The building currently houses the Mattina Bella restaurant.
Below is the Sanborn building map of the area in the year 1954. The Star Theater is the blue building in the top left corner, and the arrow points to Nathan's Bar and Grill. Click on the image to make it larger.
The
brick building housing Nathan's was built in 1935 for a new Bar and
Cafe called "Charlie's." Here is the news article in the June 7th, 1935,
edition of the St. Tammany Farmer telling about the new establishment.
The advertisement below was from the same issue to promote the new bar and cafe. Click on the image to make it larger.
This photo shows the original "Charlie's Bar and Cafe" housed in the building.
Six
years after the cafe opening in 1935 came this 1941 Sanborn map,
showing the building (red) as being next to the "Gibson Hotel."
The
construction of the brick building was started in February of 1935, as
indicated by this article in the St. Tammany Farmer newspaper.
Going
back even earlier, the map shown below is from 1927, seven years prior
to the construction of the red brick building where Charlie's (and later
Nathan's) would be located (shown in yellow). To the west on the corner
is a Garage and Repairs business with a capacity of 70 cars. This was
before the Star Theater was built.
Finally,
going all the way back to a map published in 1904, we find a different
building in that location. But what a location it was, right in front of
the train tracks that brought hundreds of visitors to Covington every
weekend. The Rubion Hotel was situated next door, across the street was
the Patrick Hotel, and on the corner to the west, there was now the
Stroble and Warren Livery Stable. Halfway down the block on New
Hampshire was an Oyster Sal., and halfway down the block on Columbia was
a drug store. As far as locations went, it was the perfect place, front
and center for all the goings on, a block north of the parish
courthouse and in-between the two busiest streets in downtown
Covington.
An
early 1900's view looking east on Gibson Street from New Hampshire
Street. The Patrick Hotel is on the left, with the porch roof of the
train station also on the left. On the right is the Rubion Hotel and,
closer to the camera, the location where Charlie's, Nathan's, Judice's,
and now the Mattina Bella restaurant would be situated in the years to
come.
Judice's Restaurant Ribbon Cutting
Thanks goes to Jack Terry for providing the Sanborn maps used in this blog entry.
Photo restoration and tinting by Ron Barthet.