New Orleans Lakefront Airport opened as Shushan Airport in 1934.
Shushan Airport
The airport out at Lake Pontchartrain and the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal (Industrial Canal) originally opened as Shushan Airport, and later became New Orleans Lakefront Airport (NEW). The “big” airport, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, came later. The FAA doesn’t move the three-letter code names for airports, once radio frequencies, maps, etc, list them for a particular location. So, the original airport is NEW and the Kenner airport is MSY, an abbreviation for Moisant Stock Yards. Shushan Airport gets its name from Abraham Shushan, who was President of the Orleans Levee Board in the 1920s.
Construction of Shushan Airport was part of a larger capital project proposed in 1922. The main component of the package was the seawall. The seawall functioned as a sort of dam along the lake shore. It ran from West End to the Industrial Canal. Construction of the seawall enabled the Orleans Levee Board to drain the water behind the seawall, then develop it. As we discussed in Podcast 51, Winning the War on the Lakefront, much of the reclaimed land became military installations during the run-up to World War II.
The airport
Architectural rendering of the Shushan Airport main building, 1934.
Of the $15 million approved for the lakefront, the bill earmarked $4 million for an airport. The airport extended the functionality of the lakefront to the eastern side of the Industrial Canal.
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The New Orleans Lakefront played many roles in the war effort of the 1940s.
USCG Guardsman standing guard at Higgins Industries, New Orleans
Winning the War on the Lakefront
This was originally a talk given at the National World War II Museum, part of their “Lunchbox Lecture” series. Doing it again as a podcast episode because talk recordings don’t always catch good angles of the photos and maps.
PT-Boat commissioning ceremony at Higgins Industries on the Industrial Canal
Four Ways to Support NOLA History Guy
Buy my books! Edward Branley is the author of six books on New Orleans history. They’re available from local booksellers and all the usual online suspects.
Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi dot com. I just love this concept as a way to say thank you/tip creators you enjoy. Our idea of monetization is buying books and having us come to speak. If you see me at a coffee shop, stop and say hi. Otherwise, I’ll raise coffee cup to you if you treat me.
Become a patron. Yes, we’re on Patreon. A lot of creators use the platform for direct monetization, and that’s great for them. We don’t have “exclusive content” for patrons. Still, if you think our history stuff is worth a dollar a month, go join!
The Canal Street Zone is the transit hub of the city.
Canal Street Zone
At the peak of my streetcar riding, in the mid-late 1970s, transfer slips always said, “Good on any connecting line or any line in the Canal Street Zone.” That concept goes back over a century now. The Canal Street Zone morphed into an (almost) all-bus concept in 1964, with the conversion of the Canal (Cemeteries) line to buses. This ad in the Times-Picayune on 15-August-1964 announces the roll-out of bus service in the Canal Street neutral ground:
Canal Street Buses Start Operating on Downtown Neutral Ground Sunday as Major Construction Nears End.”
Cemeteries line service continued with buses immediately after the electric overhead wires vanished at the end of May, 1964. While most streetcar infrastructure moved slowly, NOPSI and the city moved quickly to ensure the change stuck. No going back, similar to the move of passenger rail service to Union Passenger Terminal in 1954. Buses operated in the automobile lanes for the entire length of the line while city crews ripped up the tracks.
Return to the neutral ground
by August, 1964, the city cleared the streetcar tracks on Canal from Claiborne to Liberty Place. For the first time since 1861, no streetcars operated in the neutral ground. Only the one-block loop track for the St. Charles Line (Carondelet-Canal-St. Charles) remained. This is huge. At their peak levels of operation, streetcars ran on four tracks in the neutral ground. Uptown and Downtown lines approached Canal, looped for one or more blocks on the outside pair of tracks, then proceeded on their outbound runs.
So, that one-block loop was all there was from 1964 until the upgrade of the Riverfront line in 1997. While Riverfront opened in 1988, it did not connect to St. Charles. The New Orleans Regional Transit Authority (NORTA, which took over from NOPSI in 1984) used the old L&N/Seaboard Coast Line (now-CSX) track. Riverfront grew in popularity to the point where NORTA expanded the line to two-track operation. They ripped up the standard-gauge track, replacing it with two wide-gauge (streetcar) tracks. Additionally, they built a connector from Riverfront to St. Charles. Now the “red ladies” could return to Carrollton Station under their own power.
Street-to-neutral ground
The photos in this ad show how the bus zone operated. Buses for all three Canal lines ran from City Park Avenue to Claiborne in the auto lanes. At Claiborne, they shifted to the inside (left) lane, entering the bus zone. They ran down to the river, turned around, and headed outbound. At Claiborne, they exited the zone, continuing in the auto lanes.
Direct service
The ad states, “Direct service between the river and the lake, with no transferring, is now offered for the same 10-cent fare for local and 15-cent for express.” Prior to all-bus operation on Canal, riders living in Lakeview took the West End bus to City Park Avenue. They transferred to the streetcar at that point. This! This right here is why it was so easy to sell discontinuing streetcar service on Canal. If you lived in Lakeshore or Lake Vista, you could board the extended lines, Canal-Lakeshore via Pontchartrain Blvd, or Canal-Lake Vista via Canal Blvd., by your house and ride into town without transferring. In air-conditioning. At a time when working downtown meant men wore suits and women wore dresses and hose, this was a Big. Deal.
Brother Martin High played a role in the UNO Spring Commencement in 1977.
