I’m from Baton Rouge, and that’s something I’m proud of. I won’t say that Baton Rouge is infallible, but I’m pleased that I’m from here, despite its issues.

No matter where you are, you’d be hard pressed to find a place that doesn’t have issues. Furthermore, I think the city’s natural beauty outweighs most of, if not all, the city’s cons.

While Baton Rouge isn’t a walkable city by any stretch of the imagination, BREC has a plan to connect a few trails, including the Ward Creek Greenway and the Dawson Creek Greenway, to make a 10-mile loop known as the “Health Loop,” where access to Baton Rouge’s beauty will be a lot easier for pedestrians.

I visited both routes, and as of this month, they’re yet to be connected. I couldn’t find anything on the progress of this project, but the sooner it’s finished, the easier it will be to show off the city’s natural beauty.

Many of the older neighborhoods, like Mid-City, Old South Baton Rouge, Southdowns and Collegetown, all feel like they belong, especially those in Mid-City and Old South Baton Rouge. The houses don’t look out of place, and furthermore, they add to the city’s charm and beauty in the way that other neighborhoods do.

Many of these neighborhoods connect to each other, which adds to the ambience. That is the main problem with newer suburbs, I feel like they don’t consider the neighborhoods around them, not connecting paths to each other and abruptly ending roads for an illusion of safety.

An example of this is the neighborhood of Rouzan. Wedged between Pollard Place and Southdowns lies an example of all that is wrong with modern-day suburbia. The layout is confusing, the sidewalks connect at only a few points and it’s just tacky. Additionally, the whole area feels plastic and fake, a stark contrast from the neighborhoods surrounding it.

Rouzan is a new development; previously, there was some sort of business at the location of the entrance of the neighborhood, behind it was a sprawling field with a tree line. This area was pillaged in place of Los Angeles-style McMansions placed right next to each other, seemingly copy-and-pasted throughout the neighborhood.

Furthermore, the neighborhood is not designed on a grid, instead, it branches streets that connect to a center oval that houses an empty grain silo with the neighborhood’s name on it. Which, of course, isn’t accessible after a certain hour, making this park functionally useless as a hangout area after dark.

This isn’t even talking about the faux-French names of the streets, which would be fine if the residents of this neighborhood didn’t insist on butchering the pronunciation of these street names with their Southern accents.

Regardless, a short distance from this suburban monstrosity lies the area of Baton Rouge with the post personality: LSU’s campus and University Lakes. For one, LSU is the prettiest SEC campus, in my opinion, and it’s not even close. While other universities have their charm, LSU’s stately oaks and broad magnolias are top-notch.

Aside from the stately oaks, the University Lakes are a true gem of the city when they’re not being dredged up. As of writing this, the lakes are currently undergoing a process of restoration known as the “University Lakes Project,” a project that seems to symbolize Baton Rouge itself; normally pretty, but is constantly under repair.

If you can ignore the work, the Lakeshore Drive area is a great place to exercise. Not only are pedestrians sharing the entire road with cars, but the million-dollar houses that adorn the area are beautiful. One can gawk for long periods of time at some of the colors or design choices of these houses that someone couldn’t even dream of owning.

Those are just a few areas of Baton Rouge, specifically the ones I’m most familiar with due to where I’ve lived and gone to school.

However, one area that is often slept on is the bluffs near Southern University. That is where Scott’s Bluff is found, the location of the original “Red Stick,” formally known as Baton Rouge.
Nevertheless, the bluffs are stunning in their own right, but Southern University elevates the area further. Southern is a beautiful campus, with plenty of sidewalks for travel or recreational use. It also has lots of green space and a lake behind the union, with trees to obscure the sunlight on the lake.

Let’s not forget the beautiful A.W. Mumford Stadium, a monolithic football complex of concrete and steel, where the Southern University Marching band, known as the Human Jukebox, proudly plays their instruments to roaring fans, energizing the Southern Jaguars to victory.

And all of this is just a tangible, superficial view of Baton Rouge, but a mere section of the area’s rich history. From the Old State Capitol, a building so ornate it looks like it was taken brick by brick from Europe, to the Kingfish, in which former Senator and Governor of Louisiana, Huey P. Long’s soul haunts the halls he built in the New State Capitol.

Baton Rouge’s beauty is undeniable, not only from its landscapes but from its rich culture. Sure, we have problems, but I will take the good with the bad, mainly because this place is my home. It’ll always be my home, even if I leave, I will always love this city. There’s nothing that could happen to stop me from loving this place.

Baton Rouge’s beauty isn’t just in its culture and landscapes — it’s in the inherent soul of the city. Baton Rouge is like the biggest small town, because everyone has connections with each other, so we’re all one big family; regardless of petty differences, you’re still invited to the crawfish boil.

Andrew Sarhan is a 19-year-old mass communication freshman from Baton Rouge, La.