jimmy swaggart home address in baton rouge

Until July 2015, the motel stood decrepit, covered in overgrown plants and almost entirely invisible from the highway. In February 2015, blogger and former Baton Rouge resident Colleen Kane took a trip to explore the deteriorating motel and found signs of its once-active nightlife scene: leftover cans of Red Dog, a neon Budweiser Light sign (the beverage’s name as a new beer in 1982) and a bar ledger in which the last entry recorded was in 1995. Around the time of its closing, the Morning Advocate stated it had a reputation for attracting prostitutes. The Watson Motel was built in the early 1960s and was slowly abandoned starting in the early ’90s. Photo courtesy Colleen Kane and the Abandoned Baton Rouge blog.Īpproximately 16000 Airline Highway, across the highway from where Deep South Crane & Rigging is todayīuilt: Building permit issued Jbuilt by Watson himself The abandoned Watson Motel in February 2015, shortly before it was cleared. Still, a July 1974 brochure from the Baton Rouge Motel-Hotel Association lists The Shades Motel as “a little of the country in the middle of the city,” boasting its all-color TV, ground-floor rooms and free continental breakfast. A July 25, 1968, article describes the arrest of the “Baton Rouge Bonnie & Clyde,” a couple who robbed a New Orleans man staying at the motel. 3, 1959, story reports on a couple arrested for cashing multiple fraudulent checks at The Shades. Most of the old newspaper references to the motel we found were about reports of criminal activity there. But its once-sunny pool has been filled in with concrete. Curtis Shade, is still fully functional and even has a website. Though dated and unassuming, this one-story motel, originally owned by a Mr. The exact dates of the hotel’s demolition and the Home Depot’s construction are unknown.īuilt: Original date is unknown, but a permit for a $12,000 addition to the building was issued in October 1955 for J.C. Oak Manor, with 200 rooms and 10 suites on 14 acres of tree-shaded land, continued to be a fancied destination until the shift of business to other areas of Baton Rouge at the end of the 20th century. 1, 1959, issue of The Register describes the establishment as “one of the most striking sights in the South” and as having an “excellent English Tudor style.” Today, a Home Depot stands in its place.Īn Aug. Once grandiose and brimming with guests, the Oak Manor Motel is entirely gone.

Special thanks to Emily Ward of East Baton Rouge Parish Library for her research assistance.īuilt: Building permit issued Mabuilt by Lewis Construction Co.

Jimmy swaggart home address in baton rouge