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lestionnaire. Allen said it proDaDiy :emed a loan he had at the time. He ;n’t really remember.
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id now. About my job.
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ter the performance, I interviewed and David got a chance to shake his d.
low,” I said to David, walking back to car. “Do you get an idea of what I do a job?”
Vhat dad? Talk to clowns?”
pia —Former Civil Defense Director Wade Guice, a lovable man and darling to the media, left behind a widow -iii/m who knew the man better than most. Wade died Aug. 18 at 10:30 p.m.
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GA1LWOYNAR/THE SUN HERALD
Back in business
Amtrak’s return brings new life and hope to Bay St. Louis depot
By METRIC DOCKINS
THE SUN HERALD
_T Inthe Neighborhood
r
BAY ST. LOUIS — Easy listening music plays on the radio.
“Crabnets $1.75 each,” reads one wall sign; a cartoon next to it proclaims this place as “Headquarters for fishermen, hunters and all other liars,” while a few feet away is a coin collection box for the St.
Vincent de P&ul Society.
Hanging on a shelf is a picture of two happy hogs hugging.
This is the domain of A1 Kingston Sr., 74, who has been operating his barbershop at 100 Blaize Ave. since the day after Labor Day 1946.
“I was born and reared in this neighborhood,” Kingston said. “I never did have enough money to get out of town.”
But he left long enough to get his barber’s license in Baton Rouge on Feb. 20,
1939, after having trained at his brother-in-law’s barbershop behind Fahey’s Drugstore.
“I was so happy after getting my barber’s license, I came home and got a marriage license,” Kingston said.
He left again to join the Army in World War II, then returned to open a barbershop and sporting goods business. You can get a haircut and your fishing and hunting licenses in one stop.
“This used to be the busy section of town until they built the (U.S. 90) highway,” Kingston said. “This is where everything came in.”
But as more and better highways were built, rail travel and transport began to decline.
Now, life is returning to the Bay St. Louis depot, giving hope that the entire neighbor-
■ ati
A monthly feature that profiles neighborhoods and communities along the Coast.
Roger Price with the Bay St. Louis Parks and Playground Department was part of a crew clearing land near the train depot last week to beautify the area and make it more accessible to the public. The area will become a park, and a duck pond is planned.
PHOTOS BY VERNON MATTHEWS/THE SUN HERALD
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hood will be revived.
Kingston doesn’t see the glory days of trains ever returning, and he hopes the city isn’t pinning too many dreams on the idea that they will.
The decrease in depot activity over the years never seemed to hurt Kingston’s business. Even today he charges only $5 a head and gives solely “old-fashioned” haircuts — none of that salon styling stuff.
After a half-century of haircutting, Kingston has more than a few stories to tell. One that shows his quick wit and humor is about a guy who, after having his locks shorn, expressed a
ipe that he looked better.
Kingston said he told him, “That’s a birth = -feet; I can’t do a thing about that, but now ■ >u’ve got a good haircut.”
novation sparks revival
Vcross the years, the depot area has had its I ighs and lows. It has been ravaged by fires, the most recent being that which destroyed the 60-year-old Fahey’s Drugstore at 300 ,'ailroad Ave. about a year ago.
Still burned in many memories is the 1965 ming of the movie “This Property is Condemned” with Natalie Wood, Robert
Redford and Charles Bronson.
“It looks like the city is trying to bring this area back to what it was, and that’s good,” said Roy Dedeaux, whose wife’s family has owned anc. operated neighborhood businesses for many years.
Hancock County Historical Society President Charles Gray said the depot area developed around 1870 when the railroad was put through. From then until the turn of the century, it bustled with traffic coming off Washington Avenue and Union Street.
The area remained one of high activity even after businesses began to develop along U.S. 90. But the death knell began to sound when daily passenger train service stopped in the early 1970s.
Over the past three years, about $1 million in federal grants and local money has been spent renovating the depot, built in 1929. Trial-run Amtrak service, begun in late June and initially set to end in late September, has been extended for six months.
The Retired Senior Volunteer Program is relocating from old City Hall into the first floor of the train station. A couple of city offices are upstairs, where the city also plans to hold council meetings.
The city wants to make the like-new building a focal point for festivals, art shows and other public and private events.
“Hopefully, with all the work going on here, people will realize this place is vital,” said Les Fillingame, city director of recreation and cultural affairs. “While we’re attracting people here, we want them to come to think of this
Please see Depot, B-2