New Orleans/Baton Rouge animosity? NO vs Louisiana? (Baker, Jefferson: neighborhood, schools)

[NorthDeKalb]

Very interesting post Westbank.

As you already know, I lived outside Baton Rouge from 2001-2003 before Katrina and made frequent visits to New Orleans (that’s putting it mildly since I spent most of my time there). But I can tell you first hand some of the comments that New Orleaneans would say to me when I told them where I lived.

1.) Man, what are you doing up there; it’s the country!
2.) Baton Rouge is dead; nothing to do!
3.) Baton Rouge is probably better to raise a family, but New Orleans is really “where it’s at”!

During my stint in Baton Rouge, the city was experiencing a considerable amount of growth. There were things popping up practically on every corner. New restaurants, banks, shopping plaza’s etc. The area that I lived back then looks totally different now, so that’s one thing I liked about the city. Its economy was in great shape.

On the other hand, I have to be honest. I found New Orleaneans to be much friendlier; especially to outsiders such as myself. That’s not to say that Baton Rouge residents aren’t friendly, I just found Baton Rouge to be a lot more close-nit than New Orleans with minimal regard for outsiders. As a result, I eventually ended up leaving because I just wasn't happy there.

That's probably why I spent most of my time in New Orleans as well.

[NorthDeKalb]

On a side note, the one thing that I did like about Baton Rouge was the club scene. Yes, there were a lot more in New Orleans but the flavor was the same to me. I’m a little longer in the tooth these days so all of that clubbing has since ceased, but I was definitely doing my fair share during that time frame. The Baton Rouge clubs that I would frequent were just as vibrant as the ones in New Orleans, and that’s saying a lot!

They pounch just as hard in the BR as they do in the NO, trust me-lol

[Innotech]

Baton Rouge seems more like a pass-through kind of city. Very businesslike. You go to LSU and then you become a businessperson. You live in Baton Rouge because you have to. With New Orleans, its more that you live there because you WANT to. This is not a bash on Baton Rouge, because I was born there but its more of a statement of why people from both cities are generally the way they are.

[edsg25]

seems a lot like the Milwaukee-Madison relationship

[ktulu7]

Being from North Louisiana, I much prefer it there. The culture is SOOO different in the North from what it is in the South, that I have never been comfortable in Baton Rouge. People almost "feel sorry" for me for being from the "dirty, poor, hick-infested hellhole" that is North Louisiana, but they're wrong.

There's a palatable rivalry between the two sides of the state primarily because of two reasons that I can see. The South has a LOT more population, thus way more political clout, so there is the perception that the northern residents never get a fair shake. The South also is where the more French-influenced culture is centered, which is where Louisiana's most well-known identity comes from, and it sort of creates an identity crisis for the North.

As far as BR vs NO, New Orleanians are totally ignorant of anything in Louisiana outside of their immediate area, but don't seem to necessarily hate on their fellow statesmen, as folks in New Orleans (the non-gangsters) are very nice in general. Baton Rouge isn't quite as ignorant about their state, but they VERY MUCH look down their noses at people from elsewhere, in my experience.

Screw both cities, I say just move to Ruston for the best of North Louisiana or Lafayette for the best that the Cajun culture of South Louisiana has to offer. Either way, God bless Louisiana!

[WestbankNOLA]

The topic with BR and "country" just came up in a discussion with some close friends. One is considering moving to Denham Springs or Walker. The other comments "But you'd be around Baton Rouge people, they're different. It would take some adjusting." The other replied "Yeah, they have more "country" in them. They aren't like the people here and I love that."

By "country" they are referring to southerness, as in typical southern culture is found there and not necessarily rural qualities. NO people will refer to Atlanta and Houston as country for the same reason (at least the ones I know), but still love those cities. It's kind of how we are labelled weird because we don't comform to the rest of the south.

