Category: Growing Up Downtown

The Dock of the Bay

6/25/2019

Murphy's Musical Notes - June 2019

How could four walls, a bar and a stage mean so much to so many people? Real all about this fixture of the BSL collective memory.

- story by Pat Murphy

The Dock of the Bay Music Company: L-R Eric Watkins, Jerry Fisher, Gene Houston, Johnny Hozey, Derrill Brown, Tommy Moran

The Early 60s Music Scene in the Bay

5/1/2019

Murphy's Musical Notes - May 2019

Our local music historian waxes nostalgic about the Bay St. Louis of his youth, and how local bands influenced his life.
- story by Pat Murphy

Growing Up Downtown - October 2016

10/1/2016

Bay St. Louis Beachfront Festival

Pat Murphy reveals the history of the Bay's popular Beachfront festival, which ran from 1980 to the early 90s.

Growing Up Downtown - September 2016

9/1/2016

My Cedar Point Home

Pat Murphy's recollections of old Bay St. Louis take us across Highway 90 and to Dunbar Pier, the old Bay Waveland Yacht Club and down Felicity Street, where his childhood home once stood.

Growing Up Downtown - June 2016

6/1/2016

Epilogue: Life As I Have Known It

Pat Murphy's book-in-progress is no longer a book in progress. In this final installment, he takes the long view back over his own life and some of the people he has known and loved.

Growing Up Downtown - May 2016

5/1/2016

Grandpa George Stevenson

In this fascinating chapter of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, he writes about his grandfather, Bay St. Louis citizen and businessman, George Stevenson.

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My grandfather George Stevenson standing in the doorway of his first store on South Beach shortly after he began business in 1933 (Pat Murphy Archives). See full length image at end of article.

Growing Up Downtown - April 2016

4/1/2016

The Hurricanes in My Life

In this chapter of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, he looks back at the storms that have altered the lives - and the history - of the town.

Growing Up Downtown - March 2016

3/1/2016

Drug Stores, Praline Shops, Piers and Beaches, Funeral Homes, and Ice House

In this chapter of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, he leads us around the Bay St. Louis of the past, visiting soda shops, piers and even funeral parlors!

Growing Up Downtown - February 2016

2/2/2016

Chasing Tarzan at the St. Augustine Seminary

In this latest edition of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress, readers round up with Pat and the neighborhood boys to explore the wilds of the Seminary grounds, hunting for adventure and Tarzan.

Growing Up Downtown - January 2016

12/30/2015

Christmas in Downtown Bay St. Louis

Pat Murphy recalls Christmases past and youthful hijinks in this installment of his book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis.

Santa arrives at Kern’s Five & Dime Store on Main Street early 1950s (Photo Anthony Scafide Collection)

Growing Up Downtown - December 2015

12/1/2015

The Parades, the Pageants, the Fairs and the Dances

The folks in "the Bay" have always known how to celebrate life. Join this party from the past in the latest installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, and you'll get an in-depth look into our community's festive past!

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Mule-drawn family Mardi Gras float in the Krewe of Chickapoula parade approx. 1950 (Photo Anthony Scafide Collection)

Growing Up Downtown - November 2015

11/1/2015

The Hotels, Grocery Stores and Bars

Sleeping, eating and celebrating life: things folks in Bay St. Louis have always enjoyed - past and present! In this installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, you'll get an in-depth look into our community's past!

Hotel Weston Jermyn postcard 1930s (Hancock County Historical Society)

Growing Up Downtown - October 2015

10/1/2015

The Courthouse, the Law Firms and the Barber Shops

In this installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, you'll visit them all - even the city jail!

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Growing Up Downtown - September 2015

8/30/2015

Stores & Theatres of the Bay

In this installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, you're invited to go shopping and then take in a movie!

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Growing Up Downtown - August 2015

8/1/2015

The Restaurants and the Bakeries

In this installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, you're invited to dine at some of the city's older restaurants. And join the ranks of residents who still hanker for a loaf of Bobbi Anne's French Bread.
- by Pat Murphy

Growing Up Downtown - July 2015

7/1/2015

The Depot Area

In this installment of Pat Murphy's book-in-progress about historic Bay St. Louis, you're invited to step into the past for a stroll around the Depot District!
- by Pat Murphy

In the Bay St. Louis of my youth, the neighborhood of the L&N Train Depot always had things going on. In retrospect, there was probably even more happening in the three previous decades of the 1920s, 30s and 40s. By the 1950s, passenger train travel was on its way out, even if we didn’t realize it at the time.

I traveled occasionally from Bay St. Louis to New Orleans or vice versa many times in my youth. The train ride through the marshes from Ansley through New Orleans East was a beautiful scenic trip. One train ride that always stands out in my mind was the return trip from New Orleans on Mardi Gras day!! I think I only did it once when I was a teenager but it was one wild ride!

