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Message
TulaneLSU's Top 10 former Time Saver locations
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:09 pm
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:09 pm
Dear Friends,
“Fugit inreparabile tempus,” wrote the Roman poet Virgil in Georgics. Most of you, my dear readers, strongly prefer Homer over Virgil, I know, and rightly so, but my recent journeys, and possible forthcoming displacement, to the farmlands of southern Alabama have rekindled my appreciation for Virgil’s poem on farming and husbandry. What is true of that oft-used phrase is just how irretrievable time is. We all know what time is, even if we, like Saint Augustine, are unable to define it. And we all know, when we sit to think, how time that is not valued and for which we are not grateful, simply slips away. Time flies and not any of us, except our God who is above and outside time, yet chooses in freedom and love to act within time, can redeem it.
New Orleans is one of the few American cities where time is respected and cherished. New Orleans embraces time’s fleeting nature perhaps because we verily understand how fleeting even the ground on which we stand is. Our city honors the linear nature of time, recognizing that we are not in some endless or repeated cycle, but instead, moving toward an end. Every point along the way to that end is sacred and part of providence. Every moment is holy and should be saved. Qui salvat tempore is the true Orleanian.
Time Saver came to life to serve New Orleans’ desire to preserve this precious resource. It was such a success that at one time there were more than 100 Times Savers in the Metro. Its proliferation now is almost forgotten. Few natives, and certainly no post-Katrina transplants, wax nostalgic about Time Saver. They love their McKenzies, K&B, Maison Blanche, even Hibernia Bank, but Time Saver has never received the nostalgic appreciation it is due. Time Saver is slowly passing from the collective memory of our city. Having said that, I would not be surprised if one of those cheap t-shirt stores that specialize in nostalgic parochialism hijacks my thoughts on Time Saver, and soon starts selling retro Time Saver t-shirts. Speaking of hijacking, Time Saver served as the breeding ground for many of the armed robbers in New Orleans in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. One could hardly open the Picayune weekly without reading about one Time Saver behind held up.
Most New Orleanians whose childhoods stretched between 1960 and 1995 know Time Saver very well. Each of us can probably share a memory or two or ten. So many trips we made. So many trips we took for granted, entering under that orange triangle with white letters. Time Saver's signage through the 70s maintained the original S-shape, or Z-shaped if looking from its rear, with a clock separating the name. In the 70s, the triangle first appeared, with a hand basket filled with groceries in its center. By the early 80s, the old signage was replaced with the singular triangle filled with the words Time Saver. Then slowly but surely that orange triangle began disappearing, replaced by a generic blue and red and white convenience store that did not have any of the charm, familiarity or pizzazz of something so New Orleans. Convenience stores became dirty, rundown stores you only entered if you had to enter. They became places about which we did not get excited. But Time Saver, that was a trip to the candy store, a real treat.
Most of my Time Saver memories come from our Prytania Time Saver and an Airline Highway location. The one on Airline seemed to be the one I often went to redeem my Halloween coupons for a free Icee while Mother shopped at The Real Superstore, whose colors were grey, black, and yellow and whose commercials, with their abnormally annoying tick-tocking, made Mother mad. It gave way to my favorite Sam’s Club.
It was the early 1990s. Crime was on the rise in New Orleans. News stations not only told parents about the blood on the streets, but also filled them with fear with stories of poisoned Tootsie Rolls and Hershey’s kissed with razor blades, patiently waiting for the innocent trick-or-treaters to fall prey to them. Time Saver seized on this opportunity and around 1990 started its Safe Halloween Campaign. For about a quarter each, approximately half regular price, parents could buy sheets of paper coupons for a small Icee. I have only vague memories of these sheets, but do remember they were white and orange and decorated with pumpkins and skeletons.
Mother always purchased our Halloween coupons at our Prytania Time Saver, and then, with Gideon Bibles, handed them out to neighborhood kids. Mother would allow me to get one Icee per stop, and before Halloween, she would sometimes buy me a pair of wax Dracula lips, which made me terrifying!
Time Saver has saved many of us time, so it is owed some of our time to trace its time through time. In 1951 Levere Cooley “Monty” Montgomery Jr. chose a prominent corner in the old town of Carrollton to try his hand at opening a small grocery store. This idea seemed a bit counterintuitive, as Schweggmann’s behemoth had only opened five years earlier. Nonetheless, Montgomery saw his window open, realizing people would sometimes want a small shop, a convenient store for smaller food purchases. This location, 1201 South Carrollton, sat on the northeast corner of Oak Street, where that diminutive Fidelity Bank is today.
Sit back from the comfy confines of a woodback streetcar seat. Breathe in the pure Uptown air and imagine you are back in the 50s in the Golden Age of convenience stores. The Time Saver of the 50s and 60s was all glitz and glamor, reason enough to dress up and get some delicious BBQ. Grab your groceries and a smoked thigh with a cold Coke. This Time Saver shared the building with Clearview Louver Window Co. I loved painting mental images like this one to locals and tourists alike during my short stint as a streetcar conductor. It is heartbreaking to me that people do not know the history of their city, so I always hoped to bring light and hope to the ingrates and uneducated.
“Fugit inreparabile tempus,” wrote the Roman poet Virgil in Georgics. Most of you, my dear readers, strongly prefer Homer over Virgil, I know, and rightly so, but my recent journeys, and possible forthcoming displacement, to the farmlands of southern Alabama have rekindled my appreciation for Virgil’s poem on farming and husbandry. What is true of that oft-used phrase is just how irretrievable time is. We all know what time is, even if we, like Saint Augustine, are unable to define it. And we all know, when we sit to think, how time that is not valued and for which we are not grateful, simply slips away. Time flies and not any of us, except our God who is above and outside time, yet chooses in freedom and love to act within time, can redeem it.
New Orleans is one of the few American cities where time is respected and cherished. New Orleans embraces time’s fleeting nature perhaps because we verily understand how fleeting even the ground on which we stand is. Our city honors the linear nature of time, recognizing that we are not in some endless or repeated cycle, but instead, moving toward an end. Every point along the way to that end is sacred and part of providence. Every moment is holy and should be saved. Qui salvat tempore is the true Orleanian.
Time Saver came to life to serve New Orleans’ desire to preserve this precious resource. It was such a success that at one time there were more than 100 Times Savers in the Metro. Its proliferation now is almost forgotten. Few natives, and certainly no post-Katrina transplants, wax nostalgic about Time Saver. They love their McKenzies, K&B, Maison Blanche, even Hibernia Bank, but Time Saver has never received the nostalgic appreciation it is due. Time Saver is slowly passing from the collective memory of our city. Having said that, I would not be surprised if one of those cheap t-shirt stores that specialize in nostalgic parochialism hijacks my thoughts on Time Saver, and soon starts selling retro Time Saver t-shirts. Speaking of hijacking, Time Saver served as the breeding ground for many of the armed robbers in New Orleans in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. One could hardly open the Picayune weekly without reading about one Time Saver behind held up.
