I took a small break from the news, and Pope Leo might approve
When my son graduated from a master’s program in Pittsburgh last May, I wanted to be fully present during the long weekend our family had scheduled to celebrate. I was afraid I’d miss important moments because I was glued to a screen filled with the latest headlines.
As our plane lifted from the runway in Louisiana, I put away my phone, resolved to go on a media fast for the next few days.
We’d barely reached cruising altitude when a flight attendant began strolling the aisles, her arms filled with headphones for the onboard TV programming.
“In case you’re interested,” she announced, “they’ve just named the new pope.” Phones lit up throughout the cabin, and most of the screens attached to each seat popped on, too. I quickly abandoned my resolution to avoid the news. But my viewing station didn’t work, and my smartphone service was spotty, too.
I craned my head over the seat ahead of me and glimpsed an image of the newly elected Pope Leo XIV entering the balcony over St. Peter’s Square. My neck quickly tired, so I leaned back into my seat and pondered whether the little news desert in which I’d found myself might have been exactly what I’d asked for As a longtime journalist, I avidly follow current events as an occupational necessity
But I’m not a papal correspondent, and neither my career nor the world would suffer if I waited a while to catch up on developments at the Vatican.
As most of my fellow passengers watched the announcement of the new pontiff, I gazed at a brilliant field of clouds beyond the window and remembered other times when big news broke during my vacations. I was in a Paris cafe in 1991 after President George H.W Bush developed an irregular heartbeat at Camp David, prompting nearby customers to proclaim “désastre” at the thought that the leader of the free world might be in peril.
Later that year, I was on a rural Alaskan road outside Anchorage when plotters staged an ultimately unsuccessful coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev It felt strange to be at such a remove from things as superpowers trembled all those decades ago. Slowly I came to understand the futility of waiting for the news cycle to calm down so that I could step away from it without fear of missing out The very nature of the news is its relentlessness, which is precisely why we all need respites from current events. It’s something I’m trying to keep in mind this autumn as the churn of urgent news bulletins continues at high pitch. I’m glad to live in a world where the hard work of news gatherers makes it possible to stay abreast of what’s happening I’m also glad that I put the news away long enough to enjoy my son’s graduation. Pope Leo would probably say that I made the right call Email Danny Heitman at danny@dannyheitman.com.
CENTURY NOTES
Jam sessions among coats and ties are part of the 100-year tradition at Bates & Thigpen
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
Some afternoons, when things are at their quietest, someone will drift through the front doors and pick up a gui-
tar
Bradley Bates has plenty of guitars behind the counter in Bates & Thigpen, the men’s store his grandfather opened 100 years ago.
Musically inclined customers usually ask permission to use the instruments, then pick a tune or two.
“There was a guy who came in who was in his 20s,” Bates said. “And he said, ‘I just need a pair of socks.’ I went behind the counter and wrote them up, and he looked over and said, ‘Is that your guitar?’ I said, ‘Yeah, would you like to play it?’”
“Yes sir,” the young man answered, already reaching for the instrument, strumming the strings. He gazed at the guitar in the same awe he would a love interest. And he played the music, as Bates would later learn, that was his birth rite.
The man ripped through one tune, then another Some notes were anchored in the bluegrass tradition as if channeling Bill Monroe, Lester Flatt or one of the Dillards the bluegrass family that portrayed
Bates & Thigpen as it appeared shortly after opening at 335 Third St. in downtown Baton Rouge in 1965.
the nonverbal, music-playing Darling family on “The Andy Griffith Show.” The family was legendary in the bluegrass world, known for their progressive style.
Bates would soon learn that this young man had a connection to the family This wasn’t his first rodeo.
In fact, he was set to play at Baton Rouge’s Shaw Center for the Arts that night Bates doesn’t remember the man’s name, just that he was
probably two generations removed from Andy Griffith’s Darlings.
“He was such a nice kid, and I get a lot of people like him, who just go over there and pick up the guitars and sit down for just 30 minutes to pick,” Bates said.
