Random photos often trigger memories, like a Tumblr image leading to memories of Mr. Stanley Canepa.
Mr. Stanley and the Men’s Department
I like to surf fashion-related blogs on Tumblr. They’re a treasure-trove of quick ideas that often work their way into stories. The photo above is one of those. This photo not only offered a writing idea, but also triggered a fond memory.
So, I posted the photo as one of my #writingprompts, a thought, a comment from the lady sitting at the table:
The trick to being left alone while sitting and reading is to make it look like you’re waiting for someone…
Then I noticed her bag.
YSL = Yves St. Laurent. It’s a brand whose reach extends from couture to department store. I chuckled as I passed by signs for YSL cologne at the front of the Dillard’s store in Lakeside Mall last week. That took me back to my days selling Men’s clothing at Maison Blanche in Clearview Shopping Center.
MB Clearview
That’s where Mr. Stanley comes into the story. Stan Canepa was a long-time Maison Blanche manager. He came to the Men’s departments at Clearview around 1979. Canepa was from Chalmette, a real Yat. When Men’s Furnishings started carrying YSL neckties, I remember him telling the ladies who worked up in that department to display the ties prominently. But Stan didn’t use a very French pronunciation for Yves St. Laurent. He said “Yves” as “Why-Vez.”
Now, I pretty much grew up in Gentilly while sleeping in Metairie. I didn’t know a lot of folks from Chalmette until I hit UNO as an undergraduate. The Yat accent was eye-opening at first, but you get used to it,, particularly when working regularly with a Chalmation. Mr. Stan’s absolute butchering of the French language was so perfectly New Orleans. So much so, when I saw that logo on the purse, it’s the first thing I thought of. Mr. Stanley was a smart guy–I learned a lot about people management just watching how he handled the department.
Christmas cheer
That brought me to an additional Stan Canepa memory. Back in 2012, when I wrote Maison Blanche Department Stores, I spent a bit of time up in the Special Collections section at the Main Branch of the New Orleans Public Library. Not only did they have a solid Vertical File on MB, they had almost every edition of “Shop Talk,” the store’s employee newsletter. I scanned many issues of “Shop Talk,” and read pretty much every one of them. In the process, a photo jumped out at me, from December, 1965. It’s the one up top. Here’s the caption, from Chapter 2:
Post-storm Christmas. Stanley Canepa, long-time Buyer for the Boy Scout department, posing with his family in their Chalmette home, December, 1965. Like many Maison Blanche families, the Canepas repaired their homes and life went on. (The author had the privilege of working for Mr. Canepa when he was Area Manager for Men’s wear at the Clearview store in 1979.) (NOPL)
The storm here was, Hurricane Betsy. Betsy hit New Orleans on 10-September-1965 as a Category 4 hurricane. St. Bernard Parish and the Lower Ninth Ward of the city bore the brunt of the wind and water. Finding this photo, thirty-three years after working with Mr. Stan (who had passed by that time), gave me pause. We endure hardship and keep going. I remember how happy we were to get back in our house after Katrina. The Canepas surely felt that way in 1965.
Hopefully we pass on our better angels to the next generation. Mr. Stanley certainly did that.
Shout-outs
Thanks to Wayne Everard, Archivist Emeritus, New Orleans Public Library, for being so accommodating to this geek author doing research up in his domain. Also, a recommendation: Feel free take inspiration from my ramblings, but if you really want to learn how to be a better writer, you absolutely want to follow Maurice Carlos Ruffin on Substack.
Still processing the name change to LSU New Orleans.
UNO becomes LSU New Orleans
The announcement and approval of a name change for the University of New Orleans generates mixed feelings. In high school and as a UNO undergrad, I was proudly in the “Fuck LSU!” camp, particularly as we lobbied for the Lakefront Arena through the Student Government Association. You’d think I would be adamantly opposed to this name change/re-branding, but I’m more open to the notion.