This shift in culture makes me curious to see what would happen if the two metros ever grew into one another. The southern BR suburbs growing into the western NO suburbs and the eastern BR suburbs meeting the Northshore. I would like to see what subculture would be produced where the two mindsets meet?

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Katrina... Let's look at Atlanta, BR, and Houston. 3 cities with crime problems taking in the worst of the worst from a city with a bigger crime problem. Did people really expect thank you cards? Nobody stopped to think that sudden increase in pop. = sudden increase in crime? Nobody figured that evacuated criminals would try to establish new territory and local criminals would try to hold theirs down? What got me though was how the media would focus on crimes committed by "katrinians", as we were called, or would link all crimes in area to the evacuees, yet the same stuff was going on before they got there and after they left. It's just not fair that 1.3 million people have to carry the rep for 15% of the population. How is it our fault that traffic in BR is bad 5 years later? I understand the first 8 months (and the fact that both cities have different driving styles), but 5 years c'mon.

Originally Posted by ktulu7

As far as BR vs NO, New Orleanians are totally ignorant of anything in Louisiana outside of their immediate area, but don't seem to necessarily hate on their fellow statesmen, as folks in New Orleans (the non-gangsters) are very nice in general.

I definitely agree.

[MetroBTR]

The reason Baton Rouge may seem like a big box ridden "pass-through city" is because it was a pretty small city until about 1910 when the plants sprung up. Almost overnight there was a huge middle class pouring in to staff the plants. Until the end of World War II, most of the growth in the city was primarily in working class neighborhoods to the north of downtown. The upper class neighborhoods (which were few in number at the time) were located farther from the plants, to the east of downtown (Garden District and then eventually Steele Place) When other sectors of the economy really took off post WWII, people realized it wasn't healthy to live next door to the plants My father told stories about how everything in their yard would get coated with toxic powder that was constantly released into the air. He always blamed that dust for his emphysema.

After that you have the Florida Boulevard corridor rapidly expanding over the next three decades. That along with the advent of the interstate really opened the door for heavy commercial and suburban development.

Baton Rouge as a "city" is much newer than New Orleans. Most of the city was designed around the automobile and the idea of huge subdivisions. The list of subdivisions is endless. We are very automobile-centric, which gets us into trouble sometimes. But I love the hell out of it.

[mhounit]

I'm really tired of reading " Baton Rouge people are ..... " . There are , what , 225,000 people in Baton Rouge ? Another 200,000 in the Metro area ? Every race , religion , social and educational background is represented . So EVERY one of them treat people the same ?
I got news for you . If you can't make friends in an area of 250,000 people , you really might want to rethink the problem .

[NorthDeKalb]

Originally Posted by mhounit

I'm really tired of reading " Baton Rouge people are ..... " . There are , what , 225,000 people in Baton Rouge ? Another 200,000 in the Metro area ? Every race , religion , social and educational background is represented . So EVERY one of them treat people the same ?
I got news for you . If you can't make friends in an area of 250,000 people , you really might want to rethink the problem .

Ha Ha...very funny point. If I were a Baton Rouge resident (not to say that you are) I would probably feel the same way that you do. This was never meant to bash the city. The comment that I made came straight from the mouths of fellow "Red Stickan's"-. To quote my co-worker who was from there "you'll find Baton Rouge to be a very clickish place" and he was exactly right. Let's be reasonable, I think it's pretty fair to say the comment at least deserves looking into especially considering the fact that my experience in New Orleans was the exact opposite. Don't take offense, it's just the truth. I'm not from Baton Rouge but I lived there for two years and trust me I have nothing to gain by making false accusations about a city that I no longer call home.

[mhounit]

Look , it's just common sense . There is NO WAY that the small segment of the population that you interacted with could be representative of the entire population . You're stereotyping an entire metro area of a half million people based on the few that you encountered . I've called Baton Rouge and the surrounding area , home , for 52 years . People are different from one segment of society to another and even from one neighborhood to another . There is no one way to define " Baton Rouge people " .