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900 City Park Ave. has been the site of three
restaurants in the past century, catering to the
crowds who enjoy outdoor concerts in the adjacent
park.
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Photo by Eileen Loh Harrist
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Hey Blake,
Can you enlighten me as to the history of the present site of Tavern on the
Park? Was there another restaurant in that location in the early 1900s?
M.B.M.
Dear M.,
Not long after you sent in your question, the sign came down and the lights
went out on the Tavern in the Park restaurant at 900 City Park Ave. But the
corner of Alexander and Dumaine was the location of two popular businesses in
the early 1900s. One was the City Park Restaurant, Saloon & Ladies' Cafe, an
establishment that opened in 1901. The owners were John Darribere and Joseph
Pujos.
Across Alexander Street was another restaurant,
a coffeehouse, built in 1860 by Jean Marie Saux. Before his death in 1895, Saux
sold the coffeehouse to Ferdinand Alciatore who turned the place into a fine
restaurant and renamed it "A La Renaissance des Chenes Verts."
In the 1890s and beyond, concerts in City
Park were extremely popular. Local railroad companies sponsored regular Sunday
and Wednesday performances at the bandstand concerts when five or six thousand
music lovers would come out on a summer evening. The transit companies benefited
enormously.
But they were not the only ones who reaped
financial rewards. Folks at the concerts got hungry and thirsty, so there were
refreshment stands to buy soda water, pop, ice cream and cakes. But what was
a body to do if he wanted something stronger than soda water?
Park rules did not allow the sale of alcoholic
beverages, but the two restaurant-bars across the street filled the bill nicely.
The smart owners also contributed to park festivals and sponsored concerts,
and City Park clientele took advantage of the opportunity to sit down to a good
meal with the wife and kiddies or stand up for something else.
Alciatore sold the establishment to another
restaurateur, Justin Tujaque. From 1901-1910, his manager was Irenee Dours,
and the place became closely associated with the notorious Storyville. From
1912 to 1920, Frank LaMothe successfully operated the place as City Park Tavern.
However, after years of decline, the building was restored in 1985 by Jack and
Martha Sands and opened as the "Tavern on the Park."
Hey Blake,
I am curious to know about a Mississippi Gulf Coast town named Pass Christian.
How did it get its name?
Roland Simpson
Dear Roland,
They call me the "New Orleans Know-It-All," but I also know a few things about
our neighbor Mississippi. For years, many Crescent City residents have been
escaping the city's summer heat and humidity and heading for the cooling breezes
that are found on the Gulf Coast. When even the Big Easy isn't "easy" enough,
places such as Pass Christian become our homes away from home.
Pass Christian, like many towns in America, was named after
a man who once owned property in the area -- Nicholas Christian, a Frenchman.
The French were among the first to explore and settle the Mississippi
Gulf Coast, but it was the le Moyne brothers of Canada -- Pierre, Sieur d'Iberville
and Jean Baptist, Sieur de Bienville -- that brought about the first permanent
settlement of the coast of Mississippi. The brothers and about 200 colonists
sailed from France to claim Louisiana for King Louis XIV.
Fort Maurepas at Ocean Springs -- another enchanting community
on the coast -- was one of the first settlements, built in 1699. The next year,
after exploring the area, Comte DeLisle discovered a bay and named it in the
king's honor -- Bay St. Louis. It, too, had a fort and grew as a settlement
when a boatload of colonists arrived in 1721.
Various people were given land grants along the coast, and
in 1745 Nicholas Christian -- also spelled Christiana or Christiano -- moved
with his wife Marianne from Bayou St. John to Cat Island where they kept cattle.
Then in 1764, he registered his claim to the island with the British at Mobile
using the name Christian L'Adnier.
Two passes were named for Christian and his wife, and the town
of Pass Christian took its name from the northernmost pass. On an early map,
the name was spelled Christianne, and this may explain why it is pronounced
"Chris-t-yan."
