Photos by John Sharp From “Images of America: Ville Platte”, Arcadia Publishing, 2014 by Jean Keisel and Jane Vidrine: “This unimposing building is Fred’s Lounge, a fixture in Mamou since 1946, when Alfred “Fred” Tate purchased this old red-brick bar on Sixth Street. Here Fred and his friends Revon Reed and Paul Tate made plans to revive the Courir de Mardi Gras in Mamou in 1950. Reed began broadcasting a live radio program featuring Cajun music from the lounge in 1962…Inside the lounge, it’s a different world. After Fred’s death in 1992, his ex-wife, Sue Vavasseur, kept the lounge open on Saturday mornings so the braodcasts could continue. She is active today, passing around trays of boudin, bussing tables, and here, posing for a photograph (with customers)…Her pocket flask is part of the tradition, too.” KVPI broadcastsed from there: traditional Cajun bands on Saturday mornings & Mardi Gras day (Alex Cook) ...
Holiday Lounge
Photos by John Sharp Still open! At one time, the Holiday had a statue of Edwin Edwards on top of it. Women painted on the walls- restaurant was half- rooms out on the side ...
Wig-Wam
Mentioned in “Louisiana Fiddlers” by Ron Yule and Bill Burge: Country fiddler Jack Kay played there after moving back from Nashville in the 1950s. ...
LeLeux Dancehall
Photos taken by Russell Lee, October 1938. Photo of site by John Sharp. From “Louisiana: A Guide to the State”: “Leleux is little more than a post office, general store, and combination saloon and dance hall, where fais-dodos, or Cajun “breakdown” dances, are held each Wednesday evening.” From “Louisiana Fiddlers” by Ron Yule: “Besides his father, some of the first music Lionel (LeLeux) learned was from listening to music at his Grandfather Ernest Leleux’s Dancehall across the road from his house. He would listen to one of his favorite fiddlers, Bascom Mouton, from his front porch because he was too young to attend the dances in person.” Mentioned in “History in Vermilion Parish, La., Vol. 1”: Eve Leleux got a piece of land from her father and her husband Ernest had plans to build a supermarket/mall store on the newly built and highly travelled road between Kaplan and Crowley. “The store expanded until there was a bar, a room for men to play cards, a post office, a grocery store where one could buy anything from oil lamps to buggies and wagons. Then for entertainment he built a large dance all about 60 x 80 feet. (Ernest Leleux’s) home was situated just behind and between both giant buildings. When Ernest died, the store and dancehall closed.” ...
Unknown Dancehall
Mentioned in “History in Vermilion Parish, La., Vol. 1”: (After the Leleux dancehall closed) É “a son-in-law built a dance hall north of the Bayou.” ...
Dave Rachal’s House
Mentioned in “Louisiana Fiddlers” by Ron Yule and Bill Burge: Dave Rachal held a house dance in the early 1920s where a fight broke out and a fiddle was broken over a man’s head- Dave Rachal gave the fiddle to six year old Ray Beebe, who repaired it and learned to play on it. ...
Silver Slipper
Dana Olivier: “It was originally owned by my family, The Dupuis Family. They are old pictures and 2 of them contain my grandparents, Herman & Margaret Dupuis. I do not have the dates that these were taken. The photo of the exterior has a stamp on the back of it stating “CHANDLER STUDIO Lafayette, LA”. There was rooster cock pit at the Slipper (picture included). The man holding the rooster is my grandfather, Herman Dupuis, and the lady with her hand near the rooster’s neck is his wife and my grandmother, Margaret Guilbeau Dupuis. (i am not quite sure exactly who the others are but my father knows). The one with the car is just a picture taken outside and the one with the two couples is the interior of the Slipper with Herman & Margaret closer to the front (not sure who the couple is to the rear). The Silver Slipper was a combo of a grocery store and barroom. There was also a meat market across the street (all were associated together). The original Slipper was later sold by the original owners. Quite a few years later it caught fire and burned down. There is the “New Silver Slipper” located in the spot as the old one. It is more of a drive thru daiquiri hut which features live bands from time to time.” ...
Woodmen Hall
Newspaper item mention of dance, 1920: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88064250/1920-10-09/ed-1/seq-3/ : 1921: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn88064250/1921-01-29/ed-1/seq-5/ ...
Felix Landry’s Dancehall
Maude Landry’s father, Felix Guidry, was a musician (clarinet), farmer, and a dancehall owner. Mentioned in the Archive of Cajun and Creole Folklore, Center for Louisiana Studies, Project Louisiane: #154 ...
George’s Bar
Featured in “Today’s Cajuns” by Philip Gould- 1979. It had a bouree room. ...