Not your father’s UNO
Its more than just the switch from the LSU System to the University of Louisiana system and back to LSU now. When I graduated (BA, Secondary Education) in 1980, there were 25K+ students on the lakefront. Now, enrollment is more like 7K. There’s legit reasons for this dramatic drop that require a history post to explain. Given the downsizing the school experienced, it didn’t feel like a horribly bad decision. The basketball advocates favor the return to the LSU fold. That makes sense, since LSU is more of a minor league sports holding company than university anyway.
Academics
The drop in enrollment the school’s endured took a toll on the faculty. It’s not that the quality of teachers dropped as much as the…looking for the right word…stature, maybe…of the faculty has diminished. A great example of this is Stephen Ambrose. Ambrose raised the university’s profile dramatically, through his writing, particularly “Band of Brothers,” and the creation of the National World War II Museum. The Chemistry Department produced some ground-breaking research. Naturally, the teachers on that level moved on to better offers and positions. It’s the way of the world.
Will returning to the LSU System help boost the faculty? I’m no expert, but will be monitoring this.
Silver and Blue
I don’t see a problem with the name change. If the branding experts think being “LSU” brings something to the table that will keep the school moving forward, OK. I most definitely do not want UNO going purple and gold. I’m glad Master P agrees with me. In the 1930s, Brother Martin Hernandez, SC, changed the colors of St. Aloysius High School from purple and gold to crimson and white, mainly because the former were LSU’s colors. I see no reason an LSU-New Orleans can’t still be silver and blue. I’ll miss the seal (see my polo shirt), of course.
Further monitoring
The media present the change as a fait accompli, but it’s all nebulous at this point. Hopefully we can, at a minimum, influence the colors.
We’re getting the Eloquent Profanity blog started on Substack.
Expanding the Eloquent Profanity Blog
This is a photo of Pontchartrain Beach, the venerable New Orleans amusement park that operated from 1929 to 1983. I don’t know who took this photo, so if anyone does, please drop me a line, so I can give them proper attribution. The image is from the 1970s, showing the main food concession stand on the midway. The architecture style of all the midway attractions, as well as the Batt family residence (which was on the park grounds) was Streamline Moderne, a variant of Art Deco.
Pontchartrain Beach
Da Beach was important to me from the time I was a kid. A quick bit of background: my dad was a New Yorker, my mom a New Orleanian. They met when my dad was in the Air Force (he was an ATC instructor at Keesler AFB in Biloxi). By the time they got married, he got an offer to work for Raytheon as an electronics engineer (he taught electronics, and this was the 1950s when there was a great demand for “engineers” even if they didn’t have college degrees. So, they moved to Boston. My mom just couldn’t handle the New England winters. After two of them, they packed up and returned to New Orleans. Daddy went to work at LSUNO, starting the Eletronics Shop in the College of Science.
Momma took a job teaching in Jefferson Parish, so we lived in Metairie. As I got older, I’d go out to the Lakefront with daddy and hang out. We’d also go to Pontchartrain Beach, to swim, see the shows, and ride the rides.
For high school, I chose Brother Martin. That worked out nicely for family logistics, since daddy could drop me off in the morning. I like to say I grew up in Gentilly while sleeping in Metairie, and part of that growing up was going out to Da Beach. Once we were old enough that friends were driving, it was a great, wholesome, cheap date. Additionally, when I was a tenth grader, I was on the NJROTC Drill Team. Since the football team and the band monopolized the school’s backyard for their practices, we’d pile into cars and go up to the lake, practicing in the beach’s parking lot. Ah, fond memories all around.
The neon of the park’s midway mesmerized me even as a little kid. I can’t help but look at Beach photos and smile.
