Hey, Where ya'll at?
Ya'll at bennygrunch.com.
What I've been tryin' to do here is look at New Orleans; past, present,
and maybe some future, from sidewalk level.
Look at New Orleans
like a regula' person who's been here a long time (me). No
big-giant future plan. No
blame to cast upon the blame target of this week.
No past that was so glorious
as to pale whatever is yet to come. Just
lemme' stand here and see what happened, what's going on now, and
how we might end up. That's
a pretty humble goal; if I do say so myself (and I guess I just
did).
But
now I must speak out concerning what kind of town New Orleans once was.
This was a place with a-buncha'
all-nite eateries, not just the handfull we know now; a city with
punctual streetcars and buses (with ads above your head that had
nothing to do with free clinics or injury lawyers) that ran all
night, because people did use them to live and work, all day and all
night; a city where our main streets (like Canal, Dryads, and
Tulane) bustled with well kept stores filled with neatly
dressed shoppers undaunted by a little heat (97F & 97% Humidity) or
rain ( actually, in the summer "raining" was way better than "not
raining"). This was a town
where once stood two (that's 2) downtown Pontiac
automobile dealerships literally within blocks of each other,
both selling lotsa'
Pontiacs. Well, now New Orleans' recent
past has been delt a blow (if only symbolic) by an unlikely giant
corporation someplace so far up North that no one I know has ever
been there. General Motors
has announced it will drop Pontiac Automobiles.
So, now I dedicate this new front page to the
automobile dealerships of
New Orleans, and to all their little quirks
and ads and jingles and commercials.
And to all the quirky New Orleans people who worked there and
managed them and owned them. This
new web page goes out to you.
"Where D'ja'll Get'Dat Car?!"
General Motors in
New Orleans
Chevrolet (New
Orleans pronunciation "Chev'uh-lay'" or "Chev'ro-lett")
Mike Persia Chevrolet" 301 N.Rampart St. between Bienville
and Conti (now the location of William B. Allen electronic
supplies) had the catchy animated commercial jingle of the little
Persian drummer wearing a fez, singing "Get Your Chevrolet at Persia - Mike
Persia Chevrolet".
"Dumas
Chevrolet" on S.Carrollton at Tulane Ave. later became "Dumas-Milner
Chevrolet", then "Garrard-Milner Chevrolet", then "Garrard
Chevrolet"; all in the same spot.
Note: All Chevrolet Dealers had "OK" Used Cars.
The "OK" was in yellow, circle illuminated signs, each on single
poles; that surrounded the used car lot.
There was no such thing as
"pre-owned".
"Stephens Chevrolet" was Downtown in the 800
Block of Carondelet St.
"Bryan Chevrolet-Bryan ChevyTown", still on
Airline Hwy, certainly deserves some
notoriety for longevity, considering the life-span of modern car
dealerships. "When Buyin'-See Bryan" and "The Little Cheeper Dealer"
are both mainstays in local advertising.
"Leson Chevrolet" in Harvey
on the Westbank Expressway, might be the oldest
still-in-business Chevrolet Dealership in the
USA, family owned since 1931.
Oldsmobile (New Orleans
pronunciation "Olz'mo-beel" or "Oldz'muh-beel"); Oldsmobile
(1897-2004) was the oldest automobile company in America. The
1901 Oldsmobile Runabout was the inspiration for the worldwide hit
song "In My Merry Oldsmobile". After a devastating fire at the Lansing Michigan plant,
Oldsmobile persevered to present the 1903 "Curved Dash" model
which continued the birth of America's production auto industry.
I seldom give an opinion on this website. But what a shame that in
2004 General Motors dropped America's oldest production car.
Godspeed to Oldsmobile.
"Mossy Motors-Mossy Olds", the first Oldsmobile
dealer in Louisiana opened on Rampart St. in 1934, and moved to it's
current location at 1331 S.Broad (across from the pumpin' station on
the neutral ground) in 1956. Now, Mossy Buick-Pontiac-GMC.
Cadillac (New
Orleans pronunciation "Cad'lak"
or "Cat'ta-lak"
"Pontchartrain Motors Cadillac & Oldsmobile",
downtown at 701 Barrone
St.
was truly a premiere Cadillac dealership. Almost any Cadillac in New
Orleans sold to anyone including Foreign Consulates, Dignitaries,
The Rich, The Famous, Entertainers, Politicians, Statesmen, Society
Ladies, and Not-So-Society Ladies; came from Pontchartrain Motors.
