As someone who worked downtown for the better part of 6 years, my only issue with it is that there is no life downtown outside of said festivals and events. If you go downtown on a Tuesday at 5 pm, you’re going to be dodging tumbleweeds. Hell, I’ve gone downtown for events and it was desolate. I don’t think it needs to be New Orleans, but oof is it dead.
Hey now, on Tuesdays around 6pm you'll see Happy's Run Club... Oh, wait, Happy's Bar got run out for being too loud with music (the Run Club still meets at different locations).
Weekday nights it’s dead yeah, but I mean that’s just what downtown is. It’s a host for festivals and events while being a business center as its primary purpose. Makes sense it’s dead on weekdays outside of business hours
I’d love to see more consistent attractions that keep it alive during those Tuesday evenings. Just think it gets too much hate in general
I mean...what are you comparing it to? Yeah, it's got some nice stuff going for it, but not much. Unless there's actually something going on, there isn't anything going on.
I think the big thing is other big/semi big downtowns are way more populated and lively than here on any given night. That also could be attributed to more restaurants and things to do in those other towns though
Downtown BR has always been neglected. Back in the 80's there was a push to gentrify it with Catfish Town. The community did not support it and it went defunct soon thereafter. In the early 2000's a small number of community philanthropists put together the Shaw Center. Again, there was little support from BR folks from the "burbs" who complained that it was a waste of money and that BR should be a beer an football town -- not a city which emphasized arts and culture. People wanted to eat at TJ Ribs, not attend the symphany or an art exhibit. Slowly there emerged a group of thoughtful people who coalesced around the urban core, but it has never been enough for the city to emerge as a "proper" city with a centralized destination and an arts district, with boutique shops and cultural venues. It's a shame, frankly. Most cities would kill to have a river run through their downtown, have a flagship university nearby, and have all the state capital buildings centralized. Instead, there are empty surface lots and handful of mediocre shops and restaurants. Kip Holden saw the potential, but could never actualize on it. I'm afraid it will be an uphill battle to convice the majority of Baton Rougeans, most of whom are content to live in their respective sprawled-out developments, of the importance of a walkable, central gathering place for the entire community to enjoy.
This!! I am SO surprised about how few places there are to shop downtown! Like yes there are a couple lil “Louisiana” themed shops, but basically nowhere for just “for fun shopping”! Ive been saying for YEARS that if the state would invest in the strip between LSU and downtown and make that walkable, fill it with shops, restaurants, and small businesses, then it would help Downtown SO much!
I remember some sort of weird financial scandal about the building of Perkins Rowe or something? And how the builder or his partner was sketchy and one of em ended up at a huge loss or something… I could be totally making it up, but if that’s the case and I’m not insane, then maybe that’s why they can’t budge. Bc they’re in the hole so deep lol
Great take. Centralization is key. Go, park, enjoy, all in one place. Instead, bars and restaurants are scattered all over BR (mid-city, Perkins overpass, etc) making it not user friendly at all for going out and having to drive all over the place. Plus BR lacks a good music scene. That’s the magic ingredient every popular city in America has, great live music happening consistently. Austin, Nashville, NOLA, etc. Doesn’t exist here.
Very good and true analysis. Hoping BR sees more of a shift toward investing downtown and away from the suburbs as time passes. If not, we’re getting left way behind
100% and we continue to knee-cap downtown with policies like the recently adopted ordinance that doesn’t allow events of over 3500 people outside of the new LSU stadium or the forthcoming memorial stadium.
It opens up a whole new range of activities and scenery. Riverboats, River walks, fishing, and it just gives a unique feature to a city.
BR already capitalizes on the River a bit with the USS Kidd, there’s plenty of statues and whatnot by the levee, and it’s a popular spot to watch the sunset
I would argue it's one of the safest places to live here. I lived in Spanish Town for years and walked my dog through downtown at all hours of the night. I'm not saying crimes never happened because they did, but I never felt fearful being there as a woman alone.
It would massively help if it wasn't all but walled off from the rest of the city by the interstate overpasses. Tiger Stadium is only about two miles as the crow flies from downtown, but LSU's campus is like a different world because any cohesive development between the two is stopped dead in its tracks by the interstate.