Most New Orleanians whose childhoods stretched between 1960 and 1995 know Time Saver very well. Each of us can probably share a memory or two or ten. So many trips we made. So many trips we took for granted, entering under that orange triangle with white letters. Time Saver's signage through the 70s maintained the original S-shape, or Z-shaped if looking from its rear, with a clock separating the name. In the 70s, the triangle first appeared, with a hand basket filled with groceries in its center. By the early 80s, the old signage was replaced with the singular triangle filled with the words Time Saver. Then slowly but surely that orange triangle began disappearing, replaced by a generic blue and red and white convenience store that did not have any of the charm, familiarity or pizzazz of something so New Orleans. Convenience stores became dirty, rundown stores you only entered if you had to enter. They became places about which we did not get excited. But Time Saver, that was a trip to the candy store, a real treat.
Most of my Time Saver memories come from our Prytania Time Saver and an Airline Highway location. The one on Airline seemed to be the one I often went to redeem my Halloween coupons for a free Icee while Mother shopped at The Real Superstore, whose colors were grey, black, and yellow and whose commercials, with their abnormally annoying tick-tocking, made Mother mad. It gave way to my favorite Sam’s Club.
It was the early 1990s. Crime was on the rise in New Orleans. News stations not only told parents about the blood on the streets, but also filled them with fear with stories of poisoned Tootsie Rolls and Hershey’s kissed with razor blades, patiently waiting for the innocent trick-or-treaters to fall prey to them. Time Saver seized on this opportunity and around 1990 started its Safe Halloween Campaign. For about a quarter each, approximately half regular price, parents could buy sheets of paper coupons for a small Icee. I have only vague memories of these sheets, but do remember they were white and orange and decorated with pumpkins and skeletons.
Mother always purchased our Halloween coupons at our Prytania Time Saver, and then, with Gideon Bibles, handed them out to neighborhood kids. Mother would allow me to get one Icee per stop, and before Halloween, she would sometimes buy me a pair of wax Dracula lips, which made me terrifying!
Time Saver has saved many of us time, so it is owed some of our time to trace its time through time. In 1951 Levere Cooley “Monty” Montgomery Jr. chose a prominent corner in the old town of Carrollton to try his hand at opening a small grocery store. This idea seemed a bit counterintuitive, as Schweggmann’s behemoth had only opened five years earlier. Nonetheless, Montgomery saw his window open, realizing people would sometimes want a small shop, a convenient store for smaller food purchases. This location, 1201 South Carrollton, sat on the northeast corner of Oak Street, where that diminutive Fidelity Bank is today.
Sit back from the comfy confines of a woodback streetcar seat. Breathe in the pure Uptown air and imagine you are back in the 50s in the Golden Age of convenience stores. The Time Saver of the 50s and 60s was all glitz and glamor, reason enough to dress up and get some delicious BBQ. Grab your groceries and a smoked thigh with a cold Coke. This Time Saver shared the building with Clearview Louver Window Co. I loved painting mental images like this one to locals and tourists alike during my short stint as a streetcar conductor. It is heartbreaking to me that people do not know the history of their city, so I always hoped to bring light and hope to the ingrates and uneducated.
This post was edited on 7/19/20 at 8:35 am
25
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:09 pm to TulaneLSU
Not too far away in a time before Metairie Road became a haven for the snooty Uptowners who did not want to live Uptown, it was lined by working class neighborhoods. It was here that Montgomery’s second Time Saver at 1001 Metairie Road opened in 1954. Even after Montgomery sold off his 97 Time Savers in 1978, this location maintained its original name for some time before becoming, like so many other Time Savers, an E-Z Serve in February of 1995, of which I do not know of any which remain in our area. Highlighting its shrunken presence here is the fact that today, this location is a Parlon’s Cafe and Max Cleaners.
When people think of convenience stores today, they often think of blackened gum stuck to the ground, litter, illiterate employees, and junkfood. In the 50s, it was a different world, and convenience stores were glamorous. Illustrating this fact was that at the opening of the third Time Saver was a three day festival punctuated by the appearance of Hollywood starlet Julie Adams. Adams, who had just starred in blockbuster hits Bend of the River and Creature from the Black Lagoon, was guest of honor who conducted the raffle. Grandfather’s secretary won a package of cookies that day! It was probably Montgomery’s father’s ownership of the Joy Theater on Canal Street that connected him to Hollywood for this historic event in New Orleans.
This third Times Saver, at 5243 Canal Blvd., opened on July 1, 1955 and became known for its outdoor barbeque. It also had an ice machine that customers could actually watch as it made ice. Unfortunately, this ice machine does not exist any longer, for I would love to stand and watch ice being created from water.
Convenience stores really were something else in that time. Employees in this store had to have a high school diploma and at least one year of experience in the food industry before even being considered for a job. Managers often had college degrees and they took pride in their stores, advertising in papers that they managed the store. Education mattered to Montgomery, who graduated from both Jesuit and Tulane.
A 1981 manager.
In the mid-1990s this Time Saver closed and became the revolting Spanky’s Grill & Tavern. The building flooded in Katrina and was torn down. Its last use for commerce was the Toy Soldiers Tree Lot. I never purchased a tree here, although I wish I did. Christmas tree lots are a dying institution that I hope you enjoy now, as there are fewer and fewer of them each year.
Some people assume that my Tigerdroppings screen name comes from my love for or attendance at Tulane and LSU. While I attended both, I have allegiance to and affection for neither. The name actually originates from a set of cups Grandfather passed down to me, similar to the ones above. Grandfather said it was at this Time Saver that he got them, and every time I pass this former #4 Times Saver at 4401 Jefferson Highway, which opened in 1956, and is currently Blue Tomato, I think of him.
By the mid 1950s, it was clear that Montgomery was on to something big. To make a splash, Montgomery decided in 1956 that for his fifth store, at 4008 Chef Menteur, he was going to go Cross The Canal and enter the 9th Ward. In the 50s, the Chef was the high road out of New Orleans to points East. Great Grandfather and his son took this passage when going to the Tally Ho. Its shoulders were lined with modest yet respectable motels and gas stations, now seedy centers of sin. In the 50s, though, it was the perfect spot to put a gas station and convenience store. As economies changed, reading about this location’s many armed robberies reveals the growing crime wave of that community in the 1980s. Today, #5 is a Discount N-Out next to that swamp tour company.
Striking along the same natural leveed road, Time Saver opened the short-lived #6 in that same year at 4002 Gentilly Road. If you have ever visited that old cinder block building housing Pontilly Coffee, you’ve sat in an old Time Saver, one of the few in which you can enjoy sitting. The coffee shop sits directly across the Baptist Seminary, which sticks out in that neighborhood.
