House parties are a way of life in southwest Louisiana. Paul Begnaud has the tradition down to a sweet science - food, music, and a hundred or so of his friends and neighbors. He's had lots of practice. This annual event celebrates his 89th birthday.
Scott, Louisiana
Corner of St. Mary Street and Delhomme Avenue
Friday night, February 17, 2012
When’s the last time you were invited to a birthday party in a bank and finished it in a bar. Ok, the bar part you’ve done, but the bank?
Paul Begnaud is throwing himself an 89th birthday party. This is the Friday before Mardi Gras. To say that everyone is already in a festive mood is an understatement.
Mr. Begnaud has opened his home, which happens to be the former Bank of Scott (built in 1911, photo below left), in Scott, Louisiana, and has invited friends from near and far to his celebration.
When the party numbers escalated over the years, he turned his gaze across the street at the long-shuttered Bourque’s Bar (built in 1902) and bought it, perfect for an overflow crowd on occasions like this and for watching Scott’s Mardi Gras parade that struts right past both buildings. If he were playing Monopoly, the historic bank and the well known Bourque’s Bar would be two of the more coveted places on the board.
Paul bought the former Bank of Scott in 1970. Imagine a square, one room-bank in a Bonnie and Clyde movie. With its russet red brick façade, it stands out like a ruby on the corner of St. Mary Street and Delhomme Avenue. Paul’s magnificent art collection sprawls all over the fourteen-foot high walls. His artistic aesthetic was honed by his career as a clerical tailor and as a consultant helping customers choose fabric and color for draperies after he retired.
He's transformed the bank’s vault (doorway in center of photo) into his kitchen. It’s the size of a ship’s galley, except ship galleys don’t have one-foot thick brick walls. The stunning living area practically wraps its arms around you. Walls a gorgeous shade of French yellow ochre and ceiling cerulean blue, it has a genial scattering of tastefully colored chairs, couches, low tables, and lamps, organized in pods for people to gather in small groups. How the man creates a sense of intimacy in such an ungainly space is a miracle. A people person, Paul makes sure the furnishings get a lot of use.
Dessert and drinks are spread out in Paul’s living room (he climbs a short steep metal stairway to reach his sleep quarters in a loft over the bank) and a small patio behind the bank in which Scott’s mayor and Aldermen used to meet.
By 7 PM, guests are socializing at picnic tables’ red-checkered tablecloths in a small garage behind Paul’s “bank.” Neighbor James Martin, is dispensing jambalaya and sides of beans and sweet potatoes. The quartered sweet potatoes steeped in caramel colored brown sugar and pecan sauce are ordinary dishes around sugar cane country but to this Yankee they are an exotic revelation - and a nod to the history of the farmland nearby in which sweet potatoes were a staple cash crop in the late 1800s.
Dinner’s a short stop tonight. The action is across the street in the bar. Paul has hired “Jesse and Company", a road band from Orange, TX, that can play the hell out of any rock 'n roll, swing, and waltz from the 60’s and on. This is Louisiana, remember, and hardly any celebration is without food…and music.
A combination of the wine, the band, and the fabulous grooves of the guest sax player, pulls every dancer to the floor. Sitting on a folding chair against the wall next to the front door, with a grand view of the dance floor and band, sits Paul Begnaud, drinking in the vibe and flashing a huge smile to guests as they walk in the door. Sitting at his side is Georgette, gray hair done up just so, and a smile of liquid sunshine.
Roots run deep in small towns like this. Childhood friend Georgette leans against him and says, “I’ve known him since grade school. My sisters and I used to play jacks with him in the street. We sent him away because with his quick big hands he always won!” Paul likes that story.
Band leader Jesse Domingue calls Paul to the middle of the dance floor. Just about every woman in his bar forms a circle around him and takes fifteen or twenty seconds apiece to dance whatever song playful Jesse is serving up.
Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0pD_hgSh54
The night ends with Paul Begnaud surrounded with about forty adoring women. I wish I had a photo of the smile on the man’s face. If there’s one reason I’d love to live to be 89 years old, this is it.
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Form and function - Begnaud style
Paul Begnaud's art collection and furniture infuses his living area with a playful sense of warmth and whimsy. Barnum and Bailey circus posters share space with art from Kenya, New Orleans and Lafayette. Antique rugs in luminously soft colors cover every inch of floor space. The room is a alive with every color in a deluxe box of Crayola Crayons.
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POSTSCRIPT
Guests begin filtering through the door of the bar. The dance floor wasn't empty for long. Rock 'n Roll band "Jesse and Company," with Jesse Domingue keyboard, Hoytt Cassel guitar, Joe Salazar drums, Robert Rodrigues bass and special guest Gene Romero on tenor sax made sure of that. Jesse and Paul go way back, they grew up together in Scott.
Paul Begnaud loves women...and they love him right back!
The jambalaya pot Mr. Martin is standing over is the size of a bathtub. Retired from GM 23 years ago, the seventy something Martin does this for fun.
“There are about 2000 people that live in central Scott (overall population 9000), they mostly know each other. We use this pot to make jambalaya for school and church functions. I can cook 100 pounds of meat in this pot and feed 700 people. It took us about an hour and a half to cook 50 pounds today. We let it cool, added the water and rice and cooked it down. ”
Sharing food at social gatherings is probably a Southern thing, certainly an old time southwest Louisiana thing, and is still a way of life in small towns like Scott.
Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Hi Paul,
Have been to many of Mr. Paul's parties but had to miss this one because of a conflict.....the Krewe de Canaille had their ball on the same night. Loved reading your piece about what went on this year. Mr. Paul is such a nice man and lives in such a unique space. His annual "Pie Party" is another really awesome event.
Posted by: May Louise White | February 29, 2012 at 08:03 AM
Happy 90th Birthday, cuz, wish we could be there with you to help celebrate.
Anne and Scott Begnaud, Gainesville, GA
Posted by: scott begnaud | February 16, 2013 at 09:26 AM