Living in Pontchartrain Park

Our family moved into Pontchartrain Park in the summer of 1957. We can from a very nice home with a front porch and a back patio. We loved our house and we loved congregating on the front porch with family and friends. When our parents received the opportunity to move into Pontchartrain Park, it was bitter sweet because we loved our neighborhood and our neighbors, but we knew this was an opportunity for upward mobility. However, once we moved we were surprised that there were no stores to buy our favorite candies and penny cookies, but Mr. Lastie who operated the Golf Club House sold candies and potato chips. Also disappointing was that we had to always enter the Park from the desolate, dark France Road- this was original entrance to Pontchartrain Park. At first we thought it was because our house was the last house on Congress, but we soon found out that we could not drive through Gentilly Woods on Congress Drive. This was during segregation and we were not allowed or welcomed to drive through the ‘white’ neighborhood. But since our parents had a car, we were sheltered from this racism to an extent. However, we did experience some harsh realities of life once we started going to St. Mary’s Academy that was housed in the French Quarters. We had to ride the bus to and from School. So we did encounters slurs and jokes from students from Holy Cross who rode the Franklin Avenue bus.

Both our parents worked at Lincoln Beach which was the African American amusement park in New Orleans. And it was through their connection with the many entertainers at Lincoln Beach that our family was able to get the house in the Park.  Our father was the manager of the Carver House at Lincoln Beach which contracted all the entertainers. Eddie Bocage, also known as Eddie Bo, was a frequent entertainer and in 1956 he had a big hit, Hole in your Bucket, which gave him the opportunity to tour the country. He owned the house on Congress and Columbia, the model home for the Park that was pictured in many advertisements.  He wanted to sell it fast. So our parents got the money together for the down payment and before we knew it, we were packing and moving to a new house.

We were all in Catholic schools and as the 1960’s approached and the news of integration arrived, Lincoln Beach was losing money and employees. My parents jobs were threaten and so my parents had to figure out how to make money and hold on to our house. My father was not a veterans so we did not have some of the perks that veteran’s homeowners had. By the time 1960 arrived, my sister and I were at St. Mary’s Academy-more tuition and my brother was still at St. Paul, but St. Aug’s tuition was close approaching for him. Southern University had opened in 1959 and my mother decided to take in children of the employees of Southern University. She started with five babies. Her first baby was Margaret Ventress, whose mother worked in the library at Southern University.

Pontchartrain Park was a subdivision that did not allow any businesses; so she could only keep five children, but the need for childcare was so much more important and more and more employees wanted her to keep their children.  My mother contacted the neighborhood association and they suggested she get the opinion of the residents through a petition. I remember walking from house to house asking people to sign the petition and this was so amazing because residents wanted to know where the nursery was and could it accommodate their children, also.

Once the neighbor association realized the need was great, they make stipulations and advised my mom to contact the licensing bureau. The Pontchartrain Park Improvement Association said there could not be any signs or visible associations that a business existed in the home. The nursery was officially licensed in 1963 and existed on that corner of Congress and Columbia until 1993.We had wonderful neighbors also ; the Darensburg’s lived next door, he was a postman and his wife worked at the sewing factory; next to them were the Florents; he was a postman also and his wife was a stay home mom; next to then were the McCleod’s ; he was a realtor and his wife was a housewife; across the street from us were the Rachel’s, both were  educators and later Mr. Rachal became vice  president of Xavier University and next to them were the Bakers; he was a postman and his wife was a housewife.

We had a wonderful life in Pontchartrain Park; my sister and I attended St. Mary’s Academy and my brother attended St. Aug and every parent who had children at the nursery remarked how they would send their children to the same high schools we attended.  They respected us and we respected them and they always gave us such nice compliments. For college, my sister and brother went to Dillard, and I went to Xavier. The nursery gave my parents a new outlook on life and society. They became members of the Young Men of Illinois Club and my mom belonged to several ladies club that met at our house for their meetings. They also held many political meeting at their home in connection with my father’s close friend, Ernest Wright. Mr. Wright also lived in the park on Press Drive.

