re: downtown baton rouge resturant scene

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Mayor Broome purposefully killed it to stiff her political rival John Delgado.

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I was born in Baton Rouge and lived there all the way through my time at LSU. In 2014 I moved to NOLA and have since lived in Dallas and Austin. I think the problem BR has with it's Downtown scene, in general, comes down to these things:

1. Downtown needs to be more of a destination. Or at least, downtown needs to be more connected to where people are in the city. In particular, the corridors between downtown and LSU should be targeted as development zones. Nicholson has started cleaning up its act over the last 10 years. It would be nice if Highland Rd could look similar and extend beyond the North Gates of LSU. This would create more traffic between LSU and downtown and ultimately lead to more people...

2. People need to live downtown. I lived in BR for 23 years and I don't remember ever hearing anyone, at LSU or otherwise, stating that they couldn't wait to move downtown. It sounds like a little progress has been made on this front as some people have mentioned new developments happening down there, but this is so important. Millenials all across the country have been giving up the suburban dreams of their parents to move into more densely populated urban areas. It seems like BR already missed this trend, but it's never too late. To have a thriving downtown you can't survive on business lunches and the occasional tourists alone. You need people living there. The downtown grocery store is a great first step. More businesses need to move down there, more retailers need to be there, and in general, the option to have a walkable lifestyle where you live, work, and go out downtown needs to become a viable option.

3. Parking isn't the problem. There is plenty of parking downtown. BR just has the mindset that if you can't park in a giant lot in front of the place you want to go, parking is a problem. People complain about parking at Mid-City Beer Garden and it has a full parking lot. A good downtown bar and restaurant scene doesn't need open container freedoms as much as it needs an area with a density of options. You can't have that with huge parking lots. Third St was at its best when you could walk up and down the street and there were bars on every block. Think places like Rainey St in Austin or Lowest Greenville in Dallas. Neither of those places is particularly friendly to cars but people flock to them because they have a lot of options in one area.

4. Downtown needs a cornerstone set of restaurants and bars that you can't miss. Stroube's got a little love for a while and Little Village has done fine, but can you name a single place downtown you'd want to take someone who has never been to BR? Most people would go to a different part of town. The downtown scene needs something it can build around - it looked like 3rd street was that something 10 years ago but now they have to start from scratch.

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Downtown is also pretty isolated from most of the population growth

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This is what I was trying to get across. I forget about mid-city as it's really boomed since I left. Keeping that going all the way down Government would be huge.

I'm not 100% sure. I've heard of it but I've never been.

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Was the only good dive left downtown

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RIP Hound Dogs

Yup. Miss that place so much.

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peak of downtown circa 2006

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That wasn’t the peak of downtown BR really. A few years later imo

Lasted longer than that. Maybe 2015-16?

I lived in Spanishtown from 2013-2015 and Beauregard Town until 2017 and the death knell was probably around late 2016.

Still could have a great time down there but more shite was closing than opening.

Me and my wife went to Happy’s for a game last year and it was absolutely dead. And it’s by far the biggest bar left downtown.

Kip had it going pretty well.

It’s done for awhile now.

Most are still vacant as far as I know