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Growing Up Downtown - June 2015

6/1/2015

Continuing the tour of what is now the Bay St. Louis Historic District, step into the past for a stroll down Main Street.
- by Pat Murphy

Up Main and Down Second

This photo was taken from the top of the Hancock County Court House looking towards the intersection of Main & Second. (Photo Hancock Historical Society)

The first block of Main Street in my youth had almost every type of business, from Hancock Bank to Kern’s Five & Dime Store, Mississippi Power Company, Magnolia State Building Supply, Bobbi Ann Bakery, Bressler’s Café, Dantagnan Realty, Peoples Federal/Treutel Insurance, Jitney Jungle Food Store and of course, the Hancock County Court House - with all of the lawyers' offices that accompanied it. My grandfather’s store stood at 126 Main directly across from the Masonic Temple building.

Main Street was still paved with red bricks. This brick paving extended from Beach Boulevard to at least St. Francis Street and probably further. This beautiful old brick paved street was dug up and destroyed when the city ran sewer lines throughout the city in the mid sixties. Progress, I suppose, but those old brick streets were really something.

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Magnolia State Building Supply which was originally founded by the Gex family and stood right behind Henry Osoinach’s new Bay Mercantile building at the corner of Main and North Beach. Before Mr. Osoinach built the building, there had been a Standard Oil gas station in this location. Originally the Magnolia State building had been the location of the Edwards Ford Agency.

My friend Carey Phillips and I used to hang out and play up in the lumber racks because Carey’s grandfather, Mr. Hippo Phillips, was one of the co-owners. Mr. Hippo had married into the Gex family, but his first wife, Weena Gex Phillips, had died and Mr. Hippo remarried. We could usually get free nails and scrap lumber to build stuff with whenever we needed it from Mr. Hippo.

Behind the Hancock Bank (in the building that is joined to the bank) was the post office, before a newer one was built down the street in the mid-1930s. When I was a child, the next building behind this was Hancock Insurance. At one time, this building was also the location of the W.L. Bourgeois Grocery Store and later Supertane Gas Company, run by several of Mr. Bourgeois’ sons. Mr. Pete Benvenutti told me that there was a big old house located where the bank parking lot is now. That was the home of the W.L. Bourgeois family.

Growing Up Downtown - May 2015

5/1/2015

The Beach Boulevard Experience Continues
Part 2 - South of the Tracks

This month, Pat Murphy takes readers on a stroll along the Bay St. Louis beachfront, stopping in at places that exist only in history now.
by Pat Murphy

On the sidewalk in front of Bill’s Dollar Store (Bay Mercantile Building). Looks like everybody is looking at a mess of fish someone probably caught off the L&N Railroad Bridge. (Pat Murphy Archives)

Growing Up Downtown - April 2015

4/1/2015

The Beach Boulevard Experience
Part 1 - North of the Tracks

by Pat Murphy
Historian and well-known coast musician Pat Murphy has been working on his memoir "Growing Up Downtown" for several years. During 2015, the Cleaver is featuring one of his essays each month - along with historical photographs from his archives.

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Bay Mercantile Fire Sale - photo from Margie Haas Larsen family photos

Growing Up Downtown - March 2015

3/1/2015

The Drive Into Old Bay St. Louis

by Pat Murphy
- Historian and well-known coast musician Pat Murphy has been working on his memoir "Growing Up Downtown" for several years. During 2015, the Cleaver will feature one of his essays each month - along with historical photographs from his archives.

Anthony Scafide Collection-Model is Sylvia Scafide, Anthony’s wife

I have been told by folks like Mr. Buster Heitzmann that in the days before Highway 90 was completed from New Orleans people would ship automobiles over from New Orleans. Either by boat or rail car, they would be unloaded upon arrival in Bay St. Louis for use during the summer season. After the completed construction of US Highway 90 from the Chef Menteur Pass through Bay St. Louis and beyond in the 1920s, a steady stream of vehicles flowed from the west into the Bay/Waveland area.

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<<Previous

Bay St. Louis Beachfront Festival

My Cedar Point Home

Epilogue: Life As I Have Known It

Grandpa George Stevenson

The Hurricanes in My Life

Drug Stores, Praline Shops, Piers and Beaches, Funeral Homes, and Ice House

Chasing Tarzan at the St. Augustine Seminary

Christmas in Downtown Bay St. Louis

The Parades, the Pageants, the Fairs and the Dances

The Hotels, Grocery Stores and Bars

The Courthouse, the Law Firms and the Barber Shops

Stores & Theatres of the Bay

The Restaurants and the Bakeries

The Depot Area

Growing Up Downtownis sponsored by

Up Main and Down Second

Growing Up Downtownis sponsored by

The Beach Boulevard Experience Continues Part 2 - South of the Tracks

The Beach Boulevard ExperiencePart 1 - North of the Tracks

The Drive Into Old Bay St. Louis

Growing Up Downtown is sponsored by

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Growing Up Downtown
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Growing Up Downtown
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The Beach Boulevard Experience Continues
Part 2 - South of the Tracks

The Beach Boulevard Experience
Part 1 - North of the Tracks

Growing Up Downtown
is sponsored by

The Wedding Collection