That Gentilly location closed shortly after opening, losing its #6 store status to 4201 General Meyer, pictured above, which opened in 1960. This location was the first Time Saver on the West Bank. Like other Time Savers, hours were expanded 7 to 11 daily. These hours reflected those of its Dallas inspiration, 7-11, whose hours became an eponymous name (is there a such thing as chrononymous?). Apparently, Mr. Montgomery’s stores were not doing as well as he had hoped, so he traveled to Dallas to get advice. He left that meeting realizing he needed to draw people in with a special dessert drink and he needed to have extended hours of operation.
This former Time Saver is now someone’s house. Imagine being the only person in America to be able to claim your house sits on the site of a former Time Saver. If I lived there, I would be urging the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission to grant special status to my abode.
On the same weekend Hurricane Ethel was brushing Plaquemines Parish in 1960, Times Saver #7, pictured below, opened with a bang at 5405 Veterans on the corner of Green Acres. 50 baskets of groceries were given out and one big winner came home with an electric dishwasher. Thankfully the path of that category one hurricane kept Louisiana to her west and no damage was done.
One may also notice in the picture below the white shell parking lot. These are actually Rangia cuneata, a bivalve that covered much of Lake Pontchartrain's muddy bottom for centuries. In 1933, a company, whose owner was a neighbor of Great Grandfather, realized that these shells were quite useful in making roads and parking lots. For the next six decades, millions of tons of these shells were harvested. While it helped pave the streets of our town, it also helped to destroy the Lake's water quality. The reputation for Pontchartrain being a dirty, polluted lake comes from this period when water clarity was down and pollutants up. Any winds would stir up that muddy bottom, causing it to mix with the water. More than that, these bivalves were the Lake's natural filtration, and now they were gone. At one point, this industry was worth over $30 million a year, but ultimately, Save Our Lake pushed to ban it. The success of SOS in stopping this scarring practice helped slowly restore the Lake to a place where fishing, crabbing, and swimming are enjoyed without stigma. While you may miss the noise of walking on those chalky white shells, keeping them in the Lake is vital to our Lake's health.
When people think of convenience stores today, they often think of blackened gum stuck to the ground, litter, illiterate employees, and junkfood. In the 50s, it was a different world, and convenience stores were glamorous. Illustrating this fact was that at the opening of the third Time Saver was a three day festival punctuated by the appearance of Hollywood starlet Julie Adams. Adams, who had just starred in blockbuster hits Bend of the River and Creature from the Black Lagoon, was guest of honor who conducted the raffle. Grandfather’s secretary won a package of cookies that day! It was probably Montgomery’s father’s ownership of the Joy Theater on Canal Street that connected him to Hollywood for this historic event in New Orleans.
This third Times Saver, at 5243 Canal Blvd., opened on July 1, 1955 and became known for its outdoor barbeque. It also had an ice machine that customers could actually watch as it made ice. Unfortunately, this ice machine does not exist any longer, for I would love to stand and watch ice being created from water.
Convenience stores really were something else in that time. Employees in this store had to have a high school diploma and at least one year of experience in the food industry before even being considered for a job. Managers often had college degrees and they took pride in their stores, advertising in papers that they managed the store. Education mattered to Montgomery, who graduated from both Jesuit and Tulane.
A 1981 manager.
In the mid-1990s this Time Saver closed and became the revolting Spanky’s Grill & Tavern. The building flooded in Katrina and was torn down. Its last use for commerce was the Toy Soldiers Tree Lot. I never purchased a tree here, although I wish I did. Christmas tree lots are a dying institution that I hope you enjoy now, as there are fewer and fewer of them each year.
Some people assume that my Tigerdroppings screen name comes from my love for or attendance at Tulane and LSU. While I attended both, I have allegiance to and affection for neither. The name actually originates from a set of cups Grandfather passed down to me, similar to the ones above. Grandfather said it was at this Time Saver that he got them, and every time I pass this former #4 Times Saver at 4401 Jefferson Highway, which opened in 1956, and is currently Blue Tomato, I think of him.
By the mid 1950s, it was clear that Montgomery was on to something big. To make a splash, Montgomery decided in 1956 that for his fifth store, at 4008 Chef Menteur, he was going to go Cross The Canal and enter the 9th Ward. In the 50s, the Chef was the high road out of New Orleans to points East. Great Grandfather and his son took this passage when going to the Tally Ho. Its shoulders were lined with modest yet respectable motels and gas stations, now seedy centers of sin. In the 50s, though, it was the perfect spot to put a gas station and convenience store. As economies changed, reading about this location’s many armed robberies reveals the growing crime wave of that community in the 1980s. Today, #5 is a Discount N-Out next to that swamp tour company.
Striking along the same natural leveed road, Time Saver opened the short-lived #6 in that same year at 4002 Gentilly Road. If you have ever visited that old cinder block building housing Pontilly Coffee, you’ve sat in an old Time Saver, one of the few in which you can enjoy sitting. The coffee shop sits directly across the Baptist Seminary, which sticks out in that neighborhood.
That Gentilly location closed shortly after opening, losing its #6 store status to 4201 General Meyer, pictured above, which opened in 1960. This location was the first Time Saver on the West Bank. Like other Time Savers, hours were expanded 7 to 11 daily. These hours reflected those of its Dallas inspiration, 7-11, whose hours became an eponymous name (is there a such thing as chrononymous?). Apparently, Mr. Montgomery’s stores were not doing as well as he had hoped, so he traveled to Dallas to get advice. He left that meeting realizing he needed to draw people in with a special dessert drink and he needed to have extended hours of operation.
This former Time Saver is now someone’s house. Imagine being the only person in America to be able to claim your house sits on the site of a former Time Saver. If I lived there, I would be urging the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission to grant special status to my abode.
On the same weekend Hurricane Ethel was brushing Plaquemines Parish in 1960, Times Saver #7, pictured below, opened with a bang at 5405 Veterans on the corner of Green Acres. 50 baskets of groceries were given out and one big winner came home with an electric dishwasher. Thankfully the path of that category one hurricane kept Louisiana to her west and no damage was done.
One may also notice in the picture below the white shell parking lot. These are actually Rangia cuneata, a bivalve that covered much of Lake Pontchartrain's muddy bottom for centuries. In 1933, a company, whose owner was a neighbor of Great Grandfather, realized that these shells were quite useful in making roads and parking lots. For the next six decades, millions of tons of these shells were harvested. While it helped pave the streets of our town, it also helped to destroy the Lake's water quality. The reputation for Pontchartrain being a dirty, polluted lake comes from this period when water clarity was down and pollutants up. Any winds would stir up that muddy bottom, causing it to mix with the water. More than that, these bivalves were the Lake's natural filtration, and now they were gone. At one point, this industry was worth over $30 million a year, but ultimately, Save Our Lake pushed to ban it. The success of SOS in stopping this scarring practice helped slowly restore the Lake to a place where fishing, crabbing, and swimming are enjoyed without stigma. While you may miss the noise of walking on those chalky white shells, keeping them in the Lake is vital to our Lake's health.