So, I just donated the equivalent of a couple of weeks’ worth of Iced Chai Lattes (my afternoon go-to beverage of late) to the University of New Orleans, for “Give UNO Day.” I’m right proud to do so, because I still believe in my school’s mission. Louisiana State University in New Orleans became a major part of my life when my parents returned to New Orleans from Metro Boston in 1960. For most folks, the university years are a blip on the timeline. For me, UNO is so much more.
Big Ed and LSUNO
My old man learned electronics courtesy of the United States Air Force. After defending Biloxi, Mississippi from the Chinese during the Korean War, Big Ed married his NOLA girl and took a job up in Boston, as an engineer at Raytheon. He worked on the original Hawk missile project for the Army, earning a good salary, with a house in Danvers, the Boston suburb that was the original Salem. His NOLA girl, however, didn’t adjust well to winters in New England. After making two babies, I suspect the combination of spending the days alone in that suburban house (New Englanders don’t socialize much in the snow), along with post-partum depression, momma needed to go home.
Big Ed always did anything he could for Anne. Give up the good job? Go back South? Sure. He landed a job at the then-two year old LSUNO, as manager of its Electronics shop. The College of Science had some fantastic chemists and physicists, even in those early years. They invested in a lot of electronic equipment. It made sense to repair it in-house. Big Ed hired a team to do just that.
Teaching
Big Ed was an incredible teacher. He ended his time in the USAF as an E-6, teaching electronics. I’m sure he applied those skills at Raytheon. I saw him in action as I got older. It was an absolute blast to go with him to work as a kid. In a way, I had my first “job” at UNO when I was about ten, building Heathkit DC power supplies for the electronics lab daddy and his staff set up for the Physics Department. About the same time, the college invested in a DECSYSTEM 10 mainframe. Computer Science started under Physics, before branching out into an independent department in the college. Daddy kept going with computers. He bought one of the first Motorola integrated circuit learning kids available for the shop. He was always the perfect senior NCO to the officers (professors). I think he was happy with the relationship. It didn’t pay as much as being a “real” engineer, but momma worked as well, so we did OK.
Gentilly
I had two choices for high school. Momma taught many of the Brothers of the Sacred Heart when she was on the Education faculty at Loyola. Being an institution operated by the Society of Jesus, she knew many of the priests and brothers at Jesuit High School. I chose Elysian Fields over Carrollton and Banks. That decision process is an entirely different story that we’ll get to at some point. While LSUNO didn’t fit into that decision, the university’s influence in my life grew.
It was so much more than hitching rides home with daddy. Brother Martin High School operated in the shadow of the university. An example: In Composition II class as a sophomore, Brother Bernie piled us all onto a school bus and took us up to the Earl K. Long Library. The university’s library used Library of Congress rather than Dewey Decimal. We learned where everything was, and that resource was just twenty-five cents away for the rest of my high school years.
Connections
The Brother Martin Debate Team competed all over the metro area, but LSUNO’s tournament was special, because a number of the guys running the tournament were BMHS grads. I don’t know if my trophies from the 1974 tournament are the last items branded as LSUNO or not, but the change became official while we were competing. We were still high schoolers, but the excitement was infectious. It wasn’t a foregone conclusion that I’d go to UNO at that time. Loyola University was quite appealing to me, particularly because debate-team-me harbored that desire to become a lawyer. I got accepted to both schools. My parents would have found the money to pay for Loyola, but given just how much cheaper the state school was, well, that was a no-brainer. Daddy hooked me up with a job in the Chemistry Department my freshman year. I moved on from that to selling suits at Maison Blanche. I made enough money to pay tuition for every other semester.
So, yes, I am right proud to give to my school. While many people were upset when UNO left the Louisiana State University System, becoming part of the University of Louisiana System, I was OK with it. The mission continues.