Opened in 1924
Musical interludes probably
ä See BATES, page 2G
STAFF PHOTO BY ROBIN MILLER
Bradley Bates, right, is the third generation to own and operate Bates & Thigpen menswear store on Third Street in downtown Baton Rouge. His son Brad, left, is the fourth generation of the family to enter the business. They stand in front of the store’s collection of hats, which are still popular among customers.
PROVIDED PHOTO BY BRADLEY BATES
weren’t Jewel Bates’ intention when he opened Bates & Thigpen in November 1924 He left a job at a downtown department store to team up with W. Thigpen to open the first iteration of his store on Main Street in Baton Rouge.
The idea was to operate a uniform shop.
“It was almost a small department store,” Bradley Bates said of his grandfather’s business.
“They sold suitcases up on the racks, and they sold suits and hats, because everybody dressed up to go everywhere back then.”
And Bradley Bates adheres to that tradition, dressing in a tie and coat each day to sell ties and coats.
Jewel Bates operated the Main Street store, while Thigpen acted as a silent partner.
Thigpen asked to exit the business, so Jewel Bates bought him out, yet kept his partner’s name on the sign.
The store moved to 350 Third St. in 1965, then to its permanent location at 335 Third St. later that year The new location offered more space at 5,000 square feet, where a tailoring shop and steam press could be housed in the back. Tailoring is still done onsite on a 1928 Singer sewing machine by Bradley Bates and his son, who goes by Brad, who
represents the family’s fourth generation to join the business.
Bradley Bates’ father, Billy Bates, and uncle, Frank Bates, were the second generation to own and operate the store.
Today, Bates & Thigpen stays true to its roots of offering personal service and individual fittings. Suit coats, pants, shirts, shoes, ties and hats are specially chosen from the store’s stock and matched to each customer
Bradley Bates can look at a customer and immediately determine his size, even in hats.
“Yes, men still buy hats,” he said. The hats are made of the highest quality material, known as beaver’s wool, which can be resized on an in-store stretcher
If a customer wants his initials inscribed in the hatband, Bates can do that, too
Top-notch service
The store also still sells uniforms, its contracts including the Sheriff’s Department, Fire Department, Emergency Medical Services companies and the U.S. Post Office. But it’s the personal service that keeps customers going back. This practice was handed down to Bradley Bates by his grandfather, who took customer service a step further during hard times. Credit cards were nonexistent, and though 1930s prices seem cheap in today’s economy, a $10 pair of shoes was an expensive item.
Bradley Bates demonstrates how he hems customers’ pants by using a blindstitch machine in a back room at Bates & Thigpen.
“Because of the Depression, the store became very conservative,” Bradley Bates said. “And my grandfather sold items to customers on a ‘payas-you-go’ basis.”
The store kept a large ledger that Bradley Bates still has today — its brown, tattered pages each dedicated to a customer along with the record of his payments. The system was still in place at the outbreak of World War II.
“The store was still on Main Street, and a young man was looking through the window,” Bradley Bates said. “And my grandfather walked out and said, ‘Son, you want those shoes?’ The man said, ‘Well, Mr Bates, there’s a dance coming up at LSU, and I really would like to have them, but I don’t have enough money.”
The shoes were about $10, and the young man had only a few dollars. Jewel Bates led him inside and fitted the shoes. The man reminded him that he was short on funds, to which Jewel Bates replied, “Well, you can give me a little bit now, then you can give me a little bit later.”
“But the young man said, ‘I’m getting ready to go into the military,’” Bradley Bates said. “My grandfather said, ‘Well, that’s fine. You can send me a few dollars from the military, or you can pay me when you get back.’ And he said, ‘Mr Bates, I might not be coming back.’ Then my grandfather just crossed his arms and said, ‘Then that’s the best I can do for you.’”
A Huey Long story
The man left with the shoes, and years later Jewel Bates introduced him to his grandson, just as he did former LSU halfback Joseph T “Rock” Reed on another visit.