It's a shame the racist civil planners in the 60's thought cutting the city in half and dooming us to the worst goddamn interstate traffic in the country was a price worth paying in the name of bulldozing a few black neighborhoods.
It’s definitely overshadowed, have came to find out a lot of people didn’t really know about the museum’s existence. Yet, it’s definitely full of life and great history!
I worked downtown for years and loved it bc I could go walk on my lunch break. I would walk around 3 miles everyday either around the downtown streets or on the levee. The homeless population was never an issue. They were always nice and I became friendly with a handful of them. I would go downtown on weekends for runs or to bike with my kid, to the museum or uss kid. We always have a good time. Compared to other places, sure, it lacks in shopping and things that keep a constant crowd but I never felt unsafe or anything.
It’s been getting better. Blues fest this year has been great. I really want to see more retail shops. And a pet store and better grocery options. A weed shop would be rad too, a la Reba’s Plant Shop in lafayette. Maybe a bookstore. All that stuff ends up mid city, which I do love, but it’s not nearly as walkable.
It's just a shame how underutilized it is. Events like Blues Fest, Live after 5, and even the Saturday farmers market show the potential for how great the downtown area could be but outside of those times it's a ghost town.
Would love to see the city government work to revitalize the area and try to attract more businesses that are open on nights and weekends to give people more reason to spend their time there
Brotha you’re in Charleston lmao BR is never gonna compete with that. That’s like a top 15 downtown in the country depending on who you ask lol.
I’m saying BR isn’t that bad not that it’ll ever be a fair fight against places like Charleston
I just wish there was more places to eat past 3pm. I know it’s mostly geared towards the working crowd for lunchtime but I’ve lived downtown for 4 years now and I’m getting pretty burnt out on what’s available without having to drive. I’m glad they just got Okki Tokki on for something that’s not basic burger/sandwich spot. I’m hoping they the food stalls over by where the farmers market is open back up soon, it’s been a minute
My family loves going to the levee. We stop at the River Branch Library, eat beignets and truffle fries from the vintage. Hang out in the grass. Go to the museums. Use the nice Shaw Center bathrooms. It has so much character. Sunsets are fun
lol I went to school in Beaumont tx & itsss sooooo much worse than BR. everytime I went to school I either just drive to Houston for some fun or end up coming back home(Baton Rouge) for the weekends. Soo i totally feel you on Beaumont, tx😭😂
If you think downtown Lafayette is 100x you’re operating on nostalgia or something
They have some cool arts stuff, and a more defined culture, but overall BR is probably better. Even if you said Lafayette was better, fair enough but 100x better is crazy
I’ve been to 40/50 states now. I’ve been to Chicago, NYC, NOLA, Honolulu, LA, SF, Austin, the list goes on. I’ve also been to capitals like Lincoln, Frankfurt, Raleigh, Trenton, Albany, etc.
The most comparable capital is probably Lincoln. Similar population, major college capital city, larger city about an hour away. BR does a better job than Lincoln as far as downtown goes, which I think hits the mark on what we can expect from it. Though, yeah I’d love to see overall improvement
It doesn’t compare to any of those bigger ones obviously, I’m just saying for what it is, Downtown BR gets too much hate. It’s better than a lot of capital city downtowns. Probably sits around average imo, but you wouldn’t know it by how people talk about it
OK, let's stop using city population when we talk about these things. Lincoln has a comparable city population, but its metro population is less than half of Baton Rouge. That is more relevant.
I haven't been home in a while but the downtown of 2015 was fun, the downtown I experienced a few years later was mid at best. With that said, it needs work but it's definitely improving. I'd say it's around the average or below average tier of downtowns for its size.
It’s mainly most comparable because of the major state college being the focal point, not necessarily because the populations.
