Today in New Orleans History

March 8

Shushan Airport Milneburg Joys

First Saints Ticket Sold
March 8, 1967
 
TodayInNewOrleansHistory/1967March8FirstSaintsTicketsForSale.jpg

Twenty-seven year-old Calvin Long, a baker from Poydras, Louisiana, earned a place in Saints history when he purchased the first franchise season ticket on Wednesday, March 8, 1967.  Al Whiteman, a Kenner flashbulb salesman, bought the second. Tulane students Ron Nestor and Charles Mendez camped outside of the Mecom Building, 944 St. Charles Ave., on Lee Circle next to the YMCA at 9 p.m. the night before.  But they waited at the wrong entrance and lost their bid for the first set of tickets.  Many others had arrived on Tuesday evening to mark their spots in line.

TodayInNewOrleansHistory/1967March5TPSaintsSeasonTicketsAd.jpg

Ticket Manager Henry Simoneaux was prepared with a staff of 28 -- twenty women had been hired to work during what was expected to be the first weeks' rush. Saints owner and president John W. Mecom Jr. worked at the ticket counter all day, beginning at 8 a.m when the sale began.  By 8:30, several hundred people were in a line which stretched down St. Charles to Howard Avenue and on the Camp Street. By 9:00 a.m., Simoneaux calculated that approximately 20,000 tickets had been sold -- a new NFL first-day record.  Almost $1 million worth of tickets were sold during that nine hour day.  

Tickets were also available at 48 local banking outlets via a partial payment plan which allowed for no-interest or fees with three installments due May 1, June 1, and July 1.  Mail order tickets were also available on that first day of sales. The 1967 season ticket package included seven home games and the pre-season exhibition game against Atlanta.  Box seats went for $64, sideline seats for $48, end zone spots for $36, and end zone family plan (under age 18 accompanied by a parent) for $8.  The majority of tickets sold on the first day were sideline seats.
 
Mecom said, "The people of New Orleans have been wanting professional football for more than five years.  Today they had the chance to express themselves, and , by golly, it looks like they've expressed themselves well".  The Saints had sold more tickets on that day than the Dallas Cowboys sold during the entire 1966 season (15, 500) according to Times-Picayune sports editor Bob Roesler.   By the close of business on Saturday, 25,000 season tickets had been sold, and on March 20 sales reached 30,000.
 
Mecom stated that 1967 season ticket holders would have a lifetime priority to keep the same seat, even after the move to the proposed domed stadium, as long as they continued to purchase season tickets each year.  He also announced the official team colors of black and gold, stating that the uniforms would resemble those of Vanderbilt, Georgia Tech, and Army.
 
In other Saints news of March 8, 1967, Coach Tom Fears denied an AP dispatch printed in the Atlanta Journal which stated that the Saints were willing to pay Green Bay fullback Jim Taylor $90,000 to play for the Saints the following season.  Fears stated that he never talked with Taylor, who would be a free agent on May 1,  about playing for the Saints.

Photos from the Times-Picayune

 


You Can Support this Site by Clicking on & Shopping from this Amazon Link -- and it won't cost you a penny more:
Shushan Airport Milneburg Joys

To receive an update for each day in New Orleans history,  join our facebook page - Today in New Orleans History

On March 8, 2011, MSY was one of eight cities given approval for charter flights to Cuba. Flights to Cuba have been scheduled on a very limited basis, with the first departure on March 26, 2012, operated by Sky King, Inc., charters and marketed by Cuba Travel USA.

The Hornets played their first game, since the start of the 2005-06 season (post-Katrina), at the arena on March 8, 2006, to a sellout crowd of 17,744, as the Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Hornets, 113–107.

The first Time-Saver store opened on Monday, March 8, 1954 at 1201 South Carrollton Avenue at Oak Street.  It offered a unique service -- motorists could drive INTO the store and park at display counters. Stressing quicker service, the store sold "staple and unusual products".  Its exterior signs advertised groceries, ice, beer, and milk.  It was open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. By 1964 there were Time-Saver stores in 15 locations in the greater New Orleans area.  By 1986, there were more than 100.  The first location of Time-Saver is now a Fidelity Bank location.

