What’s Up?

Domeless

Bucky’s Baton Rouge dome is no more.

Kansas City Southern Railway took a wrecking ball to its geodesic dome in North Baton Rouge a week before Thanksgiving, stunning local architecture enthusiasts and preservationists.

The nearly 400-foot-wide architectural icon was a “public health and safety concern,” KCS spokeswoman Doniele Kane says.

The world famous dome, inspired by the spherical molecule its creator R. Buckminster Fuller discovered, had stood empty and rusting into oblivion in a Scenic Highway railway yard ever since KCS bought it in 1990.

“I thought we were beyond destroying historical buildings when no one is looking,” says Carolyn Bennett, executive director for the Foundation for Historical Louisiana, which supports tough new laws to prevent property owners from destroying important buildings.

Baton Rouge resident Bill Jolly fired off an angry letter to KCS Chairman Michael Haverty, scolding the company for destroying “one of the great landmarks and historical buildings in the Baron Rouge area.”

“Shame on you,” Jolly concluded.

The dome wasn’t widely known, but in design circles it enjoyed near-cult status. LSU architecture professor Tom Sofranko says design students had been sneaking onto the railroad property to get a glimpse of the dome for years—“architectural trespassing” in the business.

Kane claims the company was not aware of LSU’s interest in the building. She also said KCS representatives discussed the building several times with local preservation groups, but no one offered to put up any money to restore it.

—CHUCK HUSMTYRE

What else have we lost?

Some time-honored Baton Rouge icons disappeared last year.

Maybe 2008 will see the birth of a few new ones, but for now we salute some old favorites we’ll not soon forget.

The train at the Louisiana Art and Science Museum. These railcars (left) taught a generation of kids to love locomotives. In early December they were carted off to Hammond, where they will undergo a complete transformation, cosmetically and mechanically speaking.

BeBop Music Shop. The hole-in-the-wall indie instrument shop shut down after 26 years of rocking Government Street.

Kornmeyer’s. We grew up literally on their stuff, but the old-line furniture store failed with a modern makeover.

Perkins Road Hardware. In late 2006 a fire gutted the building, and when owners decided to close for good, the entire neighborhood lost a trusted “handyman.”

Romano’s on North Boulevard. One of the last old Italian grocery stores in the ’hood served its final savory sub.

Silver Moon Café. Pushed from its prime Chimes Street location by developers, this soul food joint settled in St. Gabriel, too far away for our taste.

The Thirsty Tiger. This classic come-as-you-are haunt for journalists, politicos and Spanish Town neighbors was replaced by a fancy martini bar.

—JEFF ROEDEL

Curb appeal

When a vamped flower bed or twinkling lights around the holidays won’t give you an edge over the neighbors, call Aaron Guitreau. This irrigation maintenance and repairman—and National Guardsman—can paint your yard with a roller and exterior water-based paint. Guitreau first meets with his client, lays out the design from the road and then starts painting. “Whatever kind of person you are, it is expressed in your yard,” Guitreau says. The unique design withstands the elements upon drying and costs on average $300.

—MARY HELEN CRUMPLER

Coffee trash talk

New Orleans-based Luzianne has launched an in-your-face campaign in Community Coffee’s own back yard of Baton Rouge, introducing its first new coffee blend in a decade.

Although better known for tea, Luzianne claims that its revolutionary new roasting method for dark, medium and decaf blends removes coffee’s bitter aftertaste.

On launch day, about a dozen Luzianne reps wore “Ask me why I’m not bitter” T-shirts and passed out thousands of sample bags of the new dark roast blend.

“Luzianne is as much Louisiana as Community is,” spokeswoman Stephanie Kaston says.

Greg Schwarz of Community says his company hasn’t taken much notice of the new Luzianne campaign. “We just stay focused on making great coffee,” he says, “and don’t have a lot of time to get sideways with our competition.”

luzianne.com

—C.H.

E85 guarantee

At the end of the month Sullivan Oil will complete a retrofit of Baton Rouge’s first alternative fuel station to offer E85, a cleaner fuel composed of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline. Sullivan’s Fuelman station on Florida Boulevard near Foster Drive has cleaned out its expensive “premium” tanks and switched those pumps to E85.

“We believe Baton Rouge is a dynamic, progressive city and will respond well to green fuels,” Sullivan representative Willie Wells says.

Less expensive and less efficient than standard gas, E85 reduces tail-pipe emissions and is compatible with dozens of popular 2007 Flexible Fuel Vehicles including the Chevrolet Suburban, Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. City officials estimate nearly 10,000 flex-fuel cars in use in Baton Rouge.

“With Shaw’s ethanol plant across the river and several others in the state, we’re going to be able to bring the cost of gasoline down,” says Tammy Morgan, the city’s Sustainability and Renewable Energy Coordinator, who worked with Sullivan on the project. “I think we may see more [E85 stations] in 2008.”

If E85 sells well, Morgan says, Sullivan Oil may offer biodiesel next.

—J.R.