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Boogaloo 2009
Thank you for your support!
Museum Supporters Celebrated
the Roaring '20s in Grand Style
The biggest party of the year took place on April 18 at the historic 1920s Calcasieu Marine Bank at 844 Ryan Street downtown. Boogaloo is the Imperial Calcasieu Museum's major annual fundraiser, and is one of the liveliest parties of the year. This year's event was no exception! Guests danced to music by the 10-piece band POWERHOUSE from Mobile, Alabama. Fabulous food from Sylvia's Bistro tantalized palated. Jazz Age drinks were poured at the bar.
Partygoers quaffed special Jazz Age drinks and munched on shrimp cocktail, marinated crab claws, canapes, antipasto skewers, crab-stuffed button mushrooms, crawfish bundles, teriyaki pork skewers, hibachi chicken skewers and petite beef Wellington.
What costumes, too! The atmosphere was further created with an authentic clawfoot tub ... one that, in the age of Prohibition, might have been a secret stash for bathtub gin!
The historic bank was the perfect setting. This grand three-story building, a Neo-Classical design by prominent New Orleans architects Favrot and Livaudais, is faced with limestone, and has interesting ornamentation, friezes, and medallions. The parapet is crowned by a large eagle with spread wings, a symbol of Calcasieu Parish. Also notable are the heavy bronze doors, ornamented with lion's head pulls.
The interior is just as well preserved and impressive as the exterior. The grand banking hall has marble walls with huge Corinthian pillars, designed to look as if they're constructed of light orange marble. Other details in the banking hall include the coffered ceiling, original chandeliers, a grand bronze clock and impenetrable safes, one of which is the third-largest bank safe of its type in the world.
With Boogaloo, the bank earned another distinction -- it was a spectacular place for a party!
Next year's Boogaloo will be April 17, 2010. Mark your calendars now!
