This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

!
f
i
t
j 2C-SEA COAST ECHO-THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1981
Bay?s oldest business closes after 111 years
By BRENT MACEY
One hundred and eleven years after opening its door to the first customer, Manieri?s Restaurant in Bay St. I-ouis ? closed Monday.
A small group of friends and relatives gathered at the restaurant cm Main Street for a party commemorating the final day. Amidst cake and champagne served as refreshment, Dutch and Veronica f 7
Manieri, sisters and third generation owners of the restaurant, recalled many memories associated with Bay St. I/Ouis? oldest business.
Manieri?s, according to the sisters, was established by their grandfather in 1870. The sisters don?t recall where that building was located then. They were born in the early 1900?s when the family's home was located above the already established restaurant and bar: located at that time at the end of Washington Street on Beach Boulevard.
According to Dutch Manieri, a pier located close to where the American legion Pier is now contained a set of railroad tracks extending out into the Bay.
Schooners would deliver barrels of beer for the restaruant at the end of the oier. Workers would then load
The Rungelo; a building he had constructed on Blaize Avenue where the used furniture shop is now located.
Later that building was sold and the restaurant moved to the Gilmore building on the same street.
A pool hall was incorporated into that restaurant and business continued until that building was destroyed by fire about 1933.
Dad Manieri moved the business back to Beach Boulevard. This time the restaurant was located at the head of Main street. A gift shop was incorporated into the restaurant and replaced the pool hall business.
When Dad died in 1945, the sisters offically took over, although both admit they had been working in the business since they were 17 or 18 years old.
All went well again until Hurricane Camille totally destroyed that building in 1969.
?We lost everything,? V said solemnly, ?and we didn?t have a penny of insurance.?
The only thing found after the storm was a roll of gift rapping paper and the family cash register which had been broken into. They found the cash register along the beach.
? *
CELEBRATING CLOSING?V Manieri, left, and sister Dutch Manieri. center, owners of Bav St. Louis? oldest business, toast the closing of their restaurant with Bay St. Louis Mayor Larry Bennett last Monday. Friends and relatives attended the party in the restaurant located on 128 Main Street. The business was 111 years old and was run by three generations of Manieri?s. (Staff photo by Brent Macey)