Noteworthy
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N E W S , T I M E LY F A C T S , A N D O T H E R
CURIOSITIES
LO O K C LO S E R
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Hell or High Water THE OYSTER BAR RESURFACES
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he last time I paid a visit to the Oyster Bar was by kayak. It was April; the Mississippi River was running at around forty-four feet at the Baton Rouge gauge, and the iconic dive bar—which has clung to what passes for high ground along the south bank of St. Francisville’s Bayou Sara since the 1950s—was almost completely submerged. As I paddled the path of Ferdinand Street, which leads to the old ferry landing when the river is within its banks, all that remained visible of the sturdy little building was its red tin roof, onto which I climbed to take a break from fighting the cross-current. Suffice it to say that the Oyster Bar was not open for business. Given that high water events like last spring’s flood have increasingly become a regular event of life along the
lower Mississippi, it might be a surprise to learn that the Oyster Bar is, in fact, soon to re-open—lively as ever. Davis Havard, its latest proprietor, knows exactly what he is getting into. “I’ve drunk more than a few beers up on that roof when the water’s been high,” acknowledged Havard, a St. Francisville native and chef, who took a break from working on the building’s interior one December day to show a visitor around. A long-time patron, Havard estimates he has probably helped the Oyster Bar’s various proprietors move in and out six or seven times over the years. “You’ve got to open up the doors and windows, move everything out that might build up pressure, and just let the water flow through,” he says. “Then, when the water goes down you hose everything down, let it dry out, and start over.” With his renovation, Havard is taking the “dive
bar” concept to new heights (or depths), setting all the Oyster Bar’s equipment on casters for easy removal, tearing out the old, low ceiling to reveal the surprisingly handsome vaulted woodwork above, and fitting electrical and plumbing systems designed to withstand prolonged submersion. Interior surfaces finished with reclaimed oak and cypress will be none the worse for occasional dips. Is it a coincidence that the sturdy front door features a window shaped like a porthole? We think not. In this age of rising tides, Havard might be onto something. One of the Oyster Bar’s main attractions has always been its location: perched on a bluff overlooking a pretty stretch of Bayou Sara (when the river’s running below forty feet, anyway). During recent months a Corps of Engineers project has added significant reinforcement along this stretch of the
Bump on Belonging
bayou, cutting back and leveling the bluff beyond the bar’s covered back porch to create a broad swath of riverbank that cries out for some outdoor seating, a deck, firepit, and maybe a few canoes and kayaks for rent. While these might not all be in place when the Oyster Bar opens in mid-January, they’re all on Havard’s to-do list. In the meantime, returning patrons can look forward to enjoying a couple of cold beers and a limited menu of Southern staples that reflect Havard’s time cooking in local kitchens at Heirloom Cuisine and the St. Francisville Inn. Word has it there might be actual oysters on the menu this time—an Oyster Bar first, so far as we know. And when spring comes, and the river rises, what then? “I look on the bright side,” Havard says. “A month’s vacation each spring doesn’t sound bad.” —James Fox-Smith
Cover image courtesy of the publisher.
GABRIEL BUMP RECEIVES THE 2020 ERNEST J. GAINES AWARD FOR LITERARY EXCELLENCE
“I
f there’s one thing wrong with people, it’s that no one remembers the shit that they should, and everyone remembers the shit that doesn’t matter for shit.” From the very first line of his debut novel, Everywhere You Don’t Belong, author Gabriel Bump establishes his characters’ matter-of-factness about the world around them; they see things exactly for what they are, no more and no less.
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The twenty-nine-year-old author is the newest recipient of the esteemed Ernest J. Gaines Award for Literary Excellence. Now in its fourteenth year, the highlylauded award is given to promising young African-American fiction writers and includes a $15,000 prize donated by the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, honoring Louisiana literary legend Ernest Gaines and his contributions to the Black canon. Gaines died last year at the age of eighty-six. The endearing, nearly painfullyrelatable protagonist of Everywhere You Don’t Belong is Claude McKay Love, a young man living with his grandmother on the South Shore during the 1990s. Claude navigates issues of love, family, neighborhood violence, and peer pressure as he tries to figure out how he fits into the world and where he belongs “in the grand scheme of things,” according to Bump. Past recipients of the award include celebrated writers like last year’s Bryan
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Washington, Mitchell S. Jackson, and more. “I personally am just a huge fan of most of the writers who have won it, so being in that company means a lot to me personally,” said Bump. “Probably separate from any award that’s out there, this one means the most to me.” Presented as a coming-of-age love story slash dark comedy, Bump’s prose is simple yet tender, dry without being detached as Claude explores the titular theme of belonging. There’s an element of reality (not realism) in Bump’s narrative structure that seems to reflect his own upbringing on Chicago’s South Side, lending a distinctive legitimacy and veracity to his cast of characters and their dialogue. In one scene, Claude’s neighborhood erupts into a riot after a police shooting occurs, which may feel especially resonant after a tumultuous year for race in America. People like to focus on this scene as being prescient, Bump said, but he wrote that section five years ago, in the wