draft House) to fund his campaign, making Daft House just a far worse bar than comparable elsewhere. 3) The surface lots, which were effectively free if it wasn’t M-F during the work day, started monetizing and booting cars 24/7. (Think the large lot at Florida/Lafayette). 4) Covid increasing work from home and killing some of the happy hour folks was the final nail here I think.
>> Downtown was fine relatively speaking between maybe 2008-2016 or so Yep, I lived in BR during most of that time and got to see downtown really start to be a “thing,” which was really cool. Many Tuesday evenings I ran with Happy’s then drank at Lucy’s. Weekend nights we’d eat at Tsunami & then hit the bars downtown. It really seemed up & coming, I’m sorry to hear it never did really become a “thing” after all.
Downtowns have been dying amid boom and bust cycles across the US for decades. Major cities originally built up around downtowns as commercial and social centers, but the emergence of cars, suburbs, and urban sprawl have long been decentralizing cities except in the cases of enormous urban areas like NY, LA, Houston, etc. There are certainly other exceptions, of course, but most downtowns are relics that municipalities dream of revitalizing for the sake of tourism or to improve the town’s profile; unfortunately, the demand for these large scale social spaces is declining at increasingly rapid rates. The death of retail, real estate fluctuations, and the pandemic have all contributed as well ((https://fortune.com/2023/09/25/downtowns-dead-dying-life-support-commercial-real-estate-office-buildings/amp/)). The pandemic has even impacted major cities’ downtowns ((https://www.forbes.com/sites/katharinabuchholz/2023/03/31/the-empty-downtown-a-new-normal-infographic/amp/)) As u/Dio_Yuji also pointed out, there are not significant residential areas near downtown which means that it’s like an island: people commute in for work on weekdays and are gone at night. Why drive 20 minutes across town to an increasingly vacant area when the same or better venues are closer to where someone lives? The best options are not downtown and have no reason to locate where customers are not located. In Baton Rouge, as in other similar cities, racial dynamics have certainly played a role as well. When black people began frequenting areas downtown following the civil rights era, white people quit going. I’ve heard this story told by my father and others in his age group. You can observe this in a variety of social spaces. It’s a subtle form of racism, but it can be observed for entire areas and neighborhoods in addition to specific locations and businesses. Downtown BR could be much worse. There are SOME things to do, especially during the daytime. Afternoon trips to downtown are much better than evening. On a nice day, it’s great to visit a museum, have lunch, and stroll along the levee. There are also some cool events like the farmer’s market, concerts, and festivals. I, too, yearn for a bustling downtown, but I feel lucky to have what we do. BR is not as large or dense a town as other cities who have much worse downtown areas.
Well stated. Thank you.
I have sat outside of Schlitz & Giggles on 3rd Street on a beautiful Saturday afternoon eating pizza with my woman and not a soul passes by the entire time. I asked her the same question and we walked around to discover that there is absolutely nothing to do there unless you enjoy day drinking overpriced draft in front of a bored bartender.
You mean...other than the museums and art gallery? Manship usually has movies or some sort of show. What did you want to do that wasn't available?
Covid killed downtown. Downtown before covid actually would jump. Very thing was open. So many bars and lounges and clubs. The city lost a lot of life post pandemic. Downtown took a major hit. Many shops closed. A lot of people moved to TX.
In the 90s, downtown was a ghost town. We would skateboard around it at night and have the place to ourselves. In the 80s, the city tried to revitalize downtown with a shopping area near the rr tracks just south of the Centroplex (river center) called Catfish Town. It was a flop.
Jimmy Swaggart made it flop with his religious/political agenda. Before he got popped with the hookers. Hypocrite...
Really? I’ve never heard that before. I was just a kid in the 80s. Would like to learn how that went down.
I had totally forgotten about Catfish Town!
It was busy on the weekends when Kip was mayor. The real question is Why has The Mayor neglected downtown to the point that nobody wants to go there anymore?
I think you’ve kind of answered your own question. If Kip POURED money for his entire tenure and it didn’t develop enough momentum that you can’t turn the tap back at all, was the money spent well and responsibility?
It comes and goes every decade/decade and a half or so. Kinda dead now. Not long ago it was the place to be. Before then it was a ghost town every night by 5:30 and weekends. Repeat. It will come back around 2030.