Reed, of Haynesville, visited Bates & Thigpen during his Tiger football tenure from 1934 to 1936. He was a store regular He later told Bradley Bates a story from his college days, when his car hit a company van. No damage was done to the van, but the company threatened to sue.
Reed decided to pay then-U.S. Sen. Huey Long — a rabid LSU football fan — a visit. Long still maintained a presence in the Louisiana Capitol and called the company, saying he was going
a customer’s
purchases.
to personally represent Reed in court.
The lawsuit threats immediately stopped. It’s just one story among many from regulars that, even today, Bradley Bates knows by name, though travelers sometimes wander in from the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center or riverboat cruise stops.
But the musicians are different. They come in to make a purchase and stay for the music, the kind of strings Bradley Bates began in childhood, a habit he picked up from his dad. He even has his dad’s old, weathered Gibson guitar in his store collection. Weathered or not, the Gibson still has the best sound of all the instruments, including the banjo standing among the guitars. And Bradley Bates still plays even going so far as to attend regular Wednesday evening jam sessions at the Audubon Regional Library in St. Francisville. He doesn’t claim to be the best player, but it’s something he loves — just as he loves listening to the musicians who occasionally find their way into his store. Those are the Bates & Thigpen stories that Bradley Bates will add to his grandfather’s then pass them down to the fifth generation — his grandchildren Luke, Elaina, Remy and Riley Email Robin Miller at romiller@theadvocate.com.
LOUISIANA BAKES
A homemade touch is the icing on celebratory cakes
The past several months have been filled with multiple reasons to celebrate, including milestone birthdays for various friends and family members, myself included. A few people’s birthdays have moved them into new decades or bestowed the right to drive or vote, and some have reached the age to leave the nest. Birthdays, especially milestone birthdays, are the perfect opportunity to pause, reflect and celebrate.
Olivia Regard ä French buttercream recipe online at theadvocate.com
The tradition of birthday cakes can be traced back to ancient civilizations The ancient Greeks decorated moon-shaped cakes with candles to make the cake glow like the moon and believed that the smoke from the candles would carry the celebrant’s prayers to the gods. In medieval England, cakes were baked with a symbolic object inside, and it was believed that the person who found the object would have good luck in the year that followed. And in the 18th century, the Germans celebrated Kinderfeste, a party for a child during which lit candles were placed on the cake in the morning and left to burn all day until after dinner when the cake was eaten. Over time, these traditions evolved, and the modern, layered birthday cake emerged as well as the tradition of having candles totaling the person’s age plus one, to represent hope for another healthy year
The recipes below are two of my favorite ways to add a homemade touch to a birthday celebration and serve as more than just a delicious indulgence The first, a white chocolate raspberry cake, is my personal favorite The raspberries add a sweet freshness to the vanilla cake that complements the Swiss meringue buttercream.
The second recipe brings the fun of confetti to the cake batter with a homemade take on the Funfetti cake made even more festive with sprinkles on top.
These cakes are a meaningful way to bring people together spread happiness and create cherished memories. Whether you
the
White Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream
til each egg is fully incorporated. Stop the mixer between additions to scrape down the sides.
6. Add the crème fraîche and vanilla and beat until combined.
7. Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix on low speed.
8. Pour in the milk and mix to incorporate.
9. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix at low speed.
10. Pour the batter into the two cake pans. Bake for approximately 35 minutes, rotating the pans midway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cakes cool completely on a wire rack or tea towel.
11. Once the cakes are cooled, slice the cakes in half horizontally to make four layers. Make the filling:
1. While the cakes bake, combine the raspberries, sugar, salt, cornstarch and lemon juice in a small pot over medium heat. Continue stirring until the sugar dissolves.
2. Simmer on low-medium heat for 5-10 minutes until raspberries have broken apart and the mixture thickens. Allow to cool completely and refrigerate until ready to assemble the cakes.