This post was edited on 7/24/20 at 9:36 pm
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:10 pm to TulaneLSU
The following year #8 opened at 7200 St. Claude, becoming the first Time Saver in Arabi. Perhaps one of our friends from that area can explain its connection with one of the first Tastee Donuts, which opened in the mid 1960s. Months later in ‘61, Time Saver #9 opened at 4201 Airline Highway. Now Amor Viviente Church, this two story building was initially a Caruso’s Super Market with the Pasadena Motel on its second floor. Next door were the Rainbow Motel and Sugar Bowl Court, prostitute motels made famous when Jimmy Swaggart was caught there in 1987. Time Saver sold the building in the 1980s, and the two story building became that great Honduran church we all know so well. Time Saver shifted across Pasadena Ave to 4117 Airline in 1984 and continued until the 1990s when it became an EZ Serve, then Airline Express. Today it is a Brother’s Food Mart with an Exxon.
Metairie Road got its second Time Saver in 1963, this time at 2535 Metairie Road, just down the road from #2. In the early 1980s the store became a restaurant, I believe named Seafood Beaucoup. Around 1995, The Galley Seafood, pictured above, took over the spot and has been there ever since. Next time you’re enjoying some boiled seafood there, remember that you are sitting in an old Time Saver.
Some Time Savers may elicit mixed feelings in you. That is certainly the case with the former location at 2223 Broadway. It was January 5, 1998, the first Monday back in middle school after the Christmas holiday. Mother had me ready for bus pickup to go to that Jefferson Parish school, which I only attended for one half year. It was a chilly and rainy morning. I was wearing my black galoshes from LL Bean and a children’s raincoat from M. Goldberg’s. It was bright yellow, like the bus, for protection. By the time we turned on South Claiborne from Broadway, the road was no longer road but river. The bus stalled and we were stuck.
Our bus driver was not the brightest driver. Instead of telling us to wait onboard, she assumed the flood waters would wash away the bus. She panicked. She yelled, “Everyone off the bus! Get in the Time Saver! So here we are in the dead of winter, a whole tribe of reject affluent Uptowners sloshing through shin deep water, trying to make our way to the convenience store refuge. It was frigid, so there was no one else struggling through the flood, nor any looters. We made it in the store, where the bus driver pleaded with the clerk to allow us to call our parents.
It was finally my turn. “Mother, the bus has flooded. We are at the Time Saver. Please save me from this place and bring me my warm wool outfit from Scotland.” Mother said she would rush. I have always assumed, though I have never confirmed, that she too was delayed by the flood waters. It took her three hours before she was able to retrieve me. By that time, I had been forced to eat Cheez Whiz from a spray can, something I have never done before or since. I still refuse to eat Philly cheesesteaks that have that disgusting disgrace for cheese on them.
The building, originally constructed in 1940, was Fogarty’s Pharmacy, which reminds me of the many word games Pho restaurateurs play when naming their restaurants. Until it closed in 1970, it was known by the neighborhood as the pharmacy, and teenagers would deliver drugs on bike. Time Saver took control of the building in 1971 and remained a landmark at the prominent corner for the next quarter century. Now it is Broadway Food Store, which is unfortunately, a den for crooks, drunkards, and degenerate gamblers. I do not visit it any longer.
By the time Mother snatched me from the floods that cold January morning, she had become so disturbed by the possibility I was dead she vowed never to send me on bus again. She hated the drive, so I was back Uptown for school within the end of the week.
Time Saver’s role in introducing Trojan Horses that helped chip away authentic New Orleans culture began long before the Good’n Fresh poorboys. Although Time Saver was expanding in the 1950s, it did not have a clincher that drove people to the stores. That all changed around 1960 when a Kansas man, Omar Knedlik, approached Montgomery to buy a machine that mixed flavored sugar with ice. New Orleanians had long had the sno-ball, introduced on carts by Italian immigrants. Those cold delicacies, though, required two hands, as the ice was not uniform and small enough to simply suck through a straw. A spoon was always also required.
Time Saver, though, broke that barrier by introducing Knedlik’s invention, the super smooth Icee, accessible by straws alone. As plastic straws had just found widespread appeal, this became a monodextrous treat that the drinker could pour himself. It did not require waiting in line for someone to shave the ice. It was the perfect match for a place called Time Saver. And it was a hit.
Metairie Road got its second Time Saver in 1963, this time at 2535 Metairie Road, just down the road from #2. In the early 1980s the store became a restaurant, I believe named Seafood Beaucoup. Around 1995, The Galley Seafood, pictured above, took over the spot and has been there ever since. Next time you’re enjoying some boiled seafood there, remember that you are sitting in an old Time Saver.
Some Time Savers may elicit mixed feelings in you. That is certainly the case with the former location at 2223 Broadway. It was January 5, 1998, the first Monday back in middle school after the Christmas holiday. Mother had me ready for bus pickup to go to that Jefferson Parish school, which I only attended for one half year. It was a chilly and rainy morning. I was wearing my black galoshes from LL Bean and a children’s raincoat from M. Goldberg’s. It was bright yellow, like the bus, for protection. By the time we turned on South Claiborne from Broadway, the road was no longer road but river. The bus stalled and we were stuck.
Our bus driver was not the brightest driver. Instead of telling us to wait onboard, she assumed the flood waters would wash away the bus. She panicked. She yelled, “Everyone off the bus! Get in the Time Saver! So here we are in the dead of winter, a whole tribe of reject affluent Uptowners sloshing through shin deep water, trying to make our way to the convenience store refuge. It was frigid, so there was no one else struggling through the flood, nor any looters. We made it in the store, where the bus driver pleaded with the clerk to allow us to call our parents.
It was finally my turn. “Mother, the bus has flooded. We are at the Time Saver. Please save me from this place and bring me my warm wool outfit from Scotland.” Mother said she would rush. I have always assumed, though I have never confirmed, that she too was delayed by the flood waters. It took her three hours before she was able to retrieve me. By that time, I had been forced to eat Cheez Whiz from a spray can, something I have never done before or since. I still refuse to eat Philly cheesesteaks that have that disgusting disgrace for cheese on them.
The building, originally constructed in 1940, was Fogarty’s Pharmacy, which reminds me of the many word games Pho restaurateurs play when naming their restaurants. Until it closed in 1970, it was known by the neighborhood as the pharmacy, and teenagers would deliver drugs on bike. Time Saver took control of the building in 1971 and remained a landmark at the prominent corner for the next quarter century. Now it is Broadway Food Store, which is unfortunately, a den for crooks, drunkards, and degenerate gamblers. I do not visit it any longer.
By the time Mother snatched me from the floods that cold January morning, she had become so disturbed by the possibility I was dead she vowed never to send me on bus again. She hated the drive, so I was back Uptown for school within the end of the week.
