Charenton Beach Dancehall
Parish: St. Mary
Location: Charenton
Photos courtesy of Wanda Viguerie Bailey
Wanda Viguerie Bailey: “Dancers kicked the bottles off the floor while dancing to keep them off of the bandstand. Every year, the dancefloor would be damaged by the pulse of water from the Atchafalaya Basin spillway. The floor would be warped in such a way that the dancers would learn to dance with the grain in order to move smoothly.”
1970s: The hall was elevated on stilts and fights were common: Ray Brassieur, Nick Spitzer
Gallery:
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Glenn bodin
Brings back lot’s of childhood memories.
Linda Viguerie Howell
So interesting and so nice to see some pictures. My name is Linda Karen Viguerie Howell and I was only eight years old uwhen Charenton Beach closed down for good. For many years after that, on every visit to see my grandparents, Duke James Viguerie and Lottie Chaisson ( or possibly Chiasson) Viguerie, I asked to go over the levee and down to the old Charenton Beach site. I have been fascinated with stories of that place for a large portion of my life.
If anyone out there knows of my family and any more of the history of Charenton Beach, I would love to hear from you. My father, James Duke Viguerie, died from polio in 1953, when I was 13 months old. My mother, Lora Magaline Prine Viguerie, died in 1996. My address is
6 Morningside Drive, Wheat Ridge, CO 80215. My email address is “vigorous5@comcast.net.”