[StBernard] (no subject)

Westley Annis westley at da-parish.com
Fri May 14 08:07:15 EDT 2010


Video shows a greener, younger St. Bernard Parish
By Kim Gritter
May 13, 2010, 2:00AM
When Glenn Cantrell bought his first video camera nearly 30 years ago, he
couldn't wait to use it. So the 26-year-old and Patsy Cantrell, his
sister-in-law at the time, jumped into his 1970-something Ford LTD and took
a drive around the parish, all the while filming everything along Judge
Perez Drive from Campagna Drive in Chalmette to St. Bernard Highway in Arabi
to Paris Road.

"It was a Panasonic; a big, old bulky thing, " Cantrell said of the camera.

Cantrell set out that day with the intention of preserving the way the
parish was during that era for future generations to see.

"I really wish I would have shot even more video of the parish back then, "
said Cantrell, now 53. "I love to look back at it because I've always
enjoyed reminiscing and old memories and nostalgic stuff."

Cantrell had no idea just how valuable that footage would become just two
short decades later when his beloved hometown was inundated by Hurricane
Katrina's floodwaters.

"It's amazing how stuff changes over the years, and St. Bernard is changing
again, too, " Cantrell said. "There's such a hunger for that now more than
ever. The people lost so much; their community, stuff they'll never get
back."

Cantrell's video shows a much greener, much younger St. Bernard Parish.
During the nine-minute, circa 1982 video he captures places long gone from
not only the landscape, but from many of our memories, too.

There's the St. Bernard Drive-In, where as a child you could sneak in by
lying on the floor of the backseat of your parents' auto and as an adult you
could get romantic with no one ever bothering you; the Ice House on St.
Claude Avenue in Arabi, where you could get huge brown paper bags of ice for
25 cents; and the Kaiser smokestack, which still stands, but now wears the
letters of its new owner, the St. Bernard Port. Other sites that caught my
eye included Kinney's Shoes, Bud's Broiler, Gaylords, Peoples and St.
Bernard banks, the Hi-Li Service Station and K&B. You can also spot the once
lush green forest along West Judge Perez Drive that now is home to the
Chalmette Walmart.

About two minutes into the video Cantrell cranks up the 80s pop music. I
couldn't help but move to the all-to-familiar electronic sound of the
synthesizer in Soft Cell's "Tainted Love, " and I actually started singing
along to Kool and the Gang's "Ladies Night." Those two tunes brought me
right back in time. I felt like Marty McFly being thrust into the past with
his 1.21 gigawatts of electricity. I could almost feel the wind blowing
through my hair as if I were in the car with Cantrell.

OK, back to the video.

Immediately after watching the video, I reposted it to my Facebook profile
and forwarded it to several people. My phone rang almost instantly with
callers wanting to know where I got the video, who posted it and how could
they get a copy.

"I've always wanted to share it with people, but never had the opportunity,
" Cantrell said. "Facebook has given me an opportunity to show it, and I've
been getting plenty of response."

What Cantrell, a 1974 graduate of Chalmette High School, also didn't realize
that day was that being behind the camera would spark something in him that
would shape the course of his future.

Cantrell, who has lived in Mandeville for about 10 years, said he was just
an amateur when he took the video. Now, Cantrell is a professional
videographer and owns One Force Media.

He is in the process of creating a video of the parish using snippets of
videos from residents, and he welcomes your input.

"I've always wanted to make a video about St. Bernard Parish using old
photos and film, " he said. "Not so much people's home videos from their
backyards, but from things like Carnival parades or festivals or things like
that."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA5XSyMmAik




More information about the StBernard mailing list