I love old stuff and am really fascinated by what places used to be and what they are now. I also love ebay so I was doubly excited when I typed in 'Lafayette, LA' and up popped over 200 neat old postcards, matchbook covers, mardi gras ball programs and more!There's a menu from an old restaurant called "The Skunk" (apparently on Hwy. 90 somewhere?), an old Hadacol bottle, a Sambo's wooden nickel (where was that located?), a postcard for the Lafayette Charity Hospital (some big old white building...must be something now?), several old hotel postcards, Evangeline Hotel matchbooks, and lots of images of downtown...the Gordon Hotel from the 20's, City Hall, and General Office Supply. Fun! Oh - AND - a baseball card from one of mark's old Driller's buddies, Gary Alexander.
So, if you're a geek like me about this kind of stuff click here to see all the old nostalgic wonderfulness.
The SKUNK DRIVE IN was on Pinhook, on the hill where an oil company is now. After the Hilton, look for a hill on the left. It had a circular drive that went "steeply" up one side and down the other. It was dirt and very rutted. It was an adventure, both eating out from somewhere and having to down-shift to get there.
ReplyDeletePS Welcome back. You were missed.
Oh wow...I know where you're talking about. Ha! Eating at The Skunk sounds like it was quite an adventure. Thanks for filling me in and mark told me where the old charity hospital was so I'm good. I read somewhere that someone is compiling ghost stories about downtown landmarks...I'll have to look for it and share the link.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you for the well wishes....glad to be back. Hope we can keep up.
Sambo's was on the north side (no upper Lafayette back then - in fact, I don't know if there was a south side back then). It was located off US 167 (Evangeline Thruway) on the west side, near where the Howard Johnson Inn is today (think NW Frontage and Chalmette Dr). Sambo's was a restaurant - a breakfast place, as I definitely remember pancakes (these may have been a featured item due to the "Little Black Sambo" association) - though it may have had a full menu like Denny's or IHOP. I don't recall what the nickels were for, but do I remember having some.
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