Clarence's Baton Rouge Tourism Guide |
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This is Clarence's Insider Guide for Touring Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Welcome to Clarence's Insider Guide for Touring Baton Rouge, Louisiana. This site contains info about visiting Baton Rouge from a local's perspective. Included are the topics of restaurants, Blues and Cajun music, historical sites and touring the Downtown Baton Rouge area. Please listen to Clarence's Cajun radio program in Baton Rouge. Saturdays 7pm-9pm on WBRH 90.3 FM View Clarence's Baton Rouge Cajun and Zydeco Schedule. Clarence needs your help - read a message from Clarence here. Baton Rouge is the state capital of Louisiana and is on the banks of the Mississippi river about 90 minutes NW of New Orleans. Baton Rouge is about an hour east of Lafayette. The downtown section along the Mississippi River has Casino Rouge, Argosy Casino, the Downtown Sheraton hotel and a riverwalk area with a great atmosphere. This is located at www.cajunradio.org/batonrougetourismguide.html. If you are staying at the Baton Rouge Downtown Sheraton, there are several nightclubs within walking distance. I recommend dinner at Avolleyes Cafe, then going upstairs to Avoyelles on the River lounge. Walk around the block to check out the Red Star nightclub and Richoux's nightclub. updated: December 2004
Start off by visiting the historic "Baton Rouge Glass Beach". This is a place on the bank of the Mississippi River where there are millions of pieces of antique broken glass that was used as pavement for a boat launch many years ago. Kids love to find the many colored pieces of antique glass bottles. There is no sign for it and very few people know that it exists. It is literally at the foot of the "New" Mississippi River Bridge in Downtown Baton Rouge on the Mississippi River Levee. (If you find the Argosy casino parking deck, you are only a block away). Here are the detailed directions: Head towards downtown Baton Rouge by following the map to the intersection of I-10 and I-110. Take the split for I-110 and get off at the first exit which is Government Street. At the end of the ramp, take a left so that you are heading towards the river. Go 5 blocks and take a left to get to the entrance to the Argosy Casino Parking Deck. Using the entrance to the parking deck as a starting point, drive 1/2 block onto the dirt road that goes to the top of the levee. Park your vehicle as soon as you get to the top of the levee. There will be a little dirt road leading down to the water. After about 25 feet, the dirt road becomes the "Baton Rouge Glass Beach". After your kids collect some antique glass, take them to ring the big bell at the old arsenal. You are probably not supposed to ring the bell, but since there is no sign saying not to, go for it - we always do :) To get to it, start at the Mississippi River Road, pass by the old Pentagon barracks, the new tall state capital and drive aroung the Capital Lakes. You will see a sign on the Capital Lakes road for the old Arsenal. It looks like a 200 year old fort. On the path to the Arsenal, you will see a 5 foot tall bell. You will have to get close to the ground to reach under the bell to grab the metal ball. Pull it all the way to the side of the bell and let it ring! Baton Rouge has a long history of Blues musicians and Blues clubs. A local icon is the legendary Blues musician Tabby Thomas. Tabby also hosts a Blues radio show on on local station WBRH 90.3 FM in Baton Rouge from 1-3 pm Saturday afternoons. Check out his radio show if you get a chance. There are several blues jams held in Baton Rouge. Monday - Blues Jam at Club Rose (Plank at Hollywood) Tuesday - Blues Jam at Club Infinity (Plank at Airline) Tuesday - 20's 30's and Jam at Phil Brady's Wednesday - Blues Jam at Rhythm Museum (Next to Rock Shop on Acadian) Thursday - Blues Jam at Phil Brady's For more on Baton Rouge Blues see the Baton Rouge Blues Society website at www.batonrougeblues.org Another web site that deals with Baton Rouge blues is at www.lagumbomusic.com. You can also join the Baton Rouge Blues discussion egroup. For your radio listening pleasure check out the Cajun, Zydeco and Blues radio guide www.cajunradio.org While in Baton Rouge, check out some Cajun and Zydeco music. Clarence maintains the Baton Rouge Cajun and Zydeco dance schedule located at www.cajunradio.org/batonrougecajunzydeco.html In Baton Rouge, you can hear Cajun music at Boutin's Cajun Restaurant. Boutin's has Cajun bands and a small dance floor. It is at the location of the former Mulate's of Baton Rouge. 8322 Bluebonnet Blvd, Baton Rouge, LA 70810 (225) 819-9862 Also, Brunet's Cajun restaurant occassionally has cajun music. Brunet's is located at 135 Flannery Road in East Baton Rouge (225) 272-6226. The Baton Rouge chapter of the Cajun French Music Association www.cajunradio.org/batonrougecajunzydeco.html often hosts Cajun Dances at an American Legion hall on weekends. It is the local crowd, not filled with tourists, and it usually has dance lessons if you arrive early. Inside the city limits of Baton Rouge is an actual bayou and swamp called Aligator Bayou. It has swamp tours and a little country store and a pavillion at the entrance to the bayou. You can even rent canoes there. The big thrill is going about a mile down the bayou to where it opens into old Cypress swamps. www.alligatorbayou.com Another great activity is the walking tour of Bluebonnet Swamp Nature Center www.brec.org/nature/swamp.htm A local tradition is Tony's Seafood in North Baton Rouge. This is a live and fresh seafood market with a neighborhood take-out deli included. Tony's has jambalaya, cooked seafood, gumbo, etc. The locals list Tony's Boudin Balls as some of the best around. Tony's is a 10 minute drive from downtown Baton Rouge. www.tonyseafood.com Directions - from Downtown BR, take I-110 North toward the BR airport. Go about 5 miles, exit on Hollywood St. Take right. Go to 1st light, turn right on a major road called Plank Rd. Tony's Seafood is about 3 blocks on your right. While downtown, visit the Downtown Main Street Market, Arts Market and Farmers Market Downtown Main Street Market is open 7am-6pm Mon-Fri and 8am-3pm Sat in downtown Baton Rouge at the inside the new government parking garage that is located on Main Street between Fourth and Fifth Street. (free parking with stamp from vendor). Saturdays features The Red Stick Farmers' Market (8am-11am) outside the parking deck. Also on Saturdays is the Downtown Arts Market outside the parking deck. In case of rain, the markets are held in the Galvez Parking Garage at 500 Main Street. The downtown Baton Rouge hotels are: Sheraton Conference Center Downtown Sheraton Hotel 103 France St., 225-242-2600 Allround Suites, 2045 North 3rd St., 225-344-6000 Baton Rouge's bed and breakfast are The Stockade and Mount Hope Plantation. If you are looking to relocate to Louisiana, view my other web site to find a job in Baton Rouge. It is called Baton Rouge Jobs in the Internet and Information Technology Sector. You might want to also see my section on touring Louisiana. A Cajun, Zydeco, Blues and french cultural tour of Louisiana. Another web site that I highly recommend is the web site that Meme has created. Baton Rouge - The Capital of Louisiana It has a lot of tourist information about Baton Rouge and a lot of great photographs of places to visit in Baton Rouge. While in downtown Baton Rouge, you can stop in at several restaurants and lounges. I have a complete summary at www.cajunradio.org/downtownbrfood.html Please listen to Clarence's Cajun radio program in Baton Rouge. Saturdays 7pm-9pm on WBRH 90.3 FM View Clarence's Baton Rouge Cajun and Zydeco Schedule. Clarence needs your help - read a message from Clarence here. Home Site index |