re: Random things about Baton Rouge 20+ years ago that younger people might not know.

Silver Moon Cafe corner of Nicholson and Brightside. Best Red Beans & Rice

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I don’t remember Drinkin with Lincoln there

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i thought that was part of the name

Surge on Burbank used to be Winn Dixie

If you get drunk and fall asleep in your vehicle with your feet out the window…don’t expect to wake up with shoes still on…just saying

I remember going to Dons seafood in early 80's and seeing a pic of the Fonz on the wall...i thought it was the coolest thing ever that he had eaten there

Wasn't drinking with Lincoln on Tuesday nights? Think they were trying to rival Murphy's $1 calls on Thursday nights.

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Wasn't drinking with Lincoln on Tuesday nights?

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not from what i remember fri was $5 fri and sat was $3. I played coed softball for the chimes/TA's ...worst group of athletes you could imagine

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However, St. George went from door mats in the 1976-1979 years to CSAL champs in the 1980! Same kids went from last to first when we got a real coach for the first time, none other than Don Hood!

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I was at Aloysius from late 70's to mid 80's and the dragons were our big rival...we hated them

25+ year flashback time for me.

My older brother got me into a festival downtown (called Bonne Fete maybe?) around 1999 where Better than Ezra was playing. I was 14 or 15 years old and my brother was at LSU. The concert was at the parking lot by the water tower where the LSU Art Museum/Tsunami is now on Lafayette Street. I remember that experience vividly. My first real concert, and BTE was still huge at the time.

In those days downtown Baton Rouge was absolutely dead after dark. I think the Hilton was still an abandoned building.

We had an excuse made up and everything for our parents since Mom was not letting me do anything in those days. My brother was going to help me with Calculus homework at the library, but we went to the concert instead. He also took me to get chicken fingers from a restaurant near campus called Raising Canes - In those days Cane’s had maybe two or three stores and I had never heard of them.

A couple of years later that same brother snuck me into The Varsity. I was still in high school and I my brother (at the time a Junior at LSU) and his girlfriend (now wife) got me into The Varsity for free to see Cowboy Mouth.

The opening band for Cowboy Mouth that night wasn’t bad. It was none other than Maroon 5, who was largely unknown at the time.

My first Caterie experience was around 2005. Some local bands and I probably had the best time there with my undergrad buddies that I can remember.

Other vivid and random memories

Hurricane Katrina and the aftermath. One that stuck with me was driving some friends (whose house and cars flooded in Metairie) to every car dealer in town so they can buy a vehicle - a Chevy Trailblazer or GMC Envoy. Literally every dealer after the storm was sold out of all of those, new or used.

Walk On’s in 2006 when the Men’s Basketball team beat Duke in the elite 8. Absolute blast. Maybe top 5 experience in Baton Rouge ever. Oddly enough I hate Walk On’s now. But in those days it was a great place near campus for away games. Hard to believe now since it feels so different.

Using Tiger Cash to buy Mr Gatti’s Pizza as a freshmen with my roommates after skipping meals all day. .

Going to the Mall of La on opening week in the mid/late 1990s. That was absolutely nuts. A real game changer for Baton Rouge. We didn’t know it at the time but that was probably in the last handful of brand new, traditional indoor shopping malls to be built from the ground up in this country.

Kirby Smith, McVoy Hall, and the shitty apartments off Burbank. All good memories since they were my first experience away from home.

The streaker incident of 2003 at Tiger Stadium. So much rain. So many cops tried to catch him but slipped.

Chelsea’s being at the north gates. Awesome place then.

I remember when Whole Foods opened on Jefferson. It was head and shoulders nicer than every other grocery around. Like shopping at Disney world.

1990s-2005 or so - Multiple serial killers roaming the area….every female student had mace and many had firearms on them by 2002. They linked an abduction next door to where I lived to Derek Todd Lee eventually. Lee also abducted women in Pollard Place (much nicer area down Perkins) in addition to the LSU area. But they were also finding bodies all over from the other killer whose name escapes me.

Maybe the early 1990s remember my aunt taking me to go swimming at the Bocage Racquet Club. At the time they had a taller diving board but I was too afraid to try it.

Oh and who can forget the Exxon explosion in 1989?

Probably a bit further back...but I remember the massive Santa on top of the roof leading into the Godchaux's building on Florida Blvd (now the FEMA building near the Greyhound bus station). You could hear him saying "Ho ho ho" for miles.