Hustle, bustle gone from area

Many Teche Area residents can remember a time when New Iberia’s West End was a vibrant, bustling community.

Today, the area is suffering from neglect, buildings are in disrepair, streets and sidewalks are in poor condition and some elderly residents, who remember a time when the neighborhood was different, live in fear.

Michael Bell, a 55-year-old retired structural iron worker who grew up on the west end, remembers his childhood in the neighborhood as a wonderful thing.

“Like the proverb: ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ that’s exactly what the west end was like,” Bell said. “If you needed sugar, your neighbor had it. If your business was in trouble, someone in the neighborhood helped you. If as a child needed guidance, the elders of the community were there to put you on the right track. You could leave your house unlocked and you knew all your neighbors. We took care of each other.”

He also remembers the large Fourth of July picnics in the West End Park. He said the night before, his mother would send him out with the table cloth so he could pick the table for the next day’s events.

Bell said there was never any concern that the table cloth would be moved or taken. Everything was just as the children left it the night before. He said thousands of people would come to the West End to celebrate together.

Those are fond memories for Bell. He said it was a time on the West End when there was no fighting or killing and no thugs on the streets.

Bell compared his youth on the West End to the Harlem Renaissance. He said most families were hard-working people.

He remembers black teachers taking extra time with children in school, knowing the hardships they would experience growing up in that era.

“It was a time when young black men were made to respect black women and their parents,” Bell said. “We didn’t have a lot, but we were rich with morals and ethics and values. We were fortunate to come up in that era.”

Bell said when he was a child the West End was full of doctors, lawyers and business owners.

“Lombard Street was one of the major streets in the area,” Bell said. “It was full of proud people — doctors, teachers, dentists and attorneys who didn’t have a lot but were proud of what they had. There is so much richness in the area that people here don’t even know about.”

Bucket Joseph also grew up on the West End of town and remembers an neighborhood alive with activity. Joseph said during his youth in the late 1950s, Hopkins Street was the main route for sugar cane trucks to the sugar mill, and there was a lot of traffic on the street. He remembers pharmacies, doctor’s offices, clothing stores, a grocery store and fish market, a laundromat, convenience store, a feed store and two funeral homes.

Joseph said there was always something going on.

“Every year, different businesses would sponsor activities for the West End community,” Joseph said. “People knew if you really wanted to see and enjoy New Iberia, Hopkins Street was the place to be.”

The neighborhood was also the home of many nightclubs and live music venues. And, Bell said, anybody who was anybody in the black music community played there including all the great Jazz musicians.

“BB King, Fats Domino, Erma Thomas, Benny King, Otis Redding, Ike and Tina Turner, all played here,” Joseph said. “As a matter of fact, Fats Domino wrote his song ‘Walking to New Orleans’ after he was left at the Hollywood Social Club on Hopkins and had to walk to the bus station.”

Since the 1960s, the neighborhood was neglected and thugs took over some parts of streets, Bell said. The elderly had to leave, simply because they were afraid to stay in their homes.  

Bell said he believes what people here should learn and know is the amount of culture and history on the West End.

“We have a church on the West End that hasn’t been put in the historical register,” Joseph said. “St. Paul’s was the first black church in the community and is as old as the other churches in town who are currently on the register.”

The West End community, various clubs and coalitions and the city of New Iberia are all trying to find ways to breath life in this culturally rich and distinct neighborhood.

“We are in the process of trying to get it together,” Bell said. “We are asking for fairness, and we have good leaders now that will help us. We ask to just open the doors for us and we will do the rest.”