Time Saver’s role in introducing Trojan Horses that helped chip away authentic New Orleans culture began long before the Good’n Fresh poorboys. Although Time Saver was expanding in the 1950s, it did not have a clincher that drove people to the stores. That all changed around 1960 when a Kansas man, Omar Knedlik, approached Montgomery to buy a machine that mixed flavored sugar with ice. New Orleanians had long had the sno-ball, introduced on carts by Italian immigrants. Those cold delicacies, though, required two hands, as the ice was not uniform and small enough to simply suck through a straw. A spoon was always also required.
Time Saver, though, broke that barrier by introducing Knedlik’s invention, the super smooth Icee, accessible by straws alone. As plastic straws had just found widespread appeal, this became a monodextrous treat that the drinker could pour himself. It did not require waiting in line for someone to shave the ice. It was the perfect match for a place called Time Saver. And it was a hit.
This post was edited on 7/24/20 at 9:33 pm
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:10 pm to TulaneLSU
By the time I was a child, I loved going to the Time Saver at 4839 Prytania St, which is now a Nothing Bundt Cakes (gross) and previously was the old Delacroix Service Station and later Rene’s Service Station. It became the 99th Time Saver in 1976 before later becoming an EZ Serve.That location was my old reliable for Pez dispensers.
In the mid-1990s I collected three things: antique books from estate sales and auctions, Christopher Radko Christmas ornaments, and Pez dispensers, almost entirely from this Time Saver. At my collection’s zenith, there were 239 dispensers, of which I displayed in my window sill my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle assortment. My favorite, however, was my Santa Claus.
I was barely a teenager, on my way to one of the great Pez dispenser collections in America, when I decided to write to Pez. At that time, there were no religious inspired dispensers, so I wrote to the company a cordial suggestion letter. The vehicle, of course, was Smythson of Bond Street stationary, a requisite of all paper letter lovers -- the only exception to this rule is vellum, on which Rice alumni like our dear friend, OWL, write. My ideas for several collections were grand. Pez could do several series, ranging from the Prophets, with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, to the Twelve Disciples, and then great theologians, like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Barth. Shortly after I mailed the letter, I dreamed of a Abraham series with each dispenser modeled after a chapter in his 175 year old life. An executive responded and politely declined my suggestion, and I always wondered, "What if I had included the Abraham idea?" We shall never know.
I was heartbroken, but as often is the case, bale and rejection are expressed through ire. I gathered my entire collection, including Santa, and dumped it in our grill. Ire became fire and soon my once valued possessions were nothing but a polychromatic mash. I confess I danced in unrestrained ecstasy, like savage pagans about the Maypole.
When Mother got home, she realized what I had done. Her anger was so hot, not because I destroyed my collection, but because I had ruined her gas grill that father purchased at Harry’s Hardware for her Christmas of 1990 gift. She grounded me. Access to the streetcar was strictly forbidden for one month.
This Prytania location was also my go-to for after school cold treats. When it came to Icees, there were only two flavors I accepted: Coke or strawberry. I collected so many redemption points, neatly cut from those blue and red paper cylinders, but I redeemed not a one. In later years, I grew to love the blueberry flavor. I always despised the cherry and banana flavors, and would chide the cashier if those were the only flavors being dispensed: “Your Icee offerings today are unacceptable.”. Was there ever a worse feeling than when that little circular red light glowed, indicating that your flavor was not ready to be dispensed?
The Slurpee of Dallas-based 7-11 was nearly identical, using the same machine Knedlik invented. Meanwhile Cincinatti had its own version, the Slush Puppie, which was a little chunkier. Anway, the end result of the Icee was decreasing the the sales of sno-ball stands anywhere near a Time Saver. Again, Katrina has helped to shift the scales back to our tradition. But from time to time, an Icee is hard to beat.
Time Saver, as you know, met its end when Houston-based E-Z Serve, under the leadership of Neil McLauren, purchased 116 Time Savers in February of 1995. An Oklahoma-based grocer had controlled it from 1978 until this sad year. When one traces the obesity epidemic in our nation, or at least New Orleans, it could be argued with gusto that it was this sale, transferring Time Save from local to national ownership that triggered the outbreak. Time Save transformed from fresh grocery based to junk food and sweet drink based. Outsiders sought to make a profit, even if it meant poisoning our people with tasty, yet deadly, cheap and sugar-inundated foods. We did not know better, for the sign still read Time Saver. And we trusted them as our bellies expanded and our blood sugars increased.
This takeover was part of national growth of that large Houston chain, which, at one time, controlled over 5000 convenience stores in America. Time Saver was truly once a place of class and culture, but the 1995 takeover, like so many things Houston touches, ruined it. This story serves as yet another example to seek the good in life. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, these things we must preserve. Profit and money are passing, but the good is eternal. The spirit of Time Saver continues, not in today's bastardized descendants, but in our hearts and minds.
Do you have a favorite former Time Saver? If so, please take a photo, upload it, and share a story. Here are some addresses of the other Time Savers that existed:
#1 1201 South Carrollton
#2 1001 Metairie Road
#3 5243 Canal Blvd.
#4 4401 Jefferson Highway
#5 4008 Chef Menteur
#6 4201 General Meyer (4002 Gentilly Rd erased)
#7 5405 Veterans
#8 7200 St. Claude
#9 4201 Airline Highway
#10 1532 Robert E Lee Blvd.
#17 3049 Loyola Drive, Kenner
#19 3801 Veterans Hwy.
#20 8023 South Claiborne Ave.
#21 4401 South Broad
#24 1520 Stumpf Blvd., Gretna
#25 3125 Downs Blvd.
#27 3316 Clearview Parkway
#29 3450 Kabel Dr, Algiers
#33 4827 Downman Road
#35 108 South Jamie Blvd., Avondale
#42 5163 General De Gaulle
#45 3016 Cleary Ave.
#46 3032 17th Street
#48 8701 River Road
#50 4102 Westbank Expressway
#51 2223 Broadway
#55 3652 West Esplanade
#56 2200 Barataria Blvd.
#57 2722 Williams Blvd.
#58 4431 Transcontinental Dr.
#62 1600 Manhattan Blvd.
#63 4300 Waverly St.
#64 101 East Judge Perez
#67 5400 Crowder Road
#72 2210 Airline Highway
#73 3801 General De Gaulle
#75 3636 Prytania
#76 1706 Hickory
#77 3605 Causeway Blvd.
#82 9883 Chef Menteur Highway
#84 200 Metairie Road
#85 3528 I-10 Service Road
#93 200 Live Oak St.
#97 The Lone Star Shopping Center, Luling
#99 4839 Prytania
#100 2200 Robert E Lee
#103 1227 Veterans Blvd.
#110 6217 South Miro
#117 10717 Jefferson Highway, River Ridge
#121 1201 Veterans Blvd.
#131 8000 West Metairie
#132 1001 South Tyler St., Covington
#140 1900 Ormond Dr. (actual address is 14190 River Road and it still had Time Saver signage as late as 2009 before Big River took over, making it its #8 store)
#135 851 Harrison Ave.
#157 4045 Williams Blvd.
#165 11950 Hayne Blvd.
#171 8900 Patricia
#172 2525 West Metairie, Kenner
#176 5301 Franklin Ave.
#177 6318 Hayne Blvd.
#180 4457 West Metairie Ave.
#181 2220 North Causeway Blvd.
3223 Edenborn
198 Metairie Road
4327 Jefferson Highway
119 Bellemeade Blvd., Gretna
7601 E. St. Bernard Highway, Violet
Please add any that I have neglected.
In the mid-1990s I collected three things: antique books from estate sales and auctions, Christopher Radko Christmas ornaments, and Pez dispensers, almost entirely from this Time Saver. At my collection’s zenith, there were 239 dispensers, of which I displayed in my window sill my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle assortment. My favorite, however, was my Santa Claus.
I was barely a teenager, on my way to one of the great Pez dispenser collections in America, when I decided to write to Pez. At that time, there were no religious inspired dispensers, so I wrote to the company a cordial suggestion letter. The vehicle, of course, was Smythson of Bond Street stationary, a requisite of all paper letter lovers -- the only exception to this rule is vellum, on which Rice alumni like our dear friend, OWL, write. My ideas for several collections were grand. Pez could do several series, ranging from the Prophets, with Isaiah, Jeremiah, and others, to the Twelve Disciples, and then great theologians, like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, and Barth. Shortly after I mailed the letter, I dreamed of a Abraham series with each dispenser modeled after a chapter in his 175 year old life. An executive responded and politely declined my suggestion, and I always wondered, "What if I had included the Abraham idea?" We shall never know.
I was heartbroken, but as often is the case, bale and rejection are expressed through ire. I gathered my entire collection, including Santa, and dumped it in our grill. Ire became fire and soon my once valued possessions were nothing but a polychromatic mash. I confess I danced in unrestrained ecstasy, like savage pagans about the Maypole.
When Mother got home, she realized what I had done. Her anger was so hot, not because I destroyed my collection, but because I had ruined her gas grill that father purchased at Harry’s Hardware for her Christmas of 1990 gift. She grounded me. Access to the streetcar was strictly forbidden for one month.
This Prytania location was also my go-to for after school cold treats. When it came to Icees, there were only two flavors I accepted: Coke or strawberry. I collected so many redemption points, neatly cut from those blue and red paper cylinders, but I redeemed not a one. In later years, I grew to love the blueberry flavor. I always despised the cherry and banana flavors, and would chide the cashier if those were the only flavors being dispensed: “Your Icee offerings today are unacceptable.”. Was there ever a worse feeling than when that little circular red light glowed, indicating that your flavor was not ready to be dispensed?
The Slurpee of Dallas-based 7-11 was nearly identical, using the same machine Knedlik invented. Meanwhile Cincinatti had its own version, the Slush Puppie, which was a little chunkier. Anway, the end result of the Icee was decreasing the the sales of sno-ball stands anywhere near a Time Saver. Again, Katrina has helped to shift the scales back to our tradition. But from time to time, an Icee is hard to beat.
Time Saver, as you know, met its end when Houston-based E-Z Serve, under the leadership of Neil McLauren, purchased 116 Time Savers in February of 1995. An Oklahoma-based grocer had controlled it from 1978 until this sad year. When one traces the obesity epidemic in our nation, or at least New Orleans, it could be argued with gusto that it was this sale, transferring Time Save from local to national ownership that triggered the outbreak. Time Save transformed from fresh grocery based to junk food and sweet drink based. Outsiders sought to make a profit, even if it meant poisoning our people with tasty, yet deadly, cheap and sugar-inundated foods. We did not know better, for the sign still read Time Saver. And we trusted them as our bellies expanded and our blood sugars increased.
This takeover was part of national growth of that large Houston chain, which, at one time, controlled over 5000 convenience stores in America. Time Saver was truly once a place of class and culture, but the 1995 takeover, like so many things Houston touches, ruined it. This story serves as yet another example to seek the good in life. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, these things we must preserve. Profit and money are passing, but the good is eternal. The spirit of Time Saver continues, not in today's bastardized descendants, but in our hearts and minds.
Do you have a favorite former Time Saver? If so, please take a photo, upload it, and share a story. Here are some addresses of the other Time Savers that existed:
#1 1201 South Carrollton
#2 1001 Metairie Road
#3 5243 Canal Blvd.
#4 4401 Jefferson Highway
#5 4008 Chef Menteur
#6 4201 General Meyer (4002 Gentilly Rd erased)
#7 5405 Veterans
#8 7200 St. Claude
#9 4201 Airline Highway
#10 1532 Robert E Lee Blvd.
#17 3049 Loyola Drive, Kenner
#19 3801 Veterans Hwy.
#20 8023 South Claiborne Ave.
#21 4401 South Broad
#24 1520 Stumpf Blvd., Gretna
#25 3125 Downs Blvd.
#27 3316 Clearview Parkway
#29 3450 Kabel Dr, Algiers
#33 4827 Downman Road
#35 108 South Jamie Blvd., Avondale
#42 5163 General De Gaulle
#45 3016 Cleary Ave.
#46 3032 17th Street
#48 8701 River Road
#50 4102 Westbank Expressway
#51 2223 Broadway
#55 3652 West Esplanade
#56 2200 Barataria Blvd.
#57 2722 Williams Blvd.
#58 4431 Transcontinental Dr.
#62 1600 Manhattan Blvd.
#63 4300 Waverly St.
#64 101 East Judge Perez
#67 5400 Crowder Road
#72 2210 Airline Highway
#73 3801 General De Gaulle
#75 3636 Prytania
#76 1706 Hickory
#77 3605 Causeway Blvd.
#82 9883 Chef Menteur Highway
#84 200 Metairie Road
#85 3528 I-10 Service Road
#93 200 Live Oak St.
#97 The Lone Star Shopping Center, Luling
#99 4839 Prytania
#100 2200 Robert E Lee
#103 1227 Veterans Blvd.
#110 6217 South Miro
#117 10717 Jefferson Highway, River Ridge
#121 1201 Veterans Blvd.
#131 8000 West Metairie
#132 1001 South Tyler St., Covington
#140 1900 Ormond Dr. (actual address is 14190 River Road and it still had Time Saver signage as late as 2009 before Big River took over, making it its #8 store)
#135 851 Harrison Ave.
#157 4045 Williams Blvd.
#165 11950 Hayne Blvd.
#171 8900 Patricia
#172 2525 West Metairie, Kenner
#176 5301 Franklin Ave.
#177 6318 Hayne Blvd.
#180 4457 West Metairie Ave.
#181 2220 North Causeway Blvd.
3223 Edenborn
198 Metairie Road
4327 Jefferson Highway
119 Bellemeade Blvd., Gretna
7601 E. St. Bernard Highway, Violet
Please add any that I have neglected.
This post was edited on 7/24/20 at 9:43 pm
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:10 pm to TulaneLSU
TulaneLSU’s Top 10 former Time Saver locations:
10. 4839 Prytania
Yes, it’s a homeburger pick. And yes also that there is not a more emasculated Time Saver building around. But it is my home Time Saver, and everyone who knows New Orleans knows how provincial it is. We are guilty of saying our neighborhood restaurant or sno-ball stand or even former Time Saver is the best in the entire Metro. At least I did not put it higher. I miss talking with Mr. Marvin who often worked the counter. I also miss the old triangular sign, which is replaced with that chain generic square. The metalwork anchors, with its four protective surrounding rods, are still there. From time to time, I will visit, close my eyes, and touch those supports to remember a store so dear to my memories. The memories, some haptic, some truly nous, flood back. If you ever see someone touching that sign with his eyes closed, please give him a minute and then introduce yourself. I would love to meet you.
9. #5 4008 Chef Menteur
Unquestionably one of the nicest gas stations in the Metro, this New Orleans East classic has been a source of convenience for 64 years now. During my most recent trip with Mother to the Gentilly Walmart -- she insists shopping there because, “The Baptists are so friendly at that Walmart” -- Mother also insisted that we cross the Danzinger, which I can tolerate to some extent. She wanted to get some premium gas for her Mercedes, and this pump has the cheapest, and Mother says, the best premium in all of Louisiana.
8. 4457 West Metairie
This photo and indeed this photo scream U.S.A. Gas, oversized truck, red, white, blue, ice. This former Time Saver is now a fetching Discount Zone.
7. #1 1201 South Carrollton
This is where it all started in 1951. The genesis of an institution like no other. Its current state does not do justice to the marvels of the original, but homage is due, and homage I give with a #7 rating for #1. Originally the Carrollton Curb Market, Montgomery turned this corner market into the city’s greatest business, for a time. A crushing defeat to the city when it closed in 1977, Homestead Security bank replaced it that same year. I am currently working my hardest to get a historical plaque mounted in the front. There are many, many less deserving spots that have plaques, so I implore you, my friends, to help me in this endeavor.
6. #6 4002 Gentilly Highway
Even though it is across the street from the Baptist Seminary, this Time Saver lasted but a couple of years. The building retains a 50s motif and structure. One can see this almost as a drive-in burger joint with girls on rollerskates delivering orders to customers as they wait in their cars. The complex metalwork above is also quite impressive.
5. #3 5243 Canal Blvd.
It was the ritziest of all American convenience stores in its heyday. The third Time Saver eventually became the corporate headquarters until the company was sold to an out of state grocery store in 1978. It is a beautiful open space today, and most people would have no clue all the history that has been made on that green. It is fitting that a Take 5 Oil Change is directly across the street. After selling Time Saver, Montgomery founded Take 5 before selling it for a handsome profit. Take 5, like Time Saver, saw a tremendous reduction in quality after Montgomery's apt hand was no longer controlling it.
4. 2223 Broadway
I was marooned in this store for hours during the great first day of school January 1998 flood, that no one ever mentions except me. I adore the architecture of this former TS and the sign would be marvelous if it did not advertise for Satan’s liquid.
3. #4 4401 Jefferson Highway
Blue Tomato installed a new roof and put in more windows, but the integrity of the original building is still there. I have never been inside, partly because I do not know what a blue tomato is. It sounds confusing, and until I understand a restaurant, I won’t try it.
2. #9 4201 Airline Highway
The original Time Saver was actually in that two story brick building in the background. In 1984, the gourmet convenience store moved to its current digs. November 1, this place was a mad house, and I did not help matters, trying to redeem as many coupons as I could and drink up as many Icees before Mother returned from The Superstore across the street.
1. #56 2200 Barataria Blvd.
On an excursion this past winter with Mother, we journeyed to Marrero by way of the Chalmette ferry. As we drove to the National Park at Lafitte, we came across this gem of a functioning museum. This beautiful Time Saver time capsule once was #56, and its structure and facade are magnificently preserved. How can one’s New Orleanian heart not be stirred when looking at that white triangle, almost peaking like a T wave in someone who has eaten too many bananas?
They don’t build them like this one anymore. Now it’s all generic strip mall plaster and mass produced signage. Places like this remind of this spirit of ingenuity, grit, and art. Forget the Roundtree House, Sushan's Terminal, and the Bradford Building. The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation needs to get off its tail and name, this, the last former Time Saver with distinctive Time Saver architecture and markings, an historic landmark with all due protections. They say around doing nothing when Big River took a perfectly preserved Time Saver #140 and turned it into a soulless mini-mart a decade ago. Save this Time Saver!
May we all save some time today in honor of Time Saver.
Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU
P.S. There are so many more I could include. Not to worry -- I will soon be finished with a coffee table book cataloging every single former Time Saver location, and yes, the photos will be professional quality. Look for it in local bookstores soon.
198 Metairie Road
3223 Edenborn
3652 West Esplanade
10. 4839 Prytania
Yes, it’s a homeburger pick. And yes also that there is not a more emasculated Time Saver building around. But it is my home Time Saver, and everyone who knows New Orleans knows how provincial it is. We are guilty of saying our neighborhood restaurant or sno-ball stand or even former Time Saver is the best in the entire Metro. At least I did not put it higher. I miss talking with Mr. Marvin who often worked the counter. I also miss the old triangular sign, which is replaced with that chain generic square. The metalwork anchors, with its four protective surrounding rods, are still there. From time to time, I will visit, close my eyes, and touch those supports to remember a store so dear to my memories. The memories, some haptic, some truly nous, flood back. If you ever see someone touching that sign with his eyes closed, please give him a minute and then introduce yourself. I would love to meet you.
9. #5 4008 Chef Menteur
Unquestionably one of the nicest gas stations in the Metro, this New Orleans East classic has been a source of convenience for 64 years now. During my most recent trip with Mother to the Gentilly Walmart -- she insists shopping there because, “The Baptists are so friendly at that Walmart” -- Mother also insisted that we cross the Danzinger, which I can tolerate to some extent. She wanted to get some premium gas for her Mercedes, and this pump has the cheapest, and Mother says, the best premium in all of Louisiana.
8. 4457 West Metairie
This photo and indeed this photo scream U.S.A. Gas, oversized truck, red, white, blue, ice. This former Time Saver is now a fetching Discount Zone.
7. #1 1201 South Carrollton
This is where it all started in 1951. The genesis of an institution like no other. Its current state does not do justice to the marvels of the original, but homage is due, and homage I give with a #7 rating for #1. Originally the Carrollton Curb Market, Montgomery turned this corner market into the city’s greatest business, for a time. A crushing defeat to the city when it closed in 1977, Homestead Security bank replaced it that same year. I am currently working my hardest to get a historical plaque mounted in the front. There are many, many less deserving spots that have plaques, so I implore you, my friends, to help me in this endeavor.
6. #6 4002 Gentilly Highway
Even though it is across the street from the Baptist Seminary, this Time Saver lasted but a couple of years. The building retains a 50s motif and structure. One can see this almost as a drive-in burger joint with girls on rollerskates delivering orders to customers as they wait in their cars. The complex metalwork above is also quite impressive.
5. #3 5243 Canal Blvd.
It was the ritziest of all American convenience stores in its heyday. The third Time Saver eventually became the corporate headquarters until the company was sold to an out of state grocery store in 1978. It is a beautiful open space today, and most people would have no clue all the history that has been made on that green. It is fitting that a Take 5 Oil Change is directly across the street. After selling Time Saver, Montgomery founded Take 5 before selling it for a handsome profit. Take 5, like Time Saver, saw a tremendous reduction in quality after Montgomery's apt hand was no longer controlling it.
4. 2223 Broadway
I was marooned in this store for hours during the great first day of school January 1998 flood, that no one ever mentions except me. I adore the architecture of this former TS and the sign would be marvelous if it did not advertise for Satan’s liquid.
3. #4 4401 Jefferson Highway
Blue Tomato installed a new roof and put in more windows, but the integrity of the original building is still there. I have never been inside, partly because I do not know what a blue tomato is. It sounds confusing, and until I understand a restaurant, I won’t try it.
2. #9 4201 Airline Highway
The original Time Saver was actually in that two story brick building in the background. In 1984, the gourmet convenience store moved to its current digs. November 1, this place was a mad house, and I did not help matters, trying to redeem as many coupons as I could and drink up as many Icees before Mother returned from The Superstore across the street.
1. #56 2200 Barataria Blvd.
On an excursion this past winter with Mother, we journeyed to Marrero by way of the Chalmette ferry. As we drove to the National Park at Lafitte, we came across this gem of a functioning museum. This beautiful Time Saver time capsule once was #56, and its structure and facade are magnificently preserved. How can one’s New Orleanian heart not be stirred when looking at that white triangle, almost peaking like a T wave in someone who has eaten too many bananas?
They don’t build them like this one anymore. Now it’s all generic strip mall plaster and mass produced signage. Places like this remind of this spirit of ingenuity, grit, and art. Forget the Roundtree House, Sushan's Terminal, and the Bradford Building. The Louisiana Trust for Historic Preservation needs to get off its tail and name, this, the last former Time Saver with distinctive Time Saver architecture and markings, an historic landmark with all due protections. They say around doing nothing when Big River took a perfectly preserved Time Saver #140 and turned it into a soulless mini-mart a decade ago. Save this Time Saver!
May we all save some time today in honor of Time Saver.
Faith, Hope, and Love,
TulaneLSU
P.S. There are so many more I could include. Not to worry -- I will soon be finished with a coffee table book cataloging every single former Time Saver location, and yes, the photos will be professional quality. Look for it in local bookstores soon.
198 Metairie Road
3223 Edenborn
3652 West Esplanade
This post was edited on 7/19/20 at 12:08 pm
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:13 pm to TulaneLSU
quote:
Mother always purchased our Halloween coupons at our Prytania Time Saver
WTH is a Halloween coupon?
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:15 pm to TulaneLSU
Friend,
I enjoy your Top 10 lists - especially when you include photos and detailed descriptions. I’m looking forward to going through this one carefully.
Perhaps one day I will compile a top 10 TulaneLSU Top 10 threads list. The top 10 Department Store restaurant thread will be hard to beat.
Your pal,
Dewster
I enjoy your Top 10 lists - especially when you include photos and detailed descriptions. I’m looking forward to going through this one carefully.
Perhaps one day I will compile a top 10 TulaneLSU Top 10 threads list. The top 10 Department Store restaurant thread will be hard to beat.
Your pal,
Dewster
This post was edited on 7/18/20 at 11:18 pm
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:15 pm to TulaneLSU
Bravo, dear sir.
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:17 pm to TulaneLSU
Well done!
As a kid I would collect the Icee NFL football cups at the Time Saver on the corner of Elise and West Metairie and Downs Blvd @ Laf. Park.
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:18 pm to TulaneLSU
Li'l General >>> Time Saver
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:19 pm to LSUJML
On 10/31, some houses would pass out Time Saver coupons for a free small Icee.
This was a good score!
This was a good score!
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:21 pm to Guido Merkens
quote:and Hap Glaudi would replay Billy Cannon's punt return
On 10/31, some houses would pass out Time Saver coupons for a free small Icee.
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:22 pm to TulaneLSU
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:22 pm to LSUJML
Orange Halloween icee coupons. A lot of places used to give them out or schools would award them to kids in the 80s and 90s
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:23 pm to Guido Merkens
quote:
The Real Superstore, whose colors were grey, black, and yellow
I remember these vividly. The Johnston Street movie theater in Lafayette was built out of an old “The Real Superstore”.
They were even uglier in person
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:23 pm to TulaneLSU
quote:
without reading about one Time Saver behind held up.
Unlike your behind which your uncle destroyed long ago
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:24 pm to TulaneLSU
I tried to read through all that stuff but couldn't...The Prytania location and the one behind Shanahan's on Claiborne Ave. before school were my go to locations...Getting a RB po-boy and a giant Coke at 7:30am was the greatest thing ever....
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:24 pm to TulaneLSU
There was one on Jefferson Hwy between the two Curtis campuses that I went to. I think chili cheese dogs were like a quarter on certain days.
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:28 pm to Kafka
quote:
Li'l General >>> Time Saver
There was one on the corner of State and Freret...
Posted on 7/18/20 at 11:38 pm to TulaneLSU
While I appreciate your effort, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out a glaring omission. You obviously are not as traveled as you try to portray yourself, which is fine, but, The Time Saver on Loyola Drive in Kenner made fresh Po-Boys and served hot lunches, which were high quality and high value. Of these, the Roast Beef Po Boy seemed to close the distance between Kenner and Mother’s on Poydras. It was also a place where young lads could bring the bottles they scoured for to get the deposits back and purchase a pack of baseball cards with bubble gum and perhaps an ICEE if they recovered enough of these glass gold mines they’d find while riding their bicycles either to the Parish Line for some fishing and crabbing, or fishing in Lake Pontchartrain right beyond Jefferson Downs, Jefferson Parish’s horse racing facility.
In all, the Time Saver on Loyola Drive in Kenner was either a starting point or a much wanted respite for many a youth in the early 70’s.
Faith Hope and Love
Cincinnati Bowtie
In all, the Time Saver on Loyola Drive in Kenner was either a starting point or a much wanted respite for many a youth in the early 70’s.
Faith Hope and Love
Cincinnati Bowtie
This post was edited on 7/18/20 at 11:40 pm
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