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re: What caused the area between downtown and LSU to become so ghetto?
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:13 pm to Ihatethiscity
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:13 pm to Ihatethiscity
quote:
What caused the area between downtown and LSU to become so ghetto?
The same mechanism that makes all ghettos in our country:
1) houses in a neighborhood get older
2) Some owners in the neighborhood decide to rent their older houses via Section 8, a great investment with a rent always paid.
3) People that cant take care of themselves and require section 8 move in
4) Public schools turn south
5) People that care about their kids not going to school with problematic kids from problematic homes move.
6) Neighborhood turns into a ghetto as everyone who is productive and can afford to leave… leaves.
This post was edited on 3/24/26 at 9:15 pm
1
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:23 pm to BamaCoaster
quote:
Nice factoid. I was unaware that’s how it got its name.
Yep yep. Even with as much as the city has been developed and built up over a century and a half, you can still see it on a topographic map: LINK
This post was edited on 3/24/26 at 9:28 pm
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:32 pm to BabyTac
quote:
Pretty much every small to big city downtown areas are becoming ghetto.
This just ain't true, man. Maybe it's just Baton Rouge. The 1980s, after so much shite had moved from downtown to malls and the areas around malls, was when downtowns bottomed out.
The downtowns in Macon, Columbus, and Augusta are way whiter now and have loft apartments and and LuLu Lemon people and farmers markets. The only white people who ever went downtown back in the day worked there during the day, and everything shut down after 5.
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:34 pm to 777Tiger
I’m not sure how old you are 777, but I want to say there was a murder of a girl in maybe the mid late 80s in that area? It was a girl that I knew through school and she had a twin sister. It’s all I really remember about it however.
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:38 pm to Ihatethiscity
Always been that but safer. there were black night clubs we used to frequent in the 60s.
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:49 pm to Violent Hip Swivel
quote:
This just ain't true, man. Maybe it's just Baton Rouge.
I’ve seen Austin and Houston go to complete shite in the last decade. Covid exacerbated it. Austin esp. used to be a thriving downtown. Yea, there’s still a handful of purple haired white chicks and foreigners there, but it’s done. Add remote work capabilities and nobody with a family wants to live amongst the trash
This post was edited on 3/24/26 at 9:51 pm
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:54 pm to Ihatethiscity
Rap Brown grew up on Roosevelt Street. It has always been a rough area. It has actually gotten better.
Posted on 3/24/26 at 9:57 pm to cgrand
quote:
North BR is the way it is now because white people left
My grandma told me just about everyone lived north of Govt St in the 60's. The south was canefields, dairy farms, and flooded frequently.
Posted on 3/24/26 at 10:18 pm to OweO
quote:
Crack created an element that doesn't go away. A lot of bad areas got that way because of crack
Byproduct of bad parenting. Good parents don’t raise crackheads. Good parents don’t raise drug dealers. Bad parents glorify crime. Bad parents support people who glorify crime. What demographic supports the glorification of crime?
Posted on 3/24/26 at 10:23 pm to Ihatethiscity
Old South Baton Rouge was always a poor, primarily black neighborhood. It’s not good land…historically was more flood prone in parts.
This post was edited on 3/24/26 at 10:24 pm
Posted on 3/24/26 at 11:41 pm to lepdagod
quote:
Like said I don’t know anything about ghetto… homeownership probably some like 90%+ in that area… Huey Long has nothing to do with it … LSU been there since 1870 I think
1924
Posted on 3/25/26 at 2:12 am to Kcrad
quote:
What caused the area between downtown and LSU to become so ghetto?
The usual suspects …
Posted on 3/25/26 at 7:04 am to Ihatethiscity
It always flooded - and it was always cheap. It’s still risky from a real estate perspective even today.
The pocket of higher end stuff on Nicholson near Magnolia Mound was not developed until the 1950s, and it was demolished around 2006 to make room for a real estate development that went belly up during the recession and never happened.
The pocket of higher end stuff on Nicholson near Magnolia Mound was not developed until the 1950s, and it was demolished around 2006 to make room for a real estate development that went belly up during the recession and never happened.
Posted on 3/25/26 at 7:10 am to Ihatethiscity
quote:
What caused the area between downtown and LSU to become so ghetto?
Was it always like this? It seems to be "prime" real estate for ease of access to LSU and downtown, much the same way the garden district is. I was thinking maybe it was the interstate - but the interstate is also close to some of the nicer areas as well - LSU lakes etc.
quote:
bullshite. My dad grew up in the 60's in north baton rouge and it wasn't the way it is now for sure. And there very clearly were reasons it went the way it did.
Your second post directly contradicts your OP. So why did you start the thread if you already know the answer?
Posted on 3/25/26 at 7:13 am to TDFreak
When I was a kid, those were good neighborhoods. Curious how folks who brought it down even were able to afford to move there. I remember watching as Sherwood Forest went down.
Posted on 3/25/26 at 8:44 am to Kafka
I've said this before but Pineville could've been a bad arse college town if LSU would've stayed there. Middle of the state and you got Buhlow lake right there and the Red River. Alexandria is kind of run down now but Pineville is pretty decent area.
Posted on 3/25/26 at 8:44 am to Ihatethiscity
quote:
"The Bottom" (or The Bottoms), now primarily known as part of Old South Baton Rouge, is a historic, formerly self-sustained African American neighborhood located between downtown and LSU. Originally Magnolia Mound Plantation land, it was divided into small shotgun lots in the early 1900s, becoming a thriving community before segregation-era decline, highway construction, and disinvestment in the 1960s
quote:
Origin: After the Civil War, the area was developed into small lots. Due to its low-lying, flood-prone topography below the downtown bluffs, it became known as "The Bottom".
Demographics & Community: By the 1920s, it was populated by black residents and Italian/German immigrants, thriving as a self-sustained community despite Jim Crow laws. It was home to families of many prominent residents.
Culture: The area was known for its bustling atmosphere, rich with culture, and closely connected to historic Black businesses and neighborhoods in Baton Rouge.
LSU Reveille article: https://lsureveille.com/152207/news/poverty-lives-in-lsus-culturally-and-historically-rich-neighbor/
quote:
Until 1999, a barbed wire fence divided the University from the impoverished and primarily black community of Old South Baton Rouge.
quote:
Old South Baton Rouge was originally part of Baton Rouge’s Magnolia Mound Plantation, which spread across 900 acres to the Mississippi River in the late-1700s through 1800s. The plantation still sits on Nicholson Drive, now a historic landmark that occupies about 15 acres. After the Civil War, former black slaves moved into “the Bottom,” which had cheap property values because of its hilly topography and tendency to flood.
This post was edited on 3/25/26 at 8:50 am
Posted on 3/25/26 at 8:46 am to Ihatethiscity
It was ghetto back in the late 70s when I was a Freshman.
Posted on 3/25/26 at 9:03 am to Ihatethiscity
probably white flight is what started to make it go downhill.
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