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The Bossier Strip

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The Bossier Strip is the name for an entertainment district in Bossier City, Louisiana that is widely known for it's night clubs, bars, strip joints, restaurants, gambling, prostitution, and live music. The "Strip," as it is call by locals, begins at the East terminus of the Texas Street Bridge which connects Shreveport, Louisiana and Bossier City (the bridge was completed in the 1930s by then Governor O.K. Allen). The Strip was most popular as an entertainment destination between about 1940 and 1970.[1] The Strip begins at the foot of the Texas Street Bridge and extends East to Louisiana Downs Racetrack near Red Chute Bayou. The heart of the Strip, where the majority of clubs were located at the height of it's popularity, was from the Texas Street Bridge to Swan Lake Road. Gambling was legalized in the state in 1990[2] leading to the development of casinos along the Red River and the eventual decline of the Bossier Strip as a focus for entertainment.

The strip has been the home of bars and brothels almost since the formation of the city in the 1800's. From about 1930 through the late 1940s the Bossier Strip was as popular an entertainment destination as Las Vegas, having been around for many years prior to the establishment of Las Vegas as a place for gambling.[3]

The Bossier Strip is also located at the center of what musicians once called the Magic Circle,[4] an area extending from Tyler, Texas to Monroe, Louisiana, and from Hope, Arkansas to Natchitoches, Louisiana. This area has produced an inordinate number of musical performers that have attained high acclaim for their music. The list of performers who were either born in the area, or who got their start in music in the area, includes such notables as Lead Belly, Slim Whitman, Van Cliburn, Webb Pierce, Faron Young, Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Horton, Elvis Presley, John Campbell, Dale Hawkins, Merle Kilgore, Johnny Cash,[5] and many others. [6] (see List of people from Shreveport) ...

References

  1. ^ Bossier Parish, (Images of America: Louisiana) by Clifton D. Cardin (Jul 17, 1999)[1]
  2. ^ State of Louisiana Office of Addictive Disorders, 2002 Louisiana Study of Problem Gambling, P1, [2]
  3. ^ Las Vegas Casinos and Past Mab Ties, [3]
  4. ^ The Legendary Tillman Franks, [4]
  5. ^ The Legendary Tillman Franks, [5]
  6. ^ Ron Stern Travel Journalist, Shreveport Bossier City, [6]
  • Bossier Parish, (Images of America: Louisiana) by Clifton D. Cardin (Jul 17, 1999)[7]
  • Shreveport Sounds in Black and White, (American Made Music) by Kip Lornell and Tracey E. W. Laird (Feb 1, 2008) [8]
  • Roy Buchanan: American axe, By Phil Carson, [9]
  • The Legendary Tillman Franks, [10]
  • Ron Stern Travel Journalist, Shreveport Bossier City, [11]
  • My Bossier, Blog [12]
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