Smiley Anders for June 29, 2009

• By SMILEY ANDERS
• Advocate columnist
• Published: Jun 29, 2009

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Recalling  Starhill’s bopotamus
David Grouchy says he and wife, Janet, recently attended a science fiction writers conference in Minneapolis:

“Somehow, the discussion of jackalopes and bassalopes came up. I mentioned the rare and endangered bopotamus, which lurks in the woods near Starhill.

“Strangely enough, the Midwesterners had never heard of the bopotamus, nor of the even more rare nauga, which was over-hunted in the ’60s for couches and easy chairs.”

Let me explain:

Back in the ’80s, Chuck Fresina wrote to the late Murphy Dreher, the self-proclaimed mayor of Starhill, claiming to be a bopotamus hunter and telling of plans for a hunt there.

Murphy, a talented jokester himself, ran with the idea and put on a Bopotamus Ball at Club South of the Border to celebrate the hunt.

The bopotamus, a hairy cousin of the nauga, became something of a Starhill mascot, and the Bopotamus Ball kicked off the West Feliciana social season for many years.

Food for thought
When you get to talking about old Baton Rouge eating places, the comment is always the same:
“They just don’t make (name food here) like they did at (name eatery here).”

For instance, Don Weber says “a turning point in the recovery of downtown would be somebody selling real Muffoletto hot tamales in front of Chris’ bar at North and N. 19th at 11 in the morning, or maybe at Main and N. 19th around 7 p.m.”

And Foy Matthews Crary, who returned to Baton Rouge in July after being away since 1964, loves being back but misses Tony’s doughnuts:

“When we were little, my aunt would take us to Mass at St. Gerard’s, then we would go to Tony’s on Plank Road to pick up dozens of doughnuts for our grandmother and all of the cousins.

“If you know who has Tony’s recipe, I’d love to know. My grandchildren have never tasted Tony’s and that’s an experience too good to miss.”

Bonnie purple flag
After we mentioned the “Bonnie Blue” lone star flag of the Republic of West Florida, Doug Levet said his tailgating crew has had an LSU version for several years: