Louisiana Boardwalk

[dimebag1980]

As long as it's been open now, I'm still very impressed by this project. New buildings are constantly being constructed to make room for new tenants, and new attractions are always being dreamed up.

This weekend I managed to snap a few more photos of the area from the south perimeter road (facing north) where a hotel is supposed to soon be built. Eventually there is supposed to be a 6-story hotel on the south end and a 10 or 12-story hotel on the north end by the Bass Pro Shop.

Anyway, I happened to luck out and catch the trolley going by as I was taking my pictures.

.....

And a bonus... I forgot I had this photo of a guy breathing fire in the Boardwalk Plaza area:

[NCB]

Great photos, supkof! Thanks for posting them.

The streetcar looks great, as well as the entire boardwalk.

I definately plan on seeing it the next time I'm up in NW Louisiana, which shouldn't be long.

[dimebag1980]

Great photos, supkof! Thanks for posting them.

The streetcar looks great, as well as the entire boardwalk.

I definately plan on seeing it the next time I'm up in NW Louisiana, which shouldn't be long.

Yes, do plan on it. I think you'd be impressed.

[NCB]

^I'm looking forward to it!

[BRPJ]

I made a visit to the boardwalk, and i must say its really nice!

At least the red river, is really a real river on its natural path!

I think new orleans and baton rouge should take notes on that one!

[richyb83]

I agree that Baton Rouge should take note . Props to Louisiana Boardwalk for that BOLD project ! The trolley, bowling alley, and Bass Pro,etc. is a great combo ! Shreveport has the advantage of having a nice size city like Bossier City across the Red River . BR has little Port Allen.

There has been some talk in BR of Magic Johnson developing an mixed-use entertainment complex , and possible stadium for a minor-league baseball team from Nolan Ryan , to be on the river near the old-municipal dock . Who knows ? But nothing as nice as the impressive Boardwalk .

Hey Supkof , do you think it would be a good idea for Shreveport's minor-league team to re-locate playing from Independence Stadium to the Louisiana Boardwalk ? I think that would workout ! Would there be enough room ?

[dimebag1980]

I agree that Baton Rouge should take note . Props to Louisiana Boardwalk for that BOLD project ! The trolley, bowling alley, and Bass Pro,etc. is a great combo ! Shreveport has the advantage of having a nice size city like Bossier City across the Red River . BR has little Port Allen.

There has been some talk in BR of Magic Johnson developing an mixed-use entertainment complex , and possible stadium for a minor-league baseball team from Nolan Ryan , to be on the river near the old-municipal dock . Who knows ? But nothing as nice as the impressive Boardwalk .

Hey Supkof , do you think it would be a good idea for Shreveport's minor-league team to re-locate playing from Independence Stadium to the Louisiana Boardwalk ? I think that would workout ! Would there be enough room ?

I guess you're talking about the minor league baseball team? I'll be honest, I don't even know if we still have one. We lost a really good team a few years ago. The Captains organization was a cornerstone in this area, but due to lacking attendance it was sold to a California company. This company did all they could to run the Captains into the ground, including renaming them the 'Swamp Dragons.' Are you kidding me? What the HECK is a swamp dragon? An alligator maybe... that's a stretch though. Anyway, their ultimate goal was to move the team to the north Dallas suburb of Frisco... which they ended up doing afterall. Go figure. Then, Shreveport was out of the baseball biz for at least 1 season until a local group brought in a new team... a MINOR-minor-league team. Last I heard their attendance was struggling to reach 100/game. How sad is that? Even the Captains' attendance was in the multiple hundreds/game. So anyway, to make a long story short, I'm not even sure we still have a team. If we do, I'd be surprised. Personally I'd love to see the city of Bossier build a stadium (which they've discussed doing...) but not at the Boardwalk, rather next to CenturyTel Center, this area's largest arena.

There is an abundance of available land north of the Boardwalk, in an area known as Cane's Landing, on which a few years ago was planned a huge, grand casino resort to beat all Louisiana resorts. The company, Mirage Resorts of Las Vegas (you've likely heard of them... Steve Wynn et al,) was unable to secure a license in our politically backward state, and ended up backing out. That project would have been the largest casino resort project in Louisiana, similar to what the newest resort in Lake Charles (L'Auberge du lac... if I spelled that correctly) is like.

Anyway, Cane's Landing has since remained undeveloped, but who knows... the Boardwalk may have future plans for that area. Access to this area is a little tricky, but roads could be built and the Boardwalk could be extended in that direction. Actually I have envisioned a second Boardwalk 'mall' area for that property, but with even higher-class stores. Will that happen? Who knows. If I had my way it would, but unfortunately I have zero influence in that development. It would definitely be nice, though.

[dimebag1980]

By the way, while I agree the Boardwalk is a really nice project, especially considering its prime location along the riverfront, I think Perkins Rowe is awesome as well. I remember, when I first heard about it, I was impressed and thought to myself, "the Boardwalk should have residential space as well." I know the developers have kicked the idea around, but nothing has become of it yet. Maybe that's what they have planned for the north side of Bass Pro... who knows. I do know that one of the biggest challenges with putting upscale residential in that area would be the fact that, right across the street from the Boardwalk, is Bossier City's worst neighborhood as far as crime goes. It's a shame, but it's true.

[dimebag1980]

An interesting piece of info someone not from Shreveport/Bossier likely wouldn't know:

The Louisiana Boardwalk was originally planned as the Louisiana Riverwalk, hence the name of the management company, Louisiana Riverwalk, LLC. For a few years it was in the planning stages and everything showed it as the Louisiana Riverwalk. Then, as construction finally began and things were moving smoothly, Rouse Co., who owns the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans, sued Louisiana Riverwalk claiming they had the sole rights to the name 'Louisiana Riverwalk.' After a short fight, Louisiana Riverwalk, LLC settled with Rouse and decided to change the name to Louisiana Boardwalk.

In order to keep with the "Boardwalk" theme, rather than doing a brick "riverwalk" along the river, the developers decided to build an actual 'boardwalk.' In order to build a permanent 'boardwalk,' a concrete walkway was constructed to run the length of the property. This concrete walkway was stained to look like wood and stamped with a "nailed wooden plank" pattern.

The following link, which I just found, includes information about the Rouse/Riverwalk legal matter but also makes for a positive, informative article about the project.

http://icsc.org/srch/sct/sct0804/focus_floso_3.shtml

[richyb83]

That's interesting .

Are their any plans for a pedestrian bridge over the Red ? Or do they already have one ?

[dimebag1980]

That's interesting .

Are their any plans for a pedestrian bridge over the Red ? Or do they already have one ?

Actually, even though the Red River isn't nearly as wide as the Mississippi, it's quite a distance to cross on foot. There IS a pedestrian walkway across the river, and that's on top of the Texas St. Bridge. There are 4 traffic lanes and 2 pedestrian lanes (1 on each side,) but like I said it's quite a distance to cross.

A few years ago a water taxi service had started up with the intention of moving gamblers between the Shreveport and Bossier City riverfront casinos. For whatever reason that idea never took off and the water taxi failed after only a short time. However since the Boardwalk idea has come about, there has been talk of reviving the water taxi service, since people now go between not only the casinos, but the Boardwalk, Sci-Port, Riverview Park, Festival Plaza, and many other areas on both sides of the river. I certainly hope the water taxi service gets going again, because I DO see it as a feasible option as things stand today.

Think about it... even downtown Shreveport office workers could hop a water taxi and eat lunch in the Boardwalk and then taxi back across to their offices. Shreveport just needs to get their proposed downtown trolley line going and then this downtown transportation chain will be complete.

**Edited to add the following:

The water taxi idea likely will not come to fruition until the marina is completed outside Bass Pro Shop. As for when THAT will happen is anyone's guess....

[tombarnes]

I love water taxis. Unfortunately, they don't tend to do well in smaller markets. The water taxi in Norfolk always seemed to be struggling. Of course, there were also subsidized ferries competing against it. The Water Bus in Fort Lauderdale is very successful. I believe the same company operates water taxis in Galveston and other cities as well. While most local people tend to shun the water taxi, the tourists love it. It stops right next to our building in Fort Lauderdale. We use it when we are not in a great hurry. The leisurely pace of the taxi makes it impractical for daily use.

[dimebag1980]

I love water taxis. Unfortunately, they don't tend to do well in smaller markets. The water taxi in Norfolk always seemed to be struggling. Of course, there were also subsidized ferries competing against it. The

Water Bus in Fort Lauderdale is very successful. I believe the same company operates water taxis in Galveston and other cities as well. While most local people tend to shun the water taxi, the tourists love it. It stops right next to our building in Fort Lauderdale. We use it when we are not in a great hurry. The leisurely pace of the taxi makes it impractical for daily use.

Yeah I could understand that. They don't exactly move quickly, do they?

Shreveport/Bossier boasts of more than 14 million tourists annually, but how many of those people will use the water taxi? I say we try it again, but if it fails this time, go back to the drawing board.

Even a tram across the river was once proposed, but that idea never made it past the conceptual stage. I believe that was a private project anyway... back when this big, grand riverfront was proposed with "fake, floating islands of fun" or whatever.

[NCB]

An interesting piece of info someone not from Shreveport/Bossier likely wouldn't know:

The Louisiana Boardwalk was originally planned as the Louisiana Riverwalk, hence the name of the management company, Louisiana Riverwalk, LLC. For a few years it was in the planning stages and everything showed it as the Louisiana Riverwalk. Then, as construction finally began and things were moving smoothly, Rouse Co., who owns the Riverwalk Marketplace in New Orleans, sued Louisiana Riverwalk claiming they had the sole rights to the name 'Louisiana Riverwalk.' After a short fight, Louisiana Riverwalk, LLC settled with Rouse and decided to change the name to Louisiana Boardwalk.

That's very interesting. I had never heard about that until now, thanks for the info supkof!

[dimebag1980]

My wife and I went down to the Boardwalk last night to eat at Gimme Sum and to do a little shopping, and while the food was great, we were completely disgusted by how badly the rules of the property were being broken everywhere we looked. This has GOT to change if the Boardwalk wants to succeed, so I just e-mailed a letter to the Boardwalk general manager. See below:

Dear Mr. Smith,

I am writing to you as a citizen with deep concerns over the future of the Boardwalk, based on lack of dress code enforcement. Last evening my wife and I decided to go out and try the new Gimme Sum Asian Grill and then do a little shopping afterward. We parked in the garage and walked to the restaurant and had absolutely no problems. Once we finished our meal, however, and we were walking from store to store, we were both disturbed to see many young males walking around with do-rags on their heads underneath caps which were turned sideways. Many of these same people had their pants hanging very low and were acting disrespectfully, making the people around them - my wife included - very uncomfortable. I saw many people look at them with disgust for their blatant disrespect toward others and toward the property guidelines.

As we walked from location to location, we saw this on numerous occasions. I saw not one Boardwalk security officer, and I saw only two Bossier City police officers but neither of them seemed too concerned about it. When we got near the Island Fun entrance, we could barely walk down the sidewalk for all the disrespectful thugs hanging around outside this establishment. At this point we were both extremely disgusted with the way things seemed down there and my wife doesn't want to return.

Think back to the former South Park Mall in south Shreveport, and the events leading to its demise. Thugs began to take over the mall, and the women who were there to spend money with their husbands' credit cards became too uncomfortable and stopped shopping there. This was one of the leading factors in that mall's demise, and I would hate to see that happen at the Boardwalk. A similar scenario is also playing out right now at Pierre Bossier Mall, and my wife absolutely refuses to shop there; but the biggest difference is, Louisiana Boardwalk is not only a local shopping area, but an attraction for tourists as well. The Boardwalk can not afford to have its local or out-of-town visitors feel uncomfortable, because it will go downhill rapidly and be just a distant memory like South Park Mall and like what nearly happened to Mall St. Vincent back in the late 1980s.

Please, sir, I ask of you to speak with your property's security personnel and have them enforce the rules which have been set forth. The future of your entire property, including the large tenants, is highly dependant upon how safe your money-spending clientele feels.

Thank you for your time, and I do hope you will address these concerns immediately.

Sincerely,

Brian #########

Haughton, LA

[woob]

My wife and I went down to the Boardwalk last night to eat at Gimme Sum and to do a little shopping, and while the food was great, we were completely disgusted by how badly the rules of the property were being broken everywhere we looked. This has GOT to change if the Boardwalk wants to succeed, so I just e-mailed a letter to the Boardwalk general manager. See below:

yeah I only shop there on the weekdays right after work.. my wife and I felt really uncomfortable 2 weekends ago.. the police just stood there as large groups of young teenages just stood around yelling and cursing at each other.. I think the boardwalkis fantastic! I would never let my wife go there at night by herself.. she vows to never go back on the weekend...

[dimebag1980]

I really wish I felt like Mr. Tony Smith actually gave a damn. However considering as how I sent that e-mail to him over the weekend, and I still haven't even so much as heard a "thank you," I have a feeling Mr. Smith took offense to my letter and couldn't care less.

I only hope I'm taking it the wrong way, but typically when I compose a letter addressing a serious issue, I at least hear something within 2 days.

[dimebag1980]

I just found (by accident) this small travel feature on the Boardwalk in Chinatown Connection, a Houston-based publication that a lot of my Chinese friends subscribe to.

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/travel-...t-louisiana.htm

[woob]

I just found (by accident) this small travel feature on the Boardwalk in Chinatown Connection, a Houston-based publication that a lot of my Chinese friends subscribe to.

http://www.chinatownconnection.com/travel-...t-louisiana.htm

Some of my wife's friends from Birmingham Alabama came down to visit us over the weekend.. theyve never even heard of Shreveport/Bossier.. they said they couldnt believe theyve never heard of it either. I felt proud of living here. I go to Birmingham quite often because it's where my wife is from.. it's quite large, it has what we lack! many suburbs! They thought that our city was beautiful.. they loved the boardwalk especially.. only problem a couple of the guys had was that other than the BASS PRO SHOP theres nothing for men to do down there. One of them said he's never seen so many beautiful women in one city in his life. They loved the atmosphere along centenary college.. They said theyd love to come back and spend more time here.. I know BHAM is a big industrial smoggy city.. but hey! it's cool!

[dimebag1980]

Some of my wife's friends from Birmingham Alabama came down to visit us over the weekend.. theyve never even heard of Shreveport/Bossier.. they said they couldnt believe theyve never heard of it either. I felt proud of living here. I go to Birmingham quite often because it's where my wife is from.. it's quite large, it has what we lack! many suburbs! They thought that our city was beautiful.. they loved the boardwalk especially.. only problem a couple of the guys had was that other than the BASS PRO SHOP theres nothing for men to do down there. One of them said he's never seen so many beautiful women in one city in his life. They loved the atmosphere along centenary college.. They said theyd love to come back and spend more time here.. I know BHAM is a big industrial smoggy city.. but hey! it's cool!

Never even heard of Shreveport-Bossier? Wow, that's one I haven't heard in quite a while! I remember not much more than a decade ago, it was nothing to hear someone say, "Shreveport?? Where's that?" I actually thought we'd gotten over that until a couple days ago, on another forum, I saw someone from NYC say "Where is Shreveport? USA or Canada??" I was a little surprised, but I suppose this means we still have a ways to go with promotion. Heck, every time I visit Illinois and meet someone new, they've all heard of Shreveport... most just think it's a suburb of New Orleans. They think ALL of Louisiana is a suburb of New Orleans for that matter!

I'm glad they enjoyed the area, and they're right... if you wanna see a huge collection of good-looking ladies, the Boardwalk is definitely the place to do that! I do hope they return someday and enjoy themselves yet again.

Birmingham is very strange... it's a huge city, but with a city population not much higher than Shreveport. It's a different type of place in that respect, but it's definitely a progressive place.

[byrde]

I have to go to Shreveport in April. I'll try and check out the new Boardwalk.

[dimebag1980]

I have to go to Shreveport in April. I'll try and check out the new Boardwalk.

If you get the chance to check it out, you should be pretty impressed by it. The best way I can think ot describe it, would be to describe it as an outdoor version of Grapevine Mills in Dallas or Katy Mills in Houston. It's a huge mall with outlet stores and well-known restaurants, anchored by a Bass Pro Shop, and with a multiplex cinema in it. It's definitely similar to an outdoor version of any of the 'Mills' properties. I think one of the coolest things about the Boardwalk is, no matter where you are on the property, you hear music. Many of the light posts have speakers attached to them, and speakers are also hidden in the landscaping in many areas as well.

[dimebag1980]

Here's a photo gallery, on the website of Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, for the Bossier City store. The first photo shows the trolley stop outside of the store (the trolley literally pulls up to the rear door of the store) and some of the phots show the alligator pond. Probably the most unique feature of this particular store, aside from the trolley stop, would be the alligator pond, as there are real alligators on display in front of the store all year long (in the winter, they heat the water.)

http://www.basspro.com/servlet/catalog.CFP...oreID=4#gallery

[dimebag1980]

Well, in today's Shreveport Times, there is a letter to the editor about the Boardwalk. This person says that she and her family went down there on Saturday night and felt so safe... had no problems. In the letter she also mentions a security guard spending time in the arcade, making people abide by the rules. The arcade was one of the biggest problem areas, in my opinion, so I'm glad they're focusing on that spot. Maybe my letter to the manager worked, or maybe the night I had my problems was just a fluke. Either way, the Boardwalk gets high marks from the letter writer.

Read the letter here.

[NCB]

^Thats good to hear.

I would really hate to see the Boardwalk go downhill because of safety problems, so I hope the security really has tightened up there.