St. Claude Avenue was the main street of the Marigny/Bywater/Ninth Ward.
Kaufman’s on St. Claude
This 1961 photo of the Kaufman’s Department Store on St. Claude Avenue illustrates the retail climate in New Orleans in the early 1960s.
“I’m going shopping downtown!” what what your grandma (shoot, your great-grandma these days) would say, as she put on her hat and gloves that matched a nice dress. Off she went, catching the bus, then a streetcar, exiting on Canal Street. The world was hers, as she walked from Krauss to Godchaux’s to Maison Blanche, stopping for lunch at Holmes. She returned home in time to get dinner started, knowing that the stores would deliver her purchases the next day.
That routine changed for a lot of women by the 1960s. Women entered the workforce during World War II, covering essential jobs. In the new Orleans area, the Cold War and the “Space Race” created jobs for women. Additionally, the city’s footprint grew out more, with younger couples buying houses in Gentilly and further out in the Ninth Ward. Families who lived further away from the Central Business District were less interested in a longer ride on public transit. Car culture dominated.
Suburban growth
Local retail saw this coming in the 1950s. Maison Blanche opened stores in Gentilly and Mid-City, but it was Kaufman’s that truly embraced the suburbs. Charles Kaufman & Co. operated in the Dryades Market corridor from the 1880s. The store boasted of easy accessibility, with three major streetcar lines passing by. While the Dryades corridor would never surpass Canal Street, many New Orleanians, particularly Black locals, recognized the value of the area. The company leveraged that popularity, opening satellite stores in Gentilly (Paris Avenue), Lakeview (Harrison Avenue), and two in Jefferson Parish.
Our photo this week is of the Kaufman’s store at 2135 St. Claude Avenue, corner Elysian Fields Avenue. Here’s the caption from THNOC:
View of business at 2135 St. Claude. A billboard advertising “Pan-American Life Insurance Company 50th Anniversary” sits atop building. Commissioned by Latter and Blum.
This Franck-Bertacci Studios photo is undated, but the billboard establishes the date. Pan-American Life Insurance was founded in 1911, making its fiftieth anniversary 1961. The St. Claude streetcar is long gone. Riders wait for the bus, as the corner of Elysian Fields and St. Claude was a transfer point. The bus stop sign on the right is for the Elysian Fields line.
Kaufman’s, along with other stores in the Dryades corridor, encountered push-back from the Black community during the Civil Rights movement of the early 1960s. That push-back led to Kaufman’s closing the flagship store in 1961. In spite of that tension, the outlying stores continued with success until the popularity of shopping malls overtook them.
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