Everyone wanted to come to Thibodeaux’s Nursery and Pre-School and the pioneer residents of the Park knew it was a good family environment with the best buttered biscuits and grits for breakfast and the best Christmas Parties for children and parents. My parents had a very good living for themselves and us from hard work and entrepreneurship as daycare owners. They always taught us to be fair and give back to the community when possible. My parents had a good business, but there were times when some parents fell on hard times and children had to come to the nursery for free  for a couple weeks and sometimes parents needed  my mom to pick up there older children from elementary school when they had car trouble- all this was part of being a good neighbor. Mother Dear, as we called her, always said you never burn bridges because you never know when you might need somebody; you help people because you never know when you might need help.  The nursery had parents who were staff and faculty at Southern University. We also had the children of many teachers, nurses, doctors, lawyers, postman, policemen, bricklayers and mechanics who lived in the Park. Our house was extended to the back. My uncle who was a carpenter added three rooms, closed in the carport and added two small bathrooms. So the façade of the house remained the same. In 1971, my parents brought a house on Mithra – second from the corner of Congress between Dr. Carter’s house and Dr. Haydel’s house and our original home was turned into a full nursery.

The other reason our family was so affluent in Pontchartrain Park, we had an added income from Shelter #4 on the lakefront that my dad operated from Easter Sunday to Labor Day. We also operated a restaurant called Teacher’s Pet that opened from 1970-1974 and then NORD took over the facility. It was located near where the basketball court is now, but facing Haynes. Teacher’s Pet was known for its overstuffed po-boys. My parents taught us good work ethics; we had to come home, change our uniforms and go into the nursery to help with snacks and get the children ready to be picked up. At Shelter #4 and Teacher’s Pet, we also worked serving food to the customers, cashiers and cleaning up. We all worked throughout high school and college.

Our hard work paid off; my sister and brother had cars as teenagers and I had the opportunity to travel to Catholic University in my junior year in high school for a summer journalism course and Howard University when I completed Xavier.

 In 1977, the nursery caught on fire and had to be rebuilt. My parents sold the house on Mithra because by this time all of us were married and my parents moved back into a renovated home.

I moved back into the Park in 1985 after my divorce. I raised my four children - at that time they were 5, 7,9,10 -in the same environment where I was raised.  I moved into a house that was built in 1963 and originally owned by Dr. Walter Barial and his wife, who was nurse, at 5815 Congress Drive. The second owners were the Alexis and I was the final owner for the last 30 years. My neighbors were the Howards on the corner who both taught at Southern. My other neighbor was Mr. Smith who was a postman(later the Ceasar’s moved there), next to him was Mr. Jacob, another postman, next to him was Mrs. Kelly a teacher and then Mrs. Gayle, another teacher and then the Ortiques,-( I think her husband was postman and she was a housewife) the other family, I don’t know by name, but next to them were a husband and wife who taught at Tulane, the man was a psychology teacher, then the Alexis who once owned my house and the people on the corner were the DeSpensa. Behind me were the Hornby’s and the Clementine’s; both great neighbors. I was three blocks from my mom’s house and my children could ride their bikes to their grandparents. Once more, it was a wonderful life for my children, also. My parents sold the nursery in 1995 and moved in with me. The nursery reverted to a residence and to this day it is still a residence.

I have enjoyed living in Pontchartrain Park; I lived briefly in Birmingham, Alabama during Hurricane Katrina. I was the first person on my block to return to my house in May, 2006 after Hurricane Katrina. My son and I would cut all the yards on our block from Prentiss to Madrid on Congress. My electricity was turned on May 28, 2006 and we moved into our house. In 2013, I brought the “Lot Next Door” originally Mr. Smith house and then the Ceasar’s. I dedicated the garden to my neighbors because they loved keeping their yards so nice

 It has been a challenge watching our neighborhood return to normal and also quite disappointing to see so many neighbors not returning. But I am proud to be a resident of this historic neighborhood and look forward to getting our historic register designation.