Hey Blake,
Is Barq's Root Beer from New Orleans? Its Web site claims that it has its roots in New Orleans, but folks in Mississippi will tell you that it was first bottled in Biloxi. So which is it?
Walker Lasiter
Dear Walter,
Barq's has roots in New Orleans because Edward Charles Barq was born here in 1871.
When his French father died, Edward returned to France with his mother, who became a teacher. Edward came back to New Orleans with his brother Gaston around 1890 and opened the Barq's Brothers Bottling Co. in the French Quarter.
While in France, he had learned the art of flavor chemistry, and in 1893 Barq won a gold medal at the Chicago World's Fair for one of his first creations Ñ a soft drink called Orangine.
After his marriage, he moved to Biloxi and bought the Biloxi Artesian Bottling Works. Here he created many new flavors, including a creme, but the one that would become famous was a sort of root beer and sarsaparilla mixed into one.
Barq bottled and sold his first bottle of the now-famous soft drink in Biloxi in 1898. The building where the soft drink was created still stands at 224 Keller Ave., one block off Hwy. 90.
The first franchise came in Mobile, Ala., in 1934, and it was quickly followed by one in New Orleans. Louisiana's claim to being the home of Barq's probably comes from the fact that Barq gave permission to his foster son to open a company in New Orleans. Barq helped Jesse Robinson get a start in the industry and produce the secret syrup here.
Before long there were franchises everywhere, and by 1950, there were about 200. However, the road to success developed a few potholes. In the 1930s, there was a lawsuit over the use of the words 'Root Beer' in the name, and a recipe change when the federal government banned caffeine in the soft drink for a time.
Then in 1976, the Barq family sold the company to two entrepreneurs from New Orleans who moved the headquarters. More changes were made, and Barq's took off, both nationally and internationally. We saw the words 'Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer' appear on the aluminum cans that contained our favorite soft drink.
On Thursday, March 26, 1998, there was a celebration attended by representatives from Coca-Cola, the company that purchased the soft-drink brand in 1995. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of Barq's, Mayor A.J. Holloway officially proclaimed the day 'Barq's Root Beer Day' in Biloxi, and Barq's was formally named the 'Official Root Beer of Biloxi.'
Hey Blake,
I was in New Orleans a few weeks ago and was in the French Quarter Market. I seem to remember from childhood visits to New Orleans that a streetcar used to be down at the end of that market, towards Esplanade, with the name 'Desire' in its little window above the front windshield. Anyway, my memory is obviously faulty, so could you tell me whatever happened to that streetcar, if it was an actual streetcar named Desire, and when it was moved?
Bruce White
Dear Bruce,
Desire Streetcar No. 453 was removed from the grounds of the old United States Mint in January 1992 and returned to the Carrollton Transit Station, a.k.a. the 'streetcar barn.' Before that it was on display in the 1000 block of Decatur Street in the area now occupied by the Flea Market for about 10 years.
There was great celebration in February 1967 when New Orleans Public Service, Inc. presented the streetcar to the Louisiana Tourist Development Commission.
No. 453 had been in service from 1906 to 1935 before it was retired and used to train motormen at the Napoleon Avenue Training School. The well-known streetcar had been reconditioned by the craftsmen at NOPSI's Carrollton shop, and it looked as if it could roll again picking up the likes of Blanche DuBois.
Yes, Bruce, there really was a streetcar line named Desire that followed several different routes from 1920 until 1948, when the streetcars were replaced by buses.
CORRECTION: In the May 17 column, I reprinted an email from onetime Warehouse stage manager, George M. Friedman, referring to former Doors manager Danny Sugarman. The correct spelling of his surname is Sugerman.
