First we look at the overall map.
Black and white, pen and ink, business names and buildings.
Pictured above is the lower left section of the map. On New Hampshire Street, it shows where the St. Tammany Art Association used to be located, across from the Christ Episcopal Church (near the entrance to Bogue Falaya Park). Moving up New Hampshire, we pass the church's Parish House, and then to the next commercial building, an old residence converted to several businesses: The Williamsburg Room, The Butler's Pantry, The Captain's Quarters, and the English Garden Tearoom.
As we reach Rutland, we can look westward down a block and see the Kearns Law Office and to the east on Rutland we see Davidson Distributing and the old downtown location of Poole Lumber. Across Columbia Street from the old Poole building is the two-story brick Masonic Temple.
Crossing over Rutland and heading up Columbia Street, we have the law offices of Jones, Fussell, Derveloy and Schoen on the right and the Matador Lounge on the left hand side of the street (where Heritage Bank building is today.) Passing the alleyway, we have the L'Escargot Restaurant on the right, next to Smith Hardware, which is across from Krebs, Fendlason and Farmer law office. Next to the law office is Tom Shepherd Insurance, then the Barber Shop, and then "A Step Up" at the corner of Boston and Columbia. Across Columbia St. at that point is Joe's Family Shoe Store in the corner building.
From the middle of the Boston/Columbia intersection we can see the H. J. Smith & Sons General Merchandise store ( a local landmark), the Hutch's Honda motorcycle dealership on the northeast corner, with Elizabeth's Glamour Salon and the King and Green Law Offices over on the south side of Boston (where they sell cupcakes now).
Turning south on New Hampshire St., we first pass First National Bank on the west side, then Citizen's Bank on the east side, then Kentzel Printing, Bratton, Fitzmaurice and Seago law offices on the west side of the street. Keeping on southward, we pass Ogden Photography on the west side of the street, next to the Christian Science Reading Room, and then Style Setters hair salon. Over on the east side of the street we have passed St. Tammany Homestead and Rodrigue & Rodrigue Law Offices.
At the Rutland Street intersection, we look eastward to see the Anchor Arcade, and westward to see the Town & Country Barber Shop (Ray Taylor), Professional Video Services, Consolidated Court Reporters, and Farris & Earhart as well as Wedding Bells Boutique, and Rainbow Photography .
Strolling along Rutland Street, we come to Vermont Street and head north, coming again to Boston Street, we walk to the east and see on the north side of the street see the old post office, the parish administrative office building in the Southern Hotel, Tugy's Bar, Beautiful Day Health Food Store and the Ground Floor Restaurant, while on the south side of the street is First Bank.
At the corner of Boston and New Hampshire, we admire the oak trees in front of the parish courthouse, then glance northward to see the Citizen Finance Co., Expressions in Gold, and James Barber Shop occupying the ground floor of the Southern Hotel facing New Hampshire.
Now let's look at the middle part of the left side of the map. It picks up to the north of the previous section. Find the intersection of Boston and Columbia in the above map (lower right corner) and here we go:
Heading up Columbia street, we pass Champagne Jewelers, Roy's Knife & Archery Shop, and Lifetime Furniture on the left. We come to the intersection of Columbia and Gibson and see the Foxhole Army Surplus store in the next block, with Maison Nez Liquor store on the corner. Proceeding westward along Gibson, we pass Gibson Street bar and lounge, and Nathan's Sandwich Shop on the south side of the street, and Hebert's Cleaners and Pfeffer & Prieto Law Offices on the north side of the street, where the railroad tracks turn on their way to P&W Industries.
At the intersection of Gibson and New Hampshire we can see the Goodwill Store on the northwest corner, Marsolan Feed & Seed down the block on the north side and on the southwest corner we see the Fashion Shop. On the southeast corner is Twin Cinema (the Star Theater). Proceeding down New Hampshire we pass by Home Finance, a courtroom, Ellis and Garcia Law Offices, Rick's Cafe, and the St. Tammany Farmer newspaper on the west side of the street, and Deano Law Office and the office of A. J. Planche on the east side. At the back of the courthouse is the Sheriff's office and records annex.