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives under construction, 21-Aug-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
I went out to Marconi and Lakeshore yesterday, to sit, reflect, and let the water lapping up against the seawall relax me. Ran into a bit of a problem, though–fences! The area is undergoing a revamp from the Orleans Levee Board. I was disappointed, but understood. That seawall is a WPA project from the late 1930s. Erosion has always been a challenge. Not sure if the OLB is going to concrete the approach to the seawall, like they’ve done on other parts of the Lakefront. If they do, I’m OK with that. It’s about sitting and looking out at the lake, not back at the cops.
Marconi and Lakeshore is a thinking spot. It’s where dragons and angels come to visit. Father O’Donnell, who is also a Brother Martin alum, is quite familiar with the spot. The boys of the Trio, Joey Newfeld and David Williams, are certainly not surprised to encounter him at this spot. The power of Elemental Water is refreshing, even for a Fire Dragon of the Red Tribe. Come read the Talents and the Dragons, you’ll get the idea.
But we always came back to Marconi and Lakeshore. After Brother Martin, it was a place to sit and think with my fraternity brothers. Beer was still the go-to then, but other substances came on the scene as well. The seawall at Marconi and Lakeshore was a good fifty yards back from the street and parking bay. That’s a long walk for a cop, and they weren’t going to run. One could finish consumption of just about any controlled substance in one’s possession.
Making out, “parking” in the vernacular, wasn’t something we did at Marconi and Lakeshore. Put simply, you never know who would show up. The girls as a rule weren’t going to get busy out on the seawall, so those activities were limited to the car. No, that’s where the Plaza parking lot came in.
Construction!
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives under construction, 21-Aug-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
I went out to Marconi and Lakeshore yesterday, to sit, reflect, and let the water lapping up against the seawall relax me. Ran into a bit of a problem, though–fences! The area is undergoing a revamp from the Orleans Levee Board. I was disappointed, but understood. That seawall is a WPA project from the late 1930s. Erosion has always been a challenge. Not sure if the OLB is going to concrete the approach to the seawall, like they’ve done on other parts of the Lakefront. If they do, I’m OK with that. It’s about sitting and looking out at the lake, not back at the cops.
Marconi and Lakeshore is a thinking spot. It’s where dragons and angels come to visit. Father O’Donnell, who is also a Brother Martin alum, is quite familiar with the spot. The boys of the Trio, Joey Newfeld and David Williams, are certainly not surprised to encounter him at this spot. The power of Elemental Water is refreshing, even for a Fire Dragon of the Red Tribe. Come read the Talents and the Dragons, you’ll get the idea.
Oh, we hung out at more places than Marconi and Lakeshore, mind you. The Resurrection guys took us out to this new construction at I-10 and Read in Da East. Was going to be a new shopping mall. Turned out, it was a much better place to “park” than the lakefront. Fewer cops out there.
But we always came back to Marconi and Lakeshore. After Brother Martin, it was a place to sit and think with my fraternity brothers. Beer was still the go-to then, but other substances came on the scene as well. The seawall at Marconi and Lakeshore was a good fifty yards back from the street and parking bay. That’s a long walk for a cop, and they weren’t going to run. One could finish consumption of just about any controlled substance in one’s possession.
Making out, “parking” in the vernacular, wasn’t something we did at Marconi and Lakeshore. Put simply, you never know who would show up. The girls as a rule weren’t going to get busy out on the seawall, so those activities were limited to the car. No, that’s where the Plaza parking lot came in.
Construction!
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives under construction, 21-Aug-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
I went out to Marconi and Lakeshore yesterday, to sit, reflect, and let the water lapping up against the seawall relax me. Ran into a bit of a problem, though–fences! The area is undergoing a revamp from the Orleans Levee Board. I was disappointed, but understood. That seawall is a WPA project from the late 1930s. Erosion has always been a challenge. Not sure if the OLB is going to concrete the approach to the seawall, like they’ve done on other parts of the Lakefront. If they do, I’m OK with that. It’s about sitting and looking out at the lake, not back at the cops.