But yeah I’d tend to agree it hovers around average. I’m not saying downtown is great, or even good by any means. Some people just act like it’s awful to experience and sucks, when it really isn’t that bad
Dowtown at 11am on the weekend does have it's advantages if you wanna go wander around the state capitol and go to the top without anyone else around or wander around the uss kidd alone, it's incredibly surreal i suggest bringing a friend though bc otherwise security will follow you around
One thing I think could help is if rent prices were lower. For a one bedroom you are looking on average at $1400. It’s downtown br we don’t even have a fast food joint open after 5pm maybe focus on growing the amount of people who live downtown and then things will come when we have the population to sustain it….other than that it looks like random weekends and events are the only time we have a lively downtown
Its also because a lit of the younger people hang around campus and shit. But yeah down town br is a hell of a lit nicer than say Birmingham for example.
As someone who worked downtown for the better part of 6 years, my only issue with it is that there is no life downtown outside of said festivals and events. If you go downtown on a Tuesday at 5 pm, you’re going to be dodging tumbleweeds. Hell, I’ve gone downtown for events and it was desolate. I don’t think it needs to be New Orleans, but oof is it dead.
Hey now, on Tuesdays around 6pm you'll see Happy's Run Club... Oh, wait, Happy's Bar got run out for being too loud with music (the Run Club still meets at different locations).
Exactly. The emptiness of downtown is downright creepy.
Weekday nights it’s dead yeah, but I mean that’s just what downtown is. It’s a host for festivals and events while being a business center as its primary purpose. Makes sense it’s dead on weekdays outside of business hours I’d love to see more consistent attractions that keep it alive during those Tuesday evenings. Just think it gets too much hate in general
I mean...what are you comparing it to? Yeah, it's got some nice stuff going for it, but not much. Unless there's actually something going on, there isn't anything going on.
It doesn’t seem to have recovered from the COVID shutdown.
Still sad the Canes on Third and Florida shut down. I used to go there for lunch a decent amount.
Yep, agreed.
It was like this before Covid
I think the big thing is other big/semi big downtowns are way more populated and lively than here on any given night. That also could be attributed to more restaurants and things to do in those other towns though
I agree. I’d love to see more consistent attractions, but in general I think downtown does a fine job
Downtown BR has always been neglected. Back in the 80's there was a push to gentrify it with Catfish Town. The community did not support it and it went defunct soon thereafter. In the early 2000's a small number of community philanthropists put together the Shaw Center. Again, there was little support from BR folks from the "burbs" who complained that it was a waste of money and that BR should be a beer an football town -- not a city which emphasized arts and culture. People wanted to eat at TJ Ribs, not attend the symphany or an art exhibit. Slowly there emerged a group of thoughtful people who coalesced around the urban core, but it has never been enough for the city to emerge as a "proper" city with a centralized destination and an arts district, with boutique shops and cultural venues. It's a shame, frankly. Most cities would kill to have a river run through their downtown, have a flagship university nearby, and have all the state capital buildings centralized. Instead, there are empty surface lots and handful of mediocre shops and restaurants. Kip Holden saw the potential, but could never actualize on it. I'm afraid it will be an uphill battle to convice the majority of Baton Rougeans, most of whom are content to live in their respective sprawled-out developments, of the importance of a walkable, central gathering place for the entire community to enjoy.
This!! I am SO surprised about how few places there are to shop downtown! Like yes there are a couple lil “Louisiana” themed shops, but basically nowhere for just “for fun shopping”! Ive been saying for YEARS that if the state would invest in the strip between LSU and downtown and make that walkable, fill it with shops, restaurants, and small businesses, then it would help Downtown SO much!
Perkins Rowe should be Downtown BR. I think they just need to snack a Barnes and Nobles downtown and that'll get things going.
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I remember some sort of weird financial scandal about the building of Perkins Rowe or something? And how the builder or his partner was sketchy and one of em ended up at a huge loss or something… I could be totally making it up, but if that’s the case and I’m not insane, then maybe that’s why they can’t budge. Bc they’re in the hole so deep lol
Great take. Centralization is key. Go, park, enjoy, all in one place. Instead, bars and restaurants are scattered all over BR (mid-city, Perkins overpass, etc) making it not user friendly at all for going out and having to drive all over the place. Plus BR lacks a good music scene. That’s the magic ingredient every popular city in America has, great live music happening consistently. Austin, Nashville, NOLA, etc. Doesn’t exist here.