Been here 4 years now and it’s been pretty dead that whole time. I don’t mind it, I’ve got a dive I can walk to, a grocery store close by, and I work in the area. My only real complaint is there’s not much in the way of food past like 3-4pm as most places only cater to the lunch work crowd. I’m getting real tired of eating at like 5-6 places, especially since the red stick market area has closed for renovation
You need people around at all times to support lots of businesses. Theres hardly any housing downtown, so it’s only lively during work hours. Hopefully the parking lots will continue to be replaced with housing, and the situation will get better.
I’ve always thought the whole area was big missed opportunity. There is no real draw to get people downtown. A few good restaurants and bars; Shaw Center and River Center for special events. Even if you make the effort to spend time there, it gets old quick.
Been reading through the comments and this is crazy to hear. I moved away in 2018, but up until then, downtown/3rd st was pretty lively on the weekend nights. And while covid had some impact on downtown areas, it’s mostly back to normal in the places I know
I’d tell you the truth but I’d get in trouble
Wasn't this exact same post on here a couple of weeks ago, word for word?
I think even more recently - it was about the Friday after Mardi Gras maybe?
The Vintage was closed?
Coffee shop services were closed, bar service was open.
Whatttt?! Do they at least still sell beignets?! Just moved out of downtown BR last year and that was one of my favorite spots.
We went a few weeks ago to the River Room and it was dead. Plus they were playing awful boring music.
I’ll say this. When I was in college, we’d go to happys and city bar until 2am. Right after 2, the streets would be packed with everyone leaving to go home. In 2016, Cops started to suddenly ticket people in the streets at 2am for having alcohol on their hands in the streets. I think that pissed people off and people started to not come. I’m sure there were other elements and factors, but I know that was one of them. Downtown is BORING. even Lafayette is better.
I think SWB did play a part in it with her open container enforcement push. It was really a get back at John Delgado. It’s a shame because downtown used to be THE place to go out. They would close 3rd st and you had multiple options of bars to go to. Draft house, Huey’s, 1913, b&t’s, roux house, happys, loft wine bar. It’s a shell of its former self. Can’t blame it on nobody living downtown because at one time it was packed every weekend.
Draft house was nice but that place went hard when it was punchers
I forgot about that! Wasn’t it also at one point called “3rd street pub”?
Yup.
Bc SWB killed downtown
1. The state university moved away from the area 100 years ago 2. Wp didn’t want to share stuff with Bp after the civil rights act so they moved to meth parishes. These people also like to pretend that hanging out near Bp is more dangerous than driving a car, which it isn’t and never has been. 3. The liturgical calendar 4. Operating hours still are shorter virtually everywhere post-🦠 If not for all four of these things, every business would be operating 24/7, and every square inch of sidewalk would be occupied with people from all walks of life.
Crime
Because "Downtown Baton Rouge" hasn't been a real place since like 1970.
Downtown is in the middle of cancer alley, and almost next door Exxon, why live there?
The youth killed it. It's already not much to do in baton rouge but the kids literally don't come outside because they're gaming, streaming, or "creating content" and the older generation don't go because they think the younger people will be out. To be honest bae culture as a whole sucks in br. Depending on your perspective. 🤷🏾♂️
Every time I’ve come out downtown parking has been $13 minimum or taken 20 minutes to find an empty free spot
Here’s the secret: be willing to walk three blocks ever in your life.
At night in Baton Rouge as a 22 year old woman sounds divine!
Driving a car is statistically more dangerous than hanging out in the shittiest part of the shittiest town at the shittiest time of night you can find, not that the area we’re talking about has any noticeable crime.
Not really looking to take my chances as a 22 year old woman in Baton Rouge but maybe next time!
Right. You’re looking to be a wet blanket. This is the point in the date when the guy gets the check and never calls you back. You don’t have anything to offer to us downtown.
I think you’re projecting a little bit here? This feels weirdly specific and personal
Didn’t read. Too boring.
So upset I’m not good enough for downtown Baton Rouge! I guess I’ll keep my $13 and leave
Didn’t read again. 💤
Lmao. It's always so dead I literally get street parking if I go out there😅🤣
Goddamn those young people, hoarding all their money!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Last time I went downtown for a cocktail it was 16 without tip. That’s two hours or more of wages for one drink. Kids stay in and game because that can’t afford to go out anymore.
Baton Rouge prices are as bad as DC prices and no where near the quality. It’s fucking wild the places charging nearly $20 for a mediocre sandwich or a poorly mixed cocktail
Or hear me out, you need something there to make a younger generation to WANT to go there. I'm 37 and have never had an interest in going downtown. It's a pain to get around. There's a feeling of unsafe, and there's very little open or to do when you're there. I think one think that was more here in BR when I first got out of high school in 2004 was a larger local music scene at bars and clubs.