Henry E. Chambers, educator, historian. Born, New Orleans, March 28, 1860, son of Joseph Chambers and Maria Charles. Education: public and private schools, New Orleans; Tulane University; Johns Hopkins University, Ph. D. Married Ellen White Taylor of Crystal Springs, Miss., 1883. Children: John Taylor and Henry Edward, Jr. Teacher in rural schools of Arkansas, superintendent of Beaumont, Tex., schools; principal and teacher, New Orleans public schools; assistant professor of Science, Tulane University; principal and teacher, Monroe public schools, 1877-1901. Editor of Progressive Teacher; founder and editor, 1893-1894 Louisiana School Review. Head of Louisiana State Chautauqua; member State Teachers' Institute, and National Education Association. Founded Chambers Agency, Inc. (1905-1912); with LaVallière Company, 1914 until death. Author of Constitutional History of Hawaii (1896), West Florida (1898), Mississippi Valley Beginnings (1922), History of Louisiana, State and People (1925), and a history of the United States which was set in Braille. Member: New Orleans Chess Club, University Club, Louisiana Historical Society, Mississippi Valley Historical Association, and American Historical Association Died of stroke, New Orleans, March 8, 1929  Source: http://lahistory.org/site20.php

Born in Natchez, Mississippi on October 19, 1842, Adolph Meyer was a member of the Louisiana U. S. House of Representatives  who served nine terms as a Democrat from 1891 until his death in office on  March 8, 1908.  During the Civil War, Meyer served on the staff of Brigadier General John Stuart Williams of Kentucky and attained the rank of assistant adjutant general. General Meyer Avenue in Algiers part of is named in his honor as a tribute to his efforts to lobbying for the U.S. Naval Station which was located there.

Poet and historian Marcus Bruce Christian, born in Mechanicsville, Louisiana on March 8, 1900, lived in New Orleans from 1919 to 1976.  He joined the Federal Writers' Project (FWP) in 1936 and worked under its director Lyle Saxon. He was assigned to the "Colored Project" at Dillard University and eventually became its director until its demise in 1943, working with Horace Mann Bond, Arna Bontemps, Elizabeth Catlett, St. Clair Drake, Octave Lilly, Jr., Rudolphe Moses, Benjamin Quarles, Lawrence Reddick, and Margaret Walker.  Under Christian's direction, the Dillard project provided information on black Louisianians that became part of the Federal Writers' Project publications, The New Orleans City Guide (1938) and Louisiana: A Guide to the State (1941).  Much of this research also found its way into a book edited by Lyle Saxon, Gumbo Ya-Ya (1945). The major work of the Dillard project, "A Black History of Louisiana," was never published but was partially revised by Christian and donated to the University of New Orleans, Archives Division. He was the assistant librarian at Dillard University from 1944 to 1950, a  special lecturer and writer-in-residence at the University of New Orleans (1969-1976).  He was a contributor to From the Deep South, edited by Christian (1937), The Poetry of the Negro, edited by Arna Bontemps (1949), and The Negro Caravan, edited by Sterling Brown (1941). Christian was the author of (History) Negro Soldiers in the Battle of New Orleans (1955), Negro Ironworkers of Louisiana, 1718-1900 (1972), amd articles in Negro History Bulletin, Phylon, Louisiana Weekly, and Dictionary of Negro American Biography.  His poetry volumes include In Memoriam—Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1945), Common Peoples' Manifesto of World War II (1948), High Ground (1958), I Am New Orleans (1968; 1976), and individual poems in Crisis, Louisiana Weekly, Phylon, Pittsburgh Courier, and New York Herald Tribune .
He died in New Orleans on November 21, 1976. Source: http://lahistory.org/site20.php

Operations at the New Orleans Mint began on March 8, 1838, with the deposit of the first Mexican gold bullion. The first coins, 30 dimes, were struck on May 7.

On March 8, 1836 a new charter divided the city into three municipalities, each with its own board of alderman, but under one mayor and one General Council represented by members of the three Municipal Councils.

Lenfants, Time-Saver, K&B, Dixiana Bakery, and Sciambra's
56 Years Ago Today

In the news November 27, 1957, The Mississippi River Bridge Authority accepted a $74,850.00 bid submitted by R. B. Tyler Company of New Orleans which covers the cost of materials and work for the East-West Bank bridge (now the Crescent City Connection) presently under construction.  The work includes using a special Bituminous Concrete paving to be laid in the 24 and 28 foot wide span.  This roadway will cover the steel grid flooring between Pier No. 1 and Pier No. 3 of the 52 foot-wide roadway of the manin span.  The bridge will have two 12-foot traffic lanes in each direction.  The only other bid for this project was submitted by Texas Bitulithic Company.
 
State spending was escalating as was its income (unusual for today).  The skys were cloudy but the weather was typically mild for this time of year.  Bit it's the ads that make this page of the Picayune so wonderful for us now.  None of these popular businesses still exist.
 
TodayInNewOrleansHistory/1930October17LenfantsAtBeverlyGarden.gifLenfant's was offering a Thanksgiving Day (all day) dinner menu in 1957 with Broiled Choice Prime Rib Steak with French fries, an appetizer, soup, vegetable, and dessert being the most expensive choice at $2.25.  The Shrimp Lenfant, and Crabmeat a la Ritz sound devine.
 
