Fun in South Shreveport, Louisiana

On the way home from Houston in early 2023, my wife and I decided to break up the trip and overnight in Shreveport. 

To get to our hotel, we took I-49 south and exited to East 70th Street. We entered "that" type of neighborhood:  car shops with razor wire, closed and crumbling shops, burned houses, Popeye's Chicken, plasma centers, dead gas stations, nail salons, Pay-Day loan shops, car bling shops (behind razor fences), and an occasional resident shuffling along in a heavy parka or electric scooter. 

Heading east on E. 70th, we crossed a bayou and oops, what happened? A bicycle trail, insurance offices, the Lexus and BMW dealers, Whole Foods Market, new chain hotels, la Madeleine French Bakery. The contrast is so Southern, so typical. But even after all these decades living in the South, I am still amazed and disgusted.

The next morning, we went back to E. 70th and took a few pictures. It looked worse in daylight. It was an overcast day, and we saw almost no one out and about.

558 E. 70th Street (35mm ƒ/2 Summicron lens)

Apollo Liquor - probably a money-maker (5932 Linewood Ave.)

Grant's Automotive, 6912 Fairfield Ave.

King Tire, 437 E. 70th St.

Fixer-upper house, E. 69th St.

Southern Avenue 

Another fixer-upper house, 249 E. 69th St.

E. 66th St. (25mm ƒ/4 Voigtlander Color-Skopar lens)

No one home, E. 66th St. (25mm ƒ/4 Voigtlander Color-Skopar lens)

Well, this part of Shreveport is pretty horrifying. Why is this type of decay so endemic in American cities? I just don't understand.

I took these photographs of Fuji Acros film with my Leica M2 camera using 25mm, 35mm, and 50mm lenses, all hand-held. I scanned the negatives with a Plustek OptiFilm 7600i film scanner operated by SilverFast software.