UNO Spring Commencement in the old gym
Photo from the University of New Orleans in 1977. Caption on the rear:
“Chancellor Homer L. Hitt, left, and Brother Donnan Berry, S.C., Principal of Brother Martin High School at the UNO Afternoon Spring Commencement program, May 20, 1977, with honor graduates Mrs. Sharon Ann Brown, second from left, who received her degree with magna cum laude honors; and Miss Janice A. Goodspeed, who graduated cum laude.”
Brother Martin High School had such a tight connection with the University of New Orleans in the 1970s. It’s no surprise that the university invited Brother Donnan to deliver a commencement address. UNO had only been “UNO” for three years at this time, having changed over from LSUNO in 1974.
Dr. Homer L. Hitt was the first Chancellor of the university. At the time, UNO was part of the Louisiana State University system of schools. The system had a President, and each individual university was administered by a Chancellor and their respective Vice-Chancellors. That changed when the university moved to the University of Louisiana system of schools, and the CEO assumed the title of President. The campus Alumni Center bears Chancellor Hitt’s name. Affectionally referred to as “The Smoke Stack,” the Alumni Center is the last remaining structure from the original NAS New Orleans that stood on the site during World War II. My dad’s first Electronics Shop for the College of Science was in a building just down from the incinerator building (the smokestack).
At this time, commencement ceremonies took place in the Health and Physical Education Center. The gym wasn’t large enough to accommodate a combined commencement, so there were two, morning and afternoon. The UNO Lakefront Arena resolved that issue in the 1980s. The “Old Gym” is still there more. UNO re-named the building the “Human Performance Center/The Athletic Center.”
Brother Donnan was the third principal of BMHS, after Brothers Mark Thornton and Brice Hendrick. He was succeeded by Brother Ivy Leblanc.
The Pontchartrain Beach Skyride was a popular 1970s-80s attraction.
Pontchartrain Beach Skyride
Photo of the “Skyride” at the Pontchartrain Beach amusement park.The attraction was a classic ski lift-style ride that carried folks from one end of the midway to another. The photo shows the elevated walkway that led out to the sand beach along the lake. A car traveling in the opposite direction carries three girls wearing jeans. To the right is the main concessions stand. In the background stands the Zephyr, the park’s large, wooden roller coaster.
Da Beach
Harry Batt, Jr., built his original amusement park along Bayou St. John in 1929. He moved it to Milneburg, at Elysian Fields and the Lakefront, in 1939. The Works Progress Administration (WPA) built a bath house at that location. They solicited bids for an operator to run the bath house and expand the site. Batt did just that. The amusement park stood between two large military facilities, NAS New Orleans to the west and an Army facility to the East. The navy base is now the University of New Orleans, and the Army base is now the Lake Oaks subdivision.
Streamline Moderne
Main concession stand at night.
The main buildings of the park were in the Streamline Moderne style, a variant of Art Deco. The main concession stand sold JAX Beer, along with “Coney Island Hot Dogs” and other food items. The photo above shows the night lighting of the building.
Other buildings
The beach midway at night.
The Beach presented a symphony of incandescent and neon lights at night. The lights enticed park-goers to the rides and, naturally, to the food and beer. This photo shows the entrance to the “Wild Maus” coaster, a maze-like ride with many sharp turns and short, steep drops. The multi-disc light tower sits atop another concession stand and indoor arcade combination.
Abandoned Jazzland
“Pontchartrain Beach” section of the Jazzland amusement park, courtesy Abandoned New Orleans.
This photo, courtesy of Abandoned New Orleans, presents the ruins of the re-created “Pontchartrain Beach” at the Jazzland/Six Flags amusement park in New Orleans East. The park closed after incurring flooding and damage in Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Shushan Airport is now known as Lakefront Airport.
Art Deco administration building at Shushan Airport
2010 photo of the restored art deco facade of the Lakefront Airport administration building. Infrogmation photo.
Architectural drawing of the Administration building of Shushan Airport. The state built the airport on the eastern side of the Industrial Canal. Then-governor Huey P. Long authorized the construction of the airport in 1929. The airport opened in 1934. Airport visitors pull up to this splendid example of art deco style. The Army Air Corps hardened the administration building at the outset of World War II. While the original art deco design remained, the AAC covered it with a “bomb proof” exterior. The building underwent extensive renovations in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Its original facade was restored, as well as the art deco fixtures, floors, etc., in the interior.
Shushan to Lakefront
architectural rendering of Shushan Airport administration building.
The state originally named the airport after Huey Long ally Abraham Shushan. Long rewarded Shushan’s loyalty (and financial contributions) with a position on the Orleans Parish Levee Board. Shushan became president of that board. That’s why the airport took his name. Shushan got caught up in several political scandals in the 1930s. Abe became a liability to his patron. The Long faction cut him loose and re-named the airport in 1939. It became New Orleans Airport, with the three-letter designation, NEW. When Moisant Field in Kenner evolved into the city’s primary airport, New Orleans Airport became Lakefront Airport. It still retains NEW as its code, with now-named Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport as MSY.
This rendering is part of the Franck Studios collection at THNOC. The architectural firm that created it is uncredited.
Bomber Base
As tensions increased in Europe in the late 1930s, the United States Army Air Corps created antisubmarine aircraft squadrons along the Gulf of Mexico. One of these bomber squadrons operated from Lakefront Airport. While the planes parked at the airport, there wasn’t enough space to house the squadron’s personnel and offices. The Army acquired land on the west side of the Industrial Canal. They built the support facilities for the squadron there. Pilots and maintenance crew worked back and forth across the canal. The western base later became part of Camp Leroy Johnson, an army supply depot.
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