John L. Lenfant was an entrepreneur who started out as a barber in the Faubourg Marigney who had a grocery and bar on Elysian Fields at Villere Street.  He was a sparring partner of boxer Jake Kilrain.  Then he had a drugstore and a nightclub at St. Claude and Elysian Fields which featured an open-air dance garden.  He owned the Elysian Fields Theater back in vaudeville days.  He owned Eclipse Bottling Works, makers of Whistle soda and Glean cola -- both jumbo-sized drinks.  He brewed beer for Joe Brown's nightclub, during prohibition, on the 2nd of a building at Canal and Carondelet.  He bought and sold real estate.  He even owned hearses which he'd rent to funeral homes. 
 
TodayInNewOrleansHistory/1942August22LenfantsWantsFrogs.gifThen he got into the restaurant business. He opened several popular Rosedale Inn sit-down and drive-in restaurants around town. Some locations including one at 1915 Canal Street, one at 5236 Canal Boulevard, one at 5205 Canal Boulevard, and another at South Claiborne and Jackson Avenue.  During the 1930s he owned Lenfant's on Metairie Road at the former location of his Beverly Gardens gambling house.  Leon Prima and his Orchestra (were playing there on October 17, 1930 (Louis played there, too) and auto service via car-hops was available in the rear. When John Lenfant retired he left the businesses to his sons.
 
Lenfant's Sea Food Restaurant at 5236 Canal Boulevard opened in 1941.  Diners could eat inside the Streamline Moderne dining rooms or drive up to the huge shell parking lot where car-hops filled the bill. An interesting item from those years is an August 22, 1942 want-ad for 1000 pounds of jumbo frog legs.  Many New Orleanians celebrated weddings and bridal and baby showers at Lenfant's.  Many clubs regularly met there. The adjoining Boulevard Room was well known locally.  The building was demolished during the early 1990s and was replaced with Greenwood Funeral Home (which John Lenfant might have rented hearses to if her were still alive).
 
Dixiana Bakery, at 2631 Bruxelles, on the corner of Broad Street opened in 1910 at the home of Dalile Rousseve and his wife Jeanne Becnel. Dixiana was most famous for its Sarah Bernhardt Cake -- a rich wine cake with nuts, a red apple jelly glaze and whipped cream -- "Looks just like a king's crown", read the advertisement.  One could be had in 1957 for $1.25.  Cocktail sized pattie shells (for making oyster patties) were only 45 cents per dozen, and a fruit cake would set you back $1.25.  Dixiana copyrighted their famous "Melt-O-Way" products. Dixiana goodies could also be found in the Schwegmann Airline Highway location.  After a modernization and remodelling of the building, Dixiana held a grand reopening on Saturday, March 25, 1950. In the final years it officially became Klotzback-Dixiana Bakery, Inc. but everyone still referred it (even today) as simply "Dixiana". It closed during the 1980s. Recipe for Dixiana's Sarah Bernhardt Cake.
 
The first Time-Saver store opened on Monday, March 8, 1954 at 1201 South Carrollton Avenue at Oak Street.  It offered a unique service -- motorists could drive INTO the store and park at display counters. Stressing quicker service, the store sold "staple and unusual products".  Its exterior signs advertised groceries, ice, beer, and milk.  It was open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. By 1964 there were Time-Saver stores in 15 locations in the greater New Orleans area.  By 1986, there were more than 100.  The first location of Time-Saver is now a Fidelity Bank location.
 
Jake Sciambra had two restaurants with bars, one at 3201 Tulane and the one advertised here at 452 South Jefferson Davis Parkway, which was also he and his wife, Lena Gallo's, residence.   After running this place for some 30 years, Jake passed away on April 8, 1970 at age 77.  He was a native Contessa Entallina, Sicily and is buried in Greenwood Cemetery.
 
Gustave Katz and Sydney Besthoff opened their first drug store in 1905 at 732 Canal Street.  Ninety-two years laster the company had grown to include 186 stores in six states.  It was sold to Rite Aid in 1997.  For a  history of of the company, read K&B Drug Stores by John S. Epstein.
 

To receive an update for each day in New Orleans history,  join our facebook page - Today in New Orleans History

If you have enjoyed these daily updates, you might also enjoy these books by Catherine Campanella:

          


TodayInNewOrleansHistory/TODAYinNewOrleansHistoryHEADLINEnoEDITION.gif

You Can Support this Site by Clicking on & Shopping from the Amazon Ad/Link below -- and it won't cost you a penny more:

Abreviations used on this site: NOPL (New Orleans Public Library), LOC (Library of Congress), LDL (Lousiana Digital Library), HNOC (Historic New Orleans Collection), WIKI (Wikipedia).

Shushan Airport
To receive an update for each day in New Orleans history,  join our facebook page - Today in New Orleans History.

Analytics