3. Create a double boiler by placing a small amount of water in a pot. Place the bowl of a stand mixer on top of the pot. Ensure the bowl does not touch water Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer
and beat to incorpo-
egg at a time, and beat on medium-high speed
4. Place the egg whites and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and place the bowl over the simmering water for 5-10 minutes. Whisk the egg whites and sugar until the
White Chocolate Raspberry Cake with Swiss Meringue
granulated sugar is completely dissolved. (Note: You can test this by quickly dipping your finger into the mixture. Rub it between your fingers. You should not feel any sugar granules.)
5. Once the sugar is dissolved, remove the bowl of egg whites from the heat. Using the whisk attachment for the stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the sugar 10-15 minutes on high speed Continue beating until stiff peaks form and the mixture is glossy
6. Meanwhile, microwave the white chocolate in 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval, until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
7. Once the meringue comes together, lower the speed of the stand mixer to low-medium and slowly incorporate the butter one tablespoon at a time. Allow the butter to incorporate fully before adding the next tablespoon Once all the butter is added, increase the mixer speed to high to allow the meringue and butter to come together
8. Gently fold in the white chocolate, vanilla extract and salt into the meringue butter cream and mix until fully combined
Assemble the cake:
1. Spread a layer of raspberry filling on the first layer of cake. Top with white chocolate buttercream.
2. Place the second layer on top and repeat with raspberry filling and buttercream with the remaining layers.
3. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes to allow the cake to set.
4. Once set, finish icing the cake with the remaining buttercream. Top the cake with fresh raspberries and white chocolate shavings.
Confetti Cake Makes 24 cupcakes or a 3-layer 8-inch cake.
The cake:
(Save
sprinkles (I recommend using the jimmies/cylinders, not nonpareils or sanding sugar.)
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Line the bottoms of 24 muffin cups. (Or, if baking a cake, line 3 (8-inch) cake pans with parchment paper and spray with nonstick baking spray.)
3. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder
4. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
5. Add the egg whites, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
6. Add the oil and the almond and vanilla extracts.
7. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry mixture and the milk in three alternating batches, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides. Mix until just combined.
8. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the sprinkles until they’re evenly distributed.
9. Distribute the batter among the muffin cups (or cake pans).
10. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (approximately 25 minutes for cakes and 20 minutes for cupcakes).
11. Allow to cool on a wire rack completely then add icing and additional sprinkles.
STAFF PHOTOS BY ROBIN MILLER
Bradley Bates shows a page in a ledger maintained by Jewel Bates from the 1920s to the 1940s shows
payments on different items through the years. Jewel Bates who opened the store, allowed customers to gradually pay off their
Let’s go beyond the garden to improve
BY MARY BROWN Contributing writer
Human Condition
It’s right after dawn, and the air is quiet and cool. Most of my garden is waking up, but the pink and yellow four-o-clocks, having offered their fragrance all night, are closing Broad caladium leaves border stands of aspidistra. Bees buzz in the purple salvia while mockingbirds and cardinals start their morning conversations. Flaming orange marigolds hold steady as tiny pink wildfire waves on wiry stems Our majestic live oak towers over everything; I planted it in a coffee can 34 years ago, before I even had a yard, because the tiny acorn sprouted on its own and it so desperately wanted to live. All of this is true, but it’s not the whole truth. You see, my yard is now a wilderness, due to months of neglect. Carefully-laid flagstones are obscured by grassy growth. A
CURIOUS
Continued from page 1G
From April to July in 1989, Newman was filming in Baton Rouge for the movie “Blaze” about Earl K. Long and his mistress, Blaze
Starr
No one knows the exact origins of the rumor — perhaps Newman or his wife, Woodward, who attended LSU in 1949, were seen around the lakes at one point At any rate people began speculating
The rumor originated in an age that predated the internet and digital sleuthing techniques. So, the belief floated around Baton Rouge without debate for years. Ultimately, it was passed on to younger generations Clay Fourrier, former Louisiana Public Broadcasting executive director who worked for the organization for 50 years, remembers how the news of Newman buying the Baton Rouge house was flying around during the “Blaze” filming and contin-
rosebush in the far corner, covered with bush-killer vines, is probably dead but I haven’t investigated; there’s no telling what critters, warm- and cold-blooded, lurk beneath the vegetation. My pink azalea is hidden by the heart-shaped leaves of air potato
vine. A pot of basil is barely clinging to life. Plants grew from coleus seeds that I planted in May, but they’re begging to be transplanted. Worst of all, to me, are the golden cat’s-claw flowers mingling with my oleander: a badge of shame for a New Orleans gar-
ued to grow The Rogers family, who lived next door on Hyacinth Avenue,
heard multiple stories about Newman living next door — at least part-time. Even now, the five Rog-
dener (I hang my head) because it means those powerful vines have been undisturbed for years. Neglect can quickly overrun a garden, a relationship, a city, a nation. It doesn’t really matter what the reasons are (“I don’t have time, or energy; I don’t feel like it right now; I’m achy, or exhausted; I’ll take care of it tomorrow,” and you can probably add some to that list). There can be beauty in a garden, a relationship, a city, a nation. We’re telling the truth when we list the good things, but it’s not the whole truth if we ignore shoulderhigh weeds and suffocating vines.