Pontchartrain Motors sold a few of the 1957 and 1958 Cadillac
Eldorado Brougham. Stainless steel top, pillar-less 4-doors, the
back doors were hinged to the rear quarter panel. These were very
rare, special cars for very special people. (I would like any info
on the Eldorado Broughams taken delivery in or from New Orleans.)
Pontiac (New
Orleans pronunciation "Pony'ak" and "Pah'nee-ak");
New Orleans was a real Pontiac town, supporting
Two successful Pontaic dealerships downtown, just blocks from each
other -
"Pattison Pontiac Co. - George Pontiac
Pattison" on the corner of
Canal St. and Galvez was a landmark with
it's Pontiac Indian profile and logo in red on the white
building. If you were riding the streetcar, the Patterson sign was
the beginning of Downtown.
"Paretti Pontiac" on Rampart
St.
and Bienville was easy walking distance from Patterson. But they
both thrived for a long time. Paretti had a well known logo;
the "Trader Joe Paretti" cartoon character wearing a safari outfit
and a catchy jingle, "Trader Joe Paretti -The dealer who is ready -
To trade with you. - New Orleans
number one Pontiac dealer - Trader Joe the automobile-er...",
was also performed on local late-nite TV as girls line-danced the
cha-cha while they sang the jingle.
Buick
"Colonial Buick" on Bienville at Carrollton, Southeast corner, had a
do-it-yourself color-slide viewer to pick the two-tone colors of the
new Buick you were about to order. No option packages then. You
just ordered the car exactly how you wanted it; body colors,
interior fabric and colors, what kind of radio, what tint on the
glass, only the options you want, and where you wanted it delivered.
Ford Motor Company, The Ford Family Of
Fine Cars
Ford (New
Orleans
pronunciation "Foa'd", as in "board" without the "r", or "Foh'd", as
in "load" with an "f" instead of an "l" -
"Bohn Ford - Dick Bohn Ford" may be the best
known name in New Orlens auto dealerships, mainly because of it's
original 1920 location at 2700 S.Broad St. at Washington Ave; moved
to N.Carrollton corner Conti St. a few years prior to the Hurricane
Katrina flood. That new location was ruined by the long standing
flood waters. Don Bohn Ford is still in business in
Harvey, on the Westbank.
"Wild Bill Watson Ford" on the Chef Menteur Hwy. ("out on the Chef") best
known for his TV ads in which Sid Noel (of Morgus The Magnificant
fame) portrayed "Wid Bill" as a classic un-ruly cowpoke. Wearing
oversized chaps, 20gallon hat, 2-sixguns, giant mustache and
eyebrows, and all other cowboy accessories; Wild Bill shouted "I'm
wild! I'm tradin' wild!" with his moves as wild as the
commercial. There was also a clever cartoon characteriture of "Wild
Bill Watson". Well done, but nothing could be nearly as "Wild!" as
the TV portrayal by Sid Noel.
"Metairie Ford" at 801 Metairie Rd. is best known in
retrospect for it's location. That is, looking at Metairie Ford
from Metairie Rd.; next door to your right was the Dixie Bar, and
next door to the left was a grocery with live poultry in cages, next
door to the (world famous) Do Drive-In, next door to the Cuban
Liquor Store.
"Bolton Ford" was located on Canal St. near Claiborne Ave. near to and on the same
side of the street as what became The Crazy Horse; sort of across
Canal from the
Claiborne
Towers.
Mercury (New
Orleans pronunciation "Merk'-ree"
or "Moik'-ree")
"Clay Dutton Lincoln Mercury" was on Poydrsas St. near Claiborne Ave.
"Delta Mercury" was on the lake-side of Canal St. between
Claiborne and Galvez.
"Marshall Bros. Lincoln Mercury" is most
notable to me and my car buddies because in the showroom on Veterans Hwy., visible for us all to see,
was a real Ford Pantera DeThomasso. It was yellow... "Good Lawd!."
"Dutch O'Neil Ford" was also,as fate would have
it, in a very famous location for two reasons. First, it was on Tulane Ave. nearly
right next to Pelican Stadium. Second (and perhaps most notably) it
was across from the S.Scott St. cut-in; the first of only two
places where you could actually turn left off Tulane Ave.
"Pierce Ford" was in what now would be
considered an unlikely location for an auto dealership, because the
area now is so residential. It was on the "Gentilly Circle"; the
Intersection of Gentilly Blvd.,
St. Bernard Ave., and DeSaix near
Paris Ave.
"New Orleans Motors"; Ford dealership on Canal St.