Marconi and Lakeshore is a thinking spot. It’s where dragons and angels come to visit. Father O’Donnell, who is also a Brother Martin alum, is quite familiar with the spot. The boys of the Trio, Joey Newfeld and David Williams, are certainly not surprised to encounter him at this spot. The power of Elemental Water is refreshing, even for a Fire Dragon of the Red Tribe. Come read the Talents and the Dragons, you’ll get the idea.
Oh, we hung out at more places than Marconi and Lakeshore, mind you. The Resurrection guys took us out to this new construction at I-10 and Read in Da East. Was going to be a new shopping mall. Turned out, it was a much better place to “park” than the lakefront. Fewer cops out there.
But we always came back to Marconi and Lakeshore. After Brother Martin, it was a place to sit and think with my fraternity brothers. Beer was still the go-to then, but other substances came on the scene as well. The seawall at Marconi and Lakeshore was a good fifty yards back from the street and parking bay. That’s a long walk for a cop, and they weren’t going to run. One could finish consumption of just about any controlled substance in one’s possession.
Making out, “parking” in the vernacular, wasn’t something we did at Marconi and Lakeshore. Put simply, you never know who would show up. The girls as a rule weren’t going to get busy out on the seawall, so those activities were limited to the car. No, that’s where the Plaza parking lot came in.
Construction!
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives under construction, 21-Aug-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
I went out to Marconi and Lakeshore yesterday, to sit, reflect, and let the water lapping up against the seawall relax me. Ran into a bit of a problem, though–fences! The area is undergoing a revamp from the Orleans Levee Board. I was disappointed, but understood. That seawall is a WPA project from the late 1930s. Erosion has always been a challenge. Not sure if the OLB is going to concrete the approach to the seawall, like they’ve done on other parts of the Lakefront. If they do, I’m OK with that. It’s about sitting and looking out at the lake, not back at the cops.
Marconi and Lakeshore is a thinking spot. It’s where dragons and angels come to visit. Father O’Donnell, who is also a Brother Martin alum, is quite familiar with the spot. The boys of the Trio, Joey Newfeld and David Williams, are certainly not surprised to encounter him at this spot. The power of Elemental Water is refreshing, even for a Fire Dragon of the Red Tribe. Come read the Talents and the Dragons, you’ll get the idea.
Marconi and the Lakefront. Marconi Lakeshore. This has been my thinking spot since around 1973. That’s when my 14-year old freshman butt went out there with older guys who were on the Brother Martin High School Debate team. The beer of choice (or perhaps that was the beer of necessity?) was Schlitz. We had a solid cadre of seniors and just-graduated guys who were at Tulane or (then) LSUNO at that time who didn’t mind buying extra beer for us youngsters. We would sit on the seawall, shooting the shit. For the most part, if the older guys took notice of us chirren, it was on the receiving end of scathing critiques of our debate skills. For the most part, those critiques were intended to be positive. Harsh, but, the older guys wanted us to win.
So, Marconi and Lakeshore became our spot. Getting seriously drunk after dropping off the dates after Homecoming that year. And the next year. By then, we were juniors, taking freshmen under our wing.
Hanging out in High School
Oh, we hung out at more places than Marconi and Lakeshore, mind you. The Resurrection guys took us out to this new construction at I-10 and Read in Da East. Was going to be a new shopping mall. Turned out, it was a much better place to “park” than the lakefront. Fewer cops out there.
But we always came back to Marconi and Lakeshore. After Brother Martin, it was a place to sit and think with my fraternity brothers. Beer was still the go-to then, but other substances came on the scene as well. The seawall at Marconi and Lakeshore was a good fifty yards back from the street and parking bay. That’s a long walk for a cop, and they weren’t going to run. One could finish consumption of just about any controlled substance in one’s possession.
Making out, “parking” in the vernacular, wasn’t something we did at Marconi and Lakeshore. Put simply, you never know who would show up. The girls as a rule weren’t going to get busy out on the seawall, so those activities were limited to the car. No, that’s where the Plaza parking lot came in.