Let’s take an honest look at what’s wrong and at what we can do, because we can each take steps to end neglect.
Regarding our nation, we can call or email legislators; we can absorb news carefully; we can pray that those in authority will make wise, courageous, compassionate decisions.
How about our city of New Orleans? An important election
ers sisters and their families still debate the Newman connection to their childhood neighborhood via text messages and family group chats.
Through the years, the Rogerses caught glimpses of classic cars, which fit Newman’s interest in automobiles.
Instead of Cool Hand Luke, though, the house belonged to Bob Dean Jr He bought the house in May of 1989, the same time that Newman was in Baton Rouge filming “Blaze.”
Dean purchased the home in 1989 for $302,500.
If that name rings a bell, Dean is the nursing home owner who pleaded no contest in July 2024 to 15 criminal charges in Tangipahoa Parish. Charges against Dean included cruelty to the infirmed for his decision to send 843 of his patients to an ill-equipped warehouse during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
Dean did have a massive classic car collection worth $10 million that was seized as collateral for an unpaid $10 million loan, which would explain the stream of fancy
is approaching. Let’s study the issues and candidates, and vote wisely Also, might you volunteer somewhere? Smile and say “hello” to a stranger? Pray regularly about the numerous problems surrounding us, instead of just complaining? For relationships, you probably know what will help. Extra time and attention, maybe an apology or two, some effort focused on mending and building, and more prayer Those gardens? I hope yours is not as overgrown as mine. But while I was finishing up this submission, I saw a cat’s-claw flower flutter to the ground. It was only 6 p.m. There was still time to pull 10 minutes’ worth of weeds. — Brown lives in New Orleans.
Human Condition submissions of 600 words or fewer may be emailed to features@ theadvocate.com. Stories will be kept on file and publication is not guaranteed. There is no payment for Human Condition.
cars — that fueled the Newman rumor mill.
Dean sold the home on E. Lakeshore Drive in 2016 for $1.395 million.
Jo Landreneau, a long-time real estate agent in Baton Rouge, said that there were rumors that Newman temporarily lived in the East Lakeshore home before Dean moved in. To her knowledge, she says Newman visited Baton Rouge briefly on multiple occasions while he was filming. However, he never actually purchased a property
Although Newman and Woodward never lived in Louisiana full time, they did make several movies here. In addition to “Blaze,” they filmed “Long Hot Summer” in 1958 in Clinton and “The Drowning Pool” in 1974 in Lake Charles and New Orleans.
Do you have a question about something in Louisiana that’s got you curious? Email your question to curiouslouisiana@ theadvocate.com. Include your name, phone number and the city where you live.
PROVIDED PHOTO FROM THE EAST BATON ROUGE PARISH LIBRARY ARCHIVES
Joanne Woodward, left, and Paul Newman star in the 1958 film, ‘The Long Hot Summer.’ The movie was filmed in Clinton.