On the ground floor of the Southern Hotel building facing New Hampshire, in addition to the businesses we have already seen, are also Byrd and Jahncke law offices and Dunnings Flower Shop. The courthouse, of course, has the Registrar of Voters, the Police Jury offices, the Clerk of Court's office, and the sheriff's dispatch room.
Meanwhile, one block over on Vermont St. between Gibson and Boston were Cafe Rani, June's Alterations, and Western Auto.
Above is the map of the tour of the next section of the map, the upper left side, starting at the intersection of Gibson St. and New Hampshire, located on the lower edge in the middle. We walk northward on New Hampshire, passing by Goodwill and Lee Finance, the Criminal Non-Support office, and Hiller's Bar. Then we come to the Burns Furniture Store with Ben Franklin variety store (where the Youth Service Bureau is now).
An advertisement from 1926
From the intersection of Lockwood and New Hampshire, we can see Alexius Brothers hardware midway down the block (with its lumber shed in the back), the Covington Depot Restaurant in the Covington train depot, and Riverside Ford car dealership on the northeast corner (where the Woodwright shop is now).
Heading up New Hampshire, we come to Ozone Meat Market (now offices), and the Southern Printing and Graphics shop (where Beck N Call cafe is now.) Over to the northwest is P&W Industries, across Kirkland Street from Southern Printing is the old Red Cross office, and in front of that is Covington City Hall. Heading east on Kirkland, we pass Lanier and come to Southern Reflections. We find ourselves at the corner of Columbia and Kirkland, looking at the Covington Cemetery.
Heading south on Columbia, we pass by Alexius (a law office I think), the police station (which later became a land surveyor's office), the Youth Service Bureau and Schoen Real Estate. Of course on the northeast corner of Columbia and Lockwood we find Robert's School of Beauty. Looking westward along Lockwood St., there's Morgan Office Products, Alberty and Associates, Armstrong, and Treasure Quest on the north side of Lockwood, and Back Quarters Antiques, Barranger offices, and St. Tammany Insurance on the south side of the street.
Continuing south on Columbia, we see Hogan Law Office, Community Loans, Mini Storage Units, an Antiques store, "Rent To Own," the legendary Dutsch & Peters store, Al the Printer, All Seasons Travel Agency, St. Tammany Secretarial, the Rattan & Wicker House, Balen Law Office, Sweeney's Saloon and the aformentioned Foxhole Army Surplus. One block east, at the corner of Florida St. and Gibson, is the A&P Supermarket.
We walk northward along Florida and a block later we are at Lockwood St. again, and to the west we can see, on the north side of Lockwood, the Nearly New Shop and Lockwood House. The Lockwood House had several businesses represented within its walls, among them GTF Minatures, Covington Typing Service, Wanette Gallery, Carol's Prints, Tradewinds, Baggy Bear and Fabrics To Wood. In the next block north on Florida was Sancho's Mexican Cuisine, Aunt M's, and Pegasus Studio (Lyn Hill Taylor's art studio).
Now we find ourselves in the upper left hand corner of the map (see above) which features the Bogue Falaya Plaza shopping mall. From the Pegasus Studio on Kirkland (upper left), we head east on Kirkland past the First National Bank operations center. Crossing Lee Road, we go by the bank's computer center, First Federal Savings, the local South Central Bell office (remember them?), Pasquale's, and Pine Belt Tire. Fox Photo is a drive through kiosk in the Bogue Falaya Plaza parking lot.
Speaking of Bogue Falaya Plaza, it was home to First National Bank, the bank's Travel Agency (Don Phillips Sr.), Video Showplace, Blossman & Hand law offices, Shoe Town, the law offices of LaPorte, Sehrt, Romig & Hand, Northlake Vision Center (Ken Nolan), and Covington Sportsman. Not only that, but also Bruhn Jewelry, Montgomery Ward, Both of You Hair, Covington Numismatics, the Red Carpet, Sound Trak, Toggery Shop, Eileen's Expressions, and the WARB Music Cube remote radio studio.
To round up the Plaza occupants, there were Mall Mart, Tillie's Shirt Shop, Murphy's, National Supermarket and Beall's. Across from Beall's in the parking lot was the Office of Family Security, as well as Gibson's Department Store, Leo's Lunchbox, Nu-Tech Satellite Antennas (remember those big satellite dishes?), St, Tammany Adjusters, Ten Ring Air Rifle Shop (Jack Frost), C&M Service Co., Hughes Tractor, Pat Lester, and a car wash.