Chrysler - MoPar
Chrysler (New
Orleans pronunciation, "Krys'luh"
Desoto (New
Orleans
pronunciation, "Duh'soda"
Plymouth (New Orleans pronunciation, "Plym'itt"
Dodge (New
Orleans
pronunciation, "Dodge" (yep, just "Dodge")
"Rodasta Motors" on Claiborne Ave. and Poydras,
across Claiborne from what is now The Louisiana Superdome; sold
Chrysler, Plymouth, and Desoto. Desoto was a very popular car in New Orleans. It shared the body with Chrysler,
but was more... "fixed-up"; not really different. Desoto sold alot
of cars with Groucho Marx advertising the full-time power steering
was "easy as dialing a phone". And, "Tell 'em Groucho sent'cha".
"Jacobsen Young - Where The Lights Are Strung"
Dodge, Chrysler, Plymouth was on Carrollton Ave. across from
Carrollton (Passenger Train) Station at the corner of Washington
Ave. (currently the location of the Xavier University Security
Office). There was a whole lot more of outdoor space than indoor
showroom. With regular lamp type light bulbs strung completely over
the outdoor area. The slogan and the motif worked. It was a huge
success for a long time. Also check out Benny's "Ain't Dere No More
Prt-2" lyrics "Jacobson Young where the lights are strung - We must
be goin' down Carrollton."
"Howard Motors", all Chrysler products, was
downtown near St.Charles and
Howard Ave.
"Luke Motors", all Chrysler products, was on Tulane Ave.
"John Gimma" Chrysler was on Canal St. near Claiborne Ave.
"O.E. Haring" was an established Chrysler, Plymouth dealership with various New Orleans locations since the 1930's. The
location I was most familiar with faced Claiborne off the corner of Canal St.
"Gentilly Dodge"
Other US Car Companies
OK. I know. I Know. There were other US car Companies
besides the Big Three. But they're not so easy to figure out. Here's
a bit of what I kinda' think I might know:
"Melito Rambler" was on St. Charles Ave. across the side Street
from Delmonico's Restaurant and across from Jerusalem Temple.
I don't know if they were there long enough to sell other AMC
products like "AMX", "Marlin", "Javelin", "Gremlin", and "Pacer".
And, I don't know if they had been there long enough to have sold
"Nash", and "Metropolitan". There were a bunch of 'em around. So
somebody bought'em, and somebody sold'em. What about "Kaiser", and
"Henry-J", and "Crosley". They came from someplace.
There
were "Willys Cars, Jeeps, Overlanders, and Jeepsters". Where'd they
come from?
Some of the 1950's "Studebakers" and
"Packard's" came from that showroom on St. Charles Ave. that (maybe)
became Crescent City Mercedes Benz (near the now Cheesecake Bistro).
"Checker" cars were sold along with
"International Scout" and "International PickUp" and "Rambler" at
"Lambert's Datsun" on Metairie Rd.
I don't think it's just my imagination. There
really were about a ga-zillion "foreign-car" brands. Like, everybody
with a foreign car had a different one: MG-Austin-Austin Healy-
Morris-Hillman-English Ford-German
Ford-Vauxhall-Triumph-Sunbeam-Renault-Simca-Volvo-Skoda (yes,
Skoda)-Siata Spring-NSU Prinz-Fiat-Alpha Romeo-Saab-TRV-BMW-Mercedes
Benz-Volkswagen-Lotus-Ferrari-Rolls Royce-Bently-Aston Martin-GoGomobile
(yes, not a mistake)-Vespa (yes, Vespa cars)-Messerschmidt-Maserati-Morgan-Toyopet-and
last, but not exactly least,-King Midget.
This front page will become a regular page
where I'll gallantly attempt to go where no Yat has ever gone
before. And figure out "Where D'ja'll Get'Dat Car?!"
Looka' most'a these auto dealerships are
Long-Gone-John. And unless you've living under ground at the old Do
Drive-In for the past 40 years (ya' coulda' graduated from Delgada'
'bout twenty times); you know that, so is just about everything
else. I told'ja; I don't go blamin' everybody. If this were an
industrially progressive, or an office tower hotbed, or gathering
spot for the jet-setting rich and shameless; kind of town - guess
what... They would have knocked everything down already. Well I've
got these "Ain't Dere No More" tee shirts. Big letters front = "Ain't
Dere". Big letters back = "No More". Within the big letters are over
500 "ain't dere no mores" in alphabetical order by neighborhood.
Lotsa' car dealerships too. On the shirt back, anything marked with
a little "storm warning flag" is gone since Katrina. Sometime I
gottta' stop talkin' and take my shirt off to read it; so I know
what I'm talkin' about. You can get'em rite here on my website. "Ya'
betta' gett'cha a couple of 'em. So ya' ain't gotta take ya'shoit
off."