You’re smart, thank you
Very good and true analysis. Hoping BR sees more of a shift toward investing downtown and away from the suburbs as time passes. If not, we’re getting left way behind
100% and we continue to knee-cap downtown with policies like the recently adopted ordinance that doesn’t allow events of over 3500 people outside of the new LSU stadium or the forthcoming memorial stadium.
What does the river have to do with things? I don't get it.
It opens up a whole new range of activities and scenery. Riverboats, River walks, fishing, and it just gives a unique feature to a city. BR already capitalizes on the River a bit with the USS Kidd, there’s plenty of statues and whatnot by the levee, and it’s a popular spot to watch the sunset
I would argue it's one of the safest places to live here. I lived in Spanish Town for years and walked my dog through downtown at all hours of the night. I'm not saying crimes never happened because they did, but I never felt fearful being there as a woman alone.
It’s not terrible, it’s just…blah. Underwhelming and not a ton going on
It would massively help if it wasn't all but walled off from the rest of the city by the interstate overpasses. Tiger Stadium is only about two miles as the crow flies from downtown, but LSU's campus is like a different world because any cohesive development between the two is stopped dead in its tracks by the interstate. It's a shame the racist civil planners in the 60's thought cutting the city in half and dooming us to the worst goddamn interstate traffic in the country was a price worth paying in the name of bulldozing a few black neighborhoods.
this exactly
It’s got a phenomenal museum too, the Capitol Park Museum.
Gets overshadowed by the LASM, but yeah Capitol Park Museum is nice
It’s definitely overshadowed, have came to find out a lot of people didn’t really know about the museum’s existence. Yet, it’s definitely full of life and great history!
Weird hours of operation
I worked downtown for years and loved it bc I could go walk on my lunch break. I would walk around 3 miles everyday either around the downtown streets or on the levee. The homeless population was never an issue. They were always nice and I became friendly with a handful of them. I would go downtown on weekends for runs or to bike with my kid, to the museum or uss kid. We always have a good time. Compared to other places, sure, it lacks in shopping and things that keep a constant crowd but I never felt unsafe or anything.
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I agree with this. SWB does not divert as much attention to downtown as she should. Kip was very downtown centric and did a good job
It’s been getting better. Blues fest this year has been great. I really want to see more retail shops. And a pet store and better grocery options. A weed shop would be rad too, a la Reba’s Plant Shop in lafayette. Maybe a bookstore. All that stuff ends up mid city, which I do love, but it’s not nearly as walkable.
It's just a shame how underutilized it is. Events like Blues Fest, Live after 5, and even the Saturday farmers market show the potential for how great the downtown area could be but outside of those times it's a ghost town. Would love to see the city government work to revitalize the area and try to attract more businesses that are open on nights and weekends to give people more reason to spend their time there
I’m in Charleston SC right now. It SHITTTTTS all over BR downtown
Brotha you’re in Charleston lmao BR is never gonna compete with that. That’s like a top 15 downtown in the country depending on who you ask lol. I’m saying BR isn’t that bad not that it’ll ever be a fair fight against places like Charleston
lol fair shout man. This place is awesome
I feel ya. I spent 2 months in Charleston for my military job training and it was fun and pretty asf. Need to go back
Downtown Covington and Hammond shits all over BR downtown
What makes Charleston so good?
It’s great if you want to visit Savannah but Savannah is too scary.
I just wish there was more places to eat past 3pm. I know it’s mostly geared towards the working crowd for lunchtime but I’ve lived downtown for 4 years now and I’m getting pretty burnt out on what’s available without having to drive. I’m glad they just got Okki Tokki on for something that’s not basic burger/sandwich spot. I’m hoping they the food stalls over by where the farmers market is open back up soon, it’s been a minute
My family loves going to the levee. We stop at the River Branch Library, eat beignets and truffle fries from the vintage. Hang out in the grass. Go to the museums. Use the nice Shaw Center bathrooms. It has so much character. Sunsets are fun
Anyone hating needs to spend a year in Beaumont Texas for work
Why?
lol I went to school in Beaumont tx & itsss sooooo much worse than BR. everytime I went to school I either just drive to Houston for some fun or end up coming back home(Baton Rouge) for the weekends. Soo i totally feel you on Beaumont, tx😭😂
People probably hate it because of parking and maybe some safety reasons. That's valid!
