re: Shreveport nostalgia thread

Saw two-time Cy Young award winner Denny McClain play at SPAR Stadium. Darryl Strawberry, too, when he was with the Jackson AA team.

Anyone remember the smell from the Sunbeam bread bakery? OMG it was so good, and they had a small shop onsite selling fresh breads and rolls.

I wish I had photos of the old Cedar Grove fire station. There was an old boarding house hotel across the street called the Miller Hotel with this long table down the middle of the foyer and every Sunday they had amazing meals served by these Creole women. There was a baseball park across from it. Played a lot of little league ball there. All gone now. I-49 destroyed it all.

I worked for Stan's Records while I was in college. I'd come home and they always had a job for me and I worked during breaks and summers. Paula Records was across the street. I think their biggest hit group was John Fred and The Playboys "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)".

I also worked at National Shirt Shops on Texas Street. There used to be this little small mobile trailer in a parking lot near the Strand Theater and it was home to J.D.'s Grill. He made the most amazing grilled cheeseburgers. I think 4 people could sit at the bar.

I saw earlier in the thread it was mentioned that Babe Ruth came to play there in 1921. I have an American League baseball from that game left to me by my grandfather. He snagged it, told me he couldn't afford a ticket and was looking through the fence when Ruth blasted one over the fence. He chased it down and waited outside the players' exit until the game was over and got his autograph. Here's the ball:



Back then, spring training would leave on a train, go to St. Louis, then Hot Springs, then Shreveport and they'd end up in Galveston. Along the way they'd play exhibition games against the local farm teams. That's how they ended up playing in Shreveport.

North of Shreveport was this awesome restaurant: Kool Point in Oil City. Greatest catfish restaurant in the south! Right on the water of Caddo Lake.

The donuts at Southern Maid, today, are not nearly as good as when I was a kid. Back then, the hot donuts would literally melt in your mouth. They were incredibly light and fluffy. Now, they are doughy and chewy. Not the same. Nothing there is.

Saw Bruce Springsteen, Guess Who, Chicago, Black Sabbath, War, at Municipal Auditorium. Too many acts like Eric Clapton, ZZ Top, Electric Light Orchestra, Jefferson Starship, Grand Funk Railroad, Huey Lewis, Rod Stewart, Genesis, Black Oak Arkansas, Marshall Tucker Band, Styx,. 38 Special and so many more at Hirsch Coliseum. Good times, lads.