It’s a wonder Tiffany Huff knows where to clock in for work.
Huff is the manager of North Gate Tavern on Chimes Street. The bar has been in operation for three years, since it replaced Ichabod’s in 2004.
The tavern markets itself to the menagerie of personalities that convene in the North Gate area during the evenings.
“We don’t have a particular type of customer,” she said. “It’s sort of a mixture of everyone. You’ll have a guy in a fraternity sitting next to the lead singer of a metal band.”
Huff is familiar with the demographics of North Gate because this isn’t her first job in the neighborhood. Her first bartending job was with Cafe Reggae, where she worked from 2003 to 2004.
Huff’s career has outlasted the cafe, however. For that matter, she’s also outlasted the lifespans of a few other neighborhood businesses, victims of the constant trend of economic turnover in the areas near campus.THE BUILDING
The building next to North Gate Tavern where Cafe Reggae once stood is being renovated and will soon house its latest tenant – Reginelli’s Pizzeria – which is expected to open in November. The New Orleans restaurant chain is making its initial foray into the Baton Rouge market.
It will be the building’s fifth tenant since 2002.
“That building has an interesting history,” said Clarke Cadzow, owner of Highland Coffees. “There’s an interesting lesson about that building in relation to the neighborhood.”
Cadzow has documented the near-80 year history of the North Gate area, including every business tenant in that time span. He said the building opened around 1941 as the Chimes Billiard Hall. That business, he said, flourished for nearly 30 years.
In 1970, the building changed hands and became a bar called Bier Keller. During the next nine years, it also housed spots called the Hawk’s Nest and a joint venture between Dirty Pierre’s and Horny Harriet’s.
“People from a certain age group remember that bar,” Cadzow said.
The building’s second true success story came in 1979, when a bar called The Bayou moved in.
“It was a very popular alternative bar – pretty smokey,” Cadzow said. “It held onto the pool hall history that [the building] had. It was always a pool hall.”
The Bayou remained in operation for about 23 years. In 1989, filmmaker and former Baton Rouge resident Steve Soderbergh shot portions of his film “Sex, Lies and Videotape” at the bar.
Cadzow said the Bayou reached the same legendary status as Chimes Billard Hall.
Then came the fire.
TURNOVER
In May 2002, flames engulfed Highland Coffees and The Bayou, effectively closing them for business.
“It burned the whole place down,” Cadzow said. “We were completely destroyed. We had to completely rebuild the place, and we were closed for six months.”
Cadzow said the The Bayou’s building owner decided to rebuild it instead of tearing it down or selling it. The Bayou, however, was done.
“Business started to taper off at the end,” Cadzow said.
The facility reopened in 2003 as Cafe Reggae, providing employment opportunities to the likes of Huff.
“We had a good crew that worked there,” she said. “The owners were really nice.”
Business didn’t move steadily for the new restaurant, however. Huff said work was never really busy during her tenure.
She attributes the failure of Cafe Reggae to ownership’s inability to run a bar.
“They had great food, but they lacked knowledge of running a bar on Chimes Street,” she said. “They didn’t get the bar aspect. We wouldn’t have enough money in the register to give change, so I’d have go to Slinky’s, [a neighboring bar], to bum cash.”
Huff also feels the name “Cafe Reggae” itself didn’t help either.
“The name automatically labeled it,” she said. “People walked in and thought it was going to be a reggae bar. It helped them, but it also hurt them. They also didn’t book any shows.”
Cafe Reggae’s ownership opened two other bars in the building in 2005 and 2006 – Tequila’s Cafe and Dragonfly’s, respectively – but they also flopped.
“Dragonfly’s was good during football season, and they had great food,” Huff said. “There were a lot of comments about the name though, and the bands didn’t bring that big of a crowd.”
North Gate is not the only area near campus to experience turnover. Eric Thai and Kelly Vu own Coco Solar Nails, a relatively new business on Highland Road south of campus.
“We’ve been here about two months,” Thai said.
Thai and Vu, husband and wife, are both University alumni and remember what the shopping center was like during their college days.
“We do see a lot of turnover,” Thai said. “One business will stay for a year, then another will stay for two years or maybe a few months. As far as traffic, it’s about the same amount as I can remember.”
Thai, a chemistry graduate in 2001, remembers his facility housing, in turn, a Subway and a Greek restaurant before becoming The Drunken Fish, which later relocated within the shopping center, which has also housed Skewers Shish Kabob Grill and a Jambalaya shopped, among others.
“You have a variety of different businesses around here that provide everything a student or customer would look for,” Thai said. “This location is good. I have no idea why there’s a lot of turnover.”
IT’S NOT PERSONAL
Cadzow said these businesses failed as a result of poor business practices, not because of their locations.
“It was not the neighborhood that doomed them,” he said, claiming that 80 to 90 percent of small businesses fail. “No matter what location you pick, there’s probably going to be a history of failure. What you have to look at is kind of a matter of supply and demand.”
Cadzow said certain types of businesses will not survive in a college town.
“If it’s not well-run, it’s going to fail,” he said. “Just because you’re next door to LSU doesn’t mean you’ve got it made. That’s crazy. Pick a type of business that appeals to a university crowd, including students, faculty and staff.”
Regardless, some neighborhood factors contribute to bad business, including poor infrastructure.
“The Number one issue for this shopping center alone would be the traffic and parking spaces,” Thai said.
The University is taking steps to improve the area. Assistant Director of Facility Development Jason Soileau works with a project called Chimes Street Pedestrian Corridor, which will put a sidewalk on the street.
“Right now pedestrians are walking in the street with no sidewalk, so it’s a safety concern,” he said. “Right now it kind of looks like our back door. We’re trying to turn that area into a front door of campus and a welcoming image.”
SUCCESS
North Gate businesses have had just as much success as they have failures, Cadzow said. He said many businesses have had runs of 10 years or more, and some of those have attained legendary status like Chimes Billiard Hall and The Bayou.
Louie’s Cafe, for instance, opened shop on Chimes Street in 1941. Though it relocated once, nearby on State Street, it has been operational ever since.
“It is the oldest restaurant in Baton Rouge,” Cadzow said.
Businesses like Chimes Restaurant, the original Raisin’ Canes, and Inga’s Subs and Salads have been operational for 10 years or more. Highland Coffees itself has been in the area for 18 years, relocating once within the neighborhood.
“We got in there, and we succeeded,” Cadzow said. “You have to look at the particular business or series of business.”
Cadzow and Huff hope Reginelli’s will be one of those success stories.
“Everyone makes money,” Huff said. “Just to get someone in the building again would make the street look a lot better.”
Cadzow said Reginelli’s and two other new businesses – Koi Sushi and Chinese Combo King – will likely be successful.
“It’s my guesswork, yours and everyone else’s as to whether Reginelli’s is going to make it,” he said. “Is it going to be just like Tequila’s and Cafe Reggae? Or is it going to be one of these places that we look back on 20 years from now and say it’s got a huge status in the neighborhood. We don’t know. Time will tell.”
—Contact Parker Wishik at [email protected]