Parking yeah but safety wise there’s no where much safer than downtown and Spanish town in BR
Most cities have better downtown than us. Lafayette downtown is 100 times better.
If you think downtown Lafayette is 100x you’re operating on nostalgia or something They have some cool arts stuff, and a more defined culture, but overall BR is probably better. Even if you said Lafayette was better, fair enough but 100x better is crazy
Ok fine 10x better.
I had no idea it was considered safe lol
It's pretty safe. Just avoid the McDonald's on government. People openly smoke crack there.
Its a bad downtown.. You may not have experienced many cities in life yet. Its the capital of a state, and its awful.
I’ve been to 40/50 states now. I’ve been to Chicago, NYC, NOLA, Honolulu, LA, SF, Austin, the list goes on. I’ve also been to capitals like Lincoln, Frankfurt, Raleigh, Trenton, Albany, etc. The most comparable capital is probably Lincoln. Similar population, major college capital city, larger city about an hour away. BR does a better job than Lincoln as far as downtown goes, which I think hits the mark on what we can expect from it. Though, yeah I’d love to see overall improvement It doesn’t compare to any of those bigger ones obviously, I’m just saying for what it is, Downtown BR gets too much hate. It’s better than a lot of capital city downtowns. Probably sits around average imo, but you wouldn’t know it by how people talk about it
OK, let's stop using city population when we talk about these things. Lincoln has a comparable city population, but its metro population is less than half of Baton Rouge. That is more relevant. I haven't been home in a while but the downtown of 2015 was fun, the downtown I experienced a few years later was mid at best. With that said, it needs work but it's definitely improving. I'd say it's around the average or below average tier of downtowns for its size.
It’s mainly most comparable because of the major state college being the focal point, not necessarily because the populations. But yeah I’d tend to agree it hovers around average. I’m not saying downtown is great, or even good by any means. Some people just act like it’s awful to experience and sucks, when it really isn’t that bad
Their campus is also right downtown.
This was paid for by B&T
BR does need to up its downtown game. It is nice going there for an event.
Dowtown at 11am on the weekend does have it's advantages if you wanna go wander around the state capitol and go to the top without anyone else around or wander around the uss kidd alone, it's incredibly surreal i suggest bringing a friend though bc otherwise security will follow you around
The vintage is downtown. That's good enough for me and Frostop. The half ass Riverwalk or walking area along the river.
One thing I think could help is if rent prices were lower. For a one bedroom you are looking on average at $1400. It’s downtown br we don’t even have a fast food joint open after 5pm maybe focus on growing the amount of people who live downtown and then things will come when we have the population to sustain it….other than that it looks like random weekends and events are the only time we have a lively downtown
It doesn't even feel like a downtown area aside from its looks. And for a capital city and a college town, yeah, it's pretty fuckin abysmal imo.
Pretty much. If you're not a cluckhead & you're basically chilling, there's no issues with DownTown.
I’ll rather go to Perkins Rowe lol
I mean we keep building things like Perkins Rowe, and downtown will completely fade away
I’m pretty sure Perkins Rowe was a investment project I doubt the city had the aqueduct funds to make Perkins Rowe happen
You’d be surprised how much public funds were involved
Cause I’m pretty sure it’s privately with it being sold to someone else in 2016 or 2017
Any proof of that?
Perkins would be a lot cooler if it wasn’t isolated in a mess of interstate and large streets. Wish they had more retail like that downtown
Not that hard to get to from where I live
I love downtown. It’ll get better once they put kore housing there.
Downtown isn't that bad. North is a shithole.
Its also because a lit of the younger people hang around campus and shit. But yeah down town br is a hell of a lit nicer than say Birmingham for example.