As we inch into the meat of the swealtering summer here in New Orleans, I’ve begun to think back about my summers from the past. Most of them I experienced as a young punk revolved around swimming, french quarter trips, bar-b-qued weiners, and sneaking around the pool drinking cheap Busch beer.
Since I can remember, all of my family from out of town ventured down south and setup camp at my grandparent’s condo in Metairie. Besides their yearly trek to Central Grocery for muffs, my family loved Morning Call’s beignets. The trip over to 17th and Severn was one of the many highlights while they were in town.
What I looked forward to even more than the beignets and Barbe’s carton chocolate milk was the fact that Morning Call resided next to one of the coolest places on earth…Lakeside Newsstand (3323 Severn Avenue Metairie, LA, 70002 / 504.889.1425).
With every interest and change in my life, Lakeside News has always had something for my every proclivity. Whether it was collecting baseball cards in middle school, collection graphic design annuals, to my ongoing obsession with limited edition imported magazines, Lakeside News has always provided an overwhelming selection. To be honest, even Barnes & Noble can’t compare.
What truly inspired me to feature Lakeside News was the fact that Newstands in general are a quickly dying breed. Ironically, NOLA proper has not a single newstand to speak of, much less one that compares to Lakeside.
Plainly, I would not be the person I am today if it wasn’t for Lakeside News offering me a wide ranging selection of inspiration. Besides hoping a plane to a far off land, how was I ever going to learn about the world beyond the Mississippi river?
Finally, the world I live in is built upon 1s and 0s, and there’s nothing more real than a well designed and superbly printed magazine. Long live the newstand.