Orleanians care about our history, be it personal or the city’s.  In 1920 we created the Vieux Carre’ Commission to maintain the historical architecture in its French Quarter.  We revere jazz in a simple, what some might call ”run down,” music venue called Preservation Hall, because it seems to keep its authenticity that way.  We nostalgically join in Benny Grunch’s song, “Ain’t There No More” when he sings of the many places, such as McKenzie’s Bakeries, that were New Orleans mainstays but are now gone.

I’m not sure what Mom was thinking when this photo was taken, but the scene in front of her was common at our gatherings for many, many years.

Daniel Entringer bought Henry McKenzie’s Uptown bakery and kept him on as manager ’til his death in 1936.  There were about fifty McKenzie’s bakeries in the area when they finally closed in 2001.

Below Linda LeBon tells us how Orleanians feel now as they see the McKenzie’s brand again at a local franchise of Tastee Donuts:

While working at Tastee/McKenzie’s on Harrison Avenue,  customers come in soooo often

so happy to see McKenzie’s I almost cried.”

True statement. She now lives out of state but had to stop and buy things to bring back to wherever she’s living now.

One man walked in and with arms up to heaven,

Have I taken a  step back into the past?!”

I answered, “Yes, you have. What looks  good?”

Quite a few people come in and take pictures on their phones to forward to other people and then get a call from that person who is not in NOLA, questioning them about how they got those pictures. It takes the photographer a while before the caller is convinced that a McKenzie’s bakery does exist.

Many people have said, “Now, we have to get Schwegmann’s and K&B’s back and the world will be a better place.”

New Orleanians honor their traditions, even stores!

Red beans, rice, and sausage

Christine, I thought you might like to know about the story that I have entered on the “Your Pages” section of my copy of Why People Live in New Orleans. 

Starting in 1972 I took a six-year break from law practice, and during that time I worked as a longshoreman in the Port of New Orleans in 1974, in the course of which I acquired some tools of the trade like a sack hook, a sack claw and a carpenter’s apron full of necessary carpentry implements.  In 1975 I was living in Greece and France, and by 1976 I was living in Pensacola, Florida, but all the while I still had those longshoreman’s implements.  So one weekend when I was back in New Orleans I went over to the longshoremen’s hiring center (then on Race Street) with those tools in a box, to sell them during one of the hiring sessions when I knew it would be crowded.  By and by a black longshoreman asked me why I was selling them, and we had this conversation:
 
JBS:  I’ve moved away to Florida and no longer work on ships, and I won’t be coming back here.
 
Longshoreman:  Was you born here?
 
JBS:  I was.
 
Longshoreman:  I has a daughter in California.  She call me all the time and say, ‘Daddy I wanna come home, it not be the same out here.’
 
JBS:  I won’t be coming back.
 
Longshoreman:  Let me tell you something:  Once you is done taste dem red beans and rice, you ain’t goin’ nowhere.  You be back.
 
He was right.  By 1978 I was back, and, except for trips, I haven’t left since.  The way he spontaneously pronounced that line about the red beans and rice was unforgettable.  It has never left me.       

Joseph B. Stahl          

Note from Christine to blog readers:  Please let us know how you’ve used “Your Pages,” or feel free to comment on Joe’s post, telling of your own experiences.

I live in New Orleans because I couldn’t think of a better place to live.  I have lived in Iowa, Colorado, and Illinois and have visited almost every state in the union, and New Orleans clearly has my heart.  A lady from New Orleans also does and that’s how I came to know and love the area.

 Thirty-seven years ago I married a New Orleans native and came here to visit family.  It was love at first sight.  The history, geography, and culture are like no others I have ever visited.  Read more…