INDFocus

Re:purpose 2

Wherein we present then-and-now photos from historic buildings in old Lafayette

See a collection of photos from Lafayette’s past here.

This one is dear to our hearts at The Independent. The top photo shows Lafayette Music Company when it was located Downtown at 551 Jefferson St., now the home to IND Media. Notice the neon sign for Antler’s (they’ve since dropped the apostrophe) in the upper photo; the iconic watering hole remains open today with the original Art Deco bar back.
Top: The Daily Advertiser building on the 200 block of Jefferson in 1926. In the days before the World Wide Web, the Advertiser staff erected a scoreboard on the awning above the front doors to offer passers-by real-time updates on the World Series. After being vacant for a number of years after The Advertiser moved to Bertrand Drive, today the building is home to tech firm CGI.
Top: Broussard Feed & Seed skirting the railroad tracks at Grant and Jefferson streets at the edge of Downtown circa 1942. It really was a feed store for decades. Today it’s the Feed N Seed, a live music venue. Factoid we might have slightly wrong: In the 1970s after Broussard Feed & Seed closed, the building was made to look like a strip joint called The Pussycat for a movie shot on location in Lafayette; for years “The Pussycat” lettering could be seen faintly on the facade of the building, although the movie crew painted over it when filming was complete. No idea who the railroad employee is in the top photo.
Top: Lafayette Hardware Store pictured in the 1970s at Vermilion and Buchanan streets adjacent to the Acadiana Center for the Arts. For a time in the ’80s and ’90s it was home to The Artists’ Alliance. Today it houses MBSB Group, an architectural firm.