Around the Neighborhood

Immage by Bunny
Matthews

Artista Pizza
Artista's was on a corner next to the Tiger Theater and there was a
bowling alley next to the theater, I believe it was called Sugar Bowl
Lanes. (There is a pizza restaurant on Veteran's called Tower of Pizza
that somehow evolved from Artista and we find the menu pretty close to what
was served on Franklin Ave. The Italian salad is exactly the way I remember
it and I frequently stop there on the way home from work at night to pick
up a large one to go!).
--
About Sugar Bowl lanes, I can remember going
in there just after the water receded from Hurricane Betsy and seeing that
all the bowling lanes had warped and twisted into hills and valleys.

We would spend entire evenings in that one block, eating at Artista's,
catching a flick at the Tiger and bowling a game or two before going across
the street to the King's Room for a few beers and some dancing to good
ol' 60's rock awn da' jookbox!

Billboards:

I remember a big sign on the corner of Esplanade and N. Rampart of
Diamond
Jim Moran. The sign was painted on the side of a house and was two
stories
high. It showed Jimmy Moran with all his diamond rings, diamond
stickpins,
diamond bracelet and watch and even diamonds mounted all over
his
eyeglasses! I stared at that sign every time the St. Claude trolley
would
stop to let passengers on and off.

Diamond Jim operated a
restaurant in
the 700 block of Iberville Street. His trademark was his
diamond
accessories and it is said that he would hide a diamond in a meatball
for a
customer every once in awhile. I wonder if he ever got sued by
someone
cracking a tooth?

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