Construction!
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives under construction, 21-Aug-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
I went out to Marconi and Lakeshore yesterday, to sit, reflect, and let the water lapping up against the seawall relax me. Ran into a bit of a problem, though–fences! The area is undergoing a revamp from the Orleans Levee Board. I was disappointed, but understood. That seawall is a WPA project from the late 1930s. Erosion has always been a challenge. Not sure if the OLB is going to concrete the approach to the seawall, like they’ve done on other parts of the Lakefront. If they do, I’m OK with that. It’s about sitting and looking out at the lake, not back at the cops.
Marconi and Lakeshore is a thinking spot. It’s where dragons and angels come to visit. Father O’Donnell, who is also a Brother Martin alum, is quite familiar with the spot. The boys of the Trio, Joey Newfeld and David Williams, are certainly not surprised to encounter him at this spot. The power of Elemental Water is refreshing, even for a Fire Dragon of the Red Tribe. Come read the Talents and the Dragons, you’ll get the idea.
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives, 21-August-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
Marconi and Lakeshore
Marconi and the Lakefront. Marconi Lakeshore. This has been my thinking spot since around 1973. That’s when my 14-year old freshman butt went out there with older guys who were on the Brother Martin High School Debate team. The beer of choice (or perhaps that was the beer of necessity?) was Schlitz. We had a solid cadre of seniors and just-graduated guys who were at Tulane or (then) LSUNO at that time who didn’t mind buying extra beer for us youngsters. We would sit on the seawall, shooting the shit. For the most part, if the older guys took notice of us chirren, it was on the receiving end of scathing critiques of our debate skills. For the most part, those critiques were intended to be positive. Harsh, but, the older guys wanted us to win.
So, Marconi and Lakeshore became our spot. Getting seriously drunk after dropping off the dates after Homecoming that year. And the next year. By then, we were juniors, taking freshmen under our wing.
Hanging out in High School
Oh, we hung out at more places than Marconi and Lakeshore, mind you. The Resurrection guys took us out to this new construction at I-10 and Read in Da East. Was going to be a new shopping mall. Turned out, it was a much better place to “park” than the lakefront. Fewer cops out there.
But we always came back to Marconi and Lakeshore. After Brother Martin, it was a place to sit and think with my fraternity brothers. Beer was still the go-to then, but other substances came on the scene as well. The seawall at Marconi and Lakeshore was a good fifty yards back from the street and parking bay. That’s a long walk for a cop, and they weren’t going to run. One could finish consumption of just about any controlled substance in one’s possession.
Making out, “parking” in the vernacular, wasn’t something we did at Marconi and Lakeshore. Put simply, you never know who would show up. The girls as a rule weren’t going to get busy out on the seawall, so those activities were limited to the car. No, that’s where the Plaza parking lot came in.
Construction!
Marconi and Lakeshore Drives under construction, 21-Aug-2018 (Edward Branley photo)
I went out to Marconi and Lakeshore yesterday, to sit, reflect, and let the water lapping up against the seawall relax me. Ran into a bit of a problem, though–fences! The area is undergoing a revamp from the Orleans Levee Board. I was disappointed, but understood. That seawall is a WPA project from the late 1930s. Erosion has always been a challenge. Not sure if the OLB is going to concrete the approach to the seawall, like they’ve done on other parts of the Lakefront. If they do, I’m OK with that. It’s about sitting and looking out at the lake, not back at the cops.
Marconi and Lakeshore is a thinking spot. It’s where dragons and angels come to visit. Father O’Donnell, who is also a Brother Martin alum, is quite familiar with the spot. The boys of the Trio, Joey Newfeld and David Williams, are certainly not surprised to encounter him at this spot. The power of Elemental Water is refreshing, even for a Fire Dragon of the Red Tribe. Come read the Talents and the Dragons, you’ll get the idea.