On the alleyway between the Plaza and Florida Street were Otasco's Auto, French Cut Hair, Associated Agencies, Sherwin Williams Paints, an ice dispenser, a snow ball stand, Country Boy Produce, and, facing Florida St., the Covington Post Office.
Heading north on Florida St., we pass the A&P Supermarket, Miter'd Corners (I'm guessing a frame shop), and the Corner Gift Shop. On the other side of Lockwood, on the east side of Florida, we find the Covington Jr. Service League Thrift Store (Those ladies with the Covington Jr. Service League sure kept busy), the Reed law office, and my favorite bookstore, Carol's Corner, with its several arts & crafts outside booths. The Victorian Greenhouse and the P.S. Shop were behind Carol's Corner Bookstore mid-block on the east side of Florida.
The last section of the tour of 1983 downtown Covington features the businesses pictured above, on Lee Lane and Florida Street, between Gibson and Rutland. Here we go, starting in the upper right corner, on Lee Lane coming southward.
There was the Total Image (where Meribo is now), Josephine's Attic and Excess Baggage (in the pink two story building), The Madison Shop, Architects Fauntleroy and Latham, the Gourmet Market, and, at the corner of Boston St. and Lee Lane, the Half Moon gift shop, the Greater Covington Area Chamber of Commerce building, The Royal Oak, the Shop Upstairs, and a vacant lot where Coffee Rani is now.
Looking eastward from the Boston St. / Lee Lane intersection we see where Holden's Texaco used to be, with the Boston Commons proposed shopping village soon to come. At the river, of course, is the six-story Bogue Falaya Towers, and on the south side of Boston at that point is Baldwin Motors and Himel Auto Parts.
Coming down Lee Lane we see the Kumquat Bookstore (Walker Percy had an office there at one time), NOVA, Lagniappe, The Armoire, Claudine's, and The Pear Tree, all on the east side of the street, and Little Rascals, Boutique Aimee, Quilts & Quaints, Le Petit Restaurant, the Patridge, Sports Cottage, The Lily Pad, and Nancy Hul's Jewelry on the west side of Lee Lane.
Down at the corner of Lee Lane and Rutland Sts, (which was many years ago the entrance to Charropin Beach), we head west on Rutland to pass the law office of Ellis & Ellis (hello Steve), Lee Lane Collectibles, and, at the corner of Florida St., the Carriage House with its dolls and pottery.
Across Florida on the corner of Rutland there is Country Crafts and Gifts where the English Tea Room is now, and further up Florida at mid block was St. John's Court with Henri's, Paradise Cafe and Apparels of Pauline. When we reach the intersection of Boston and Florida, we see a Shell service station on the southwest corner, the Oak Tree Service Station, the bus station and O'Reagan's Body Shop on the southeast corner, and the V & W Washateria (from 1975 - 1989) on the northeast corner. The Valu-Mart was on the northwest corner where the carpet store is now.
On the other side of the Valu-Mart was the law firm of Porteous, Hainkel, Johnson and Sarpy and King Real Estate.
Looking eastward from the Boston/Florida intersection we could see Houk's TV Service (where the Pilates place is now and which at one time was part of the Blossman offices), Mull & Mull law office on the south side of Boston, and on the north side of Boston between Lee Lane and Florida was Boston House, home of Journey House Travel Agency and The Total Woman, and Boston Square, which was home to Diane's Boston Boutique, Remember When Antiques, and Fancy Pants. Next up heading east was the Agape House Book Store, and behind the bookstore, the law office of Ray Childress.
Moving northward up Florida Street from Boston St. we pass the law firm of Anderson, Toledano, and Courtney, and across the street was Petrolane Gas Service (now the Renaissance Antiques Shop).
Jumping one block eastward over to Columbia Street and Gibson, we find Dependable Glass at the corner, and heading southward, Merry Go Round Stained Glass Center, the Indigent Defenders Office, Margaret's Needlework Shop, and a washateria which later became the St. Tammany Art Association's new home.
We find ourselves back at H. J. Smith's Sons General Merchandise Store and old time museum which is a good place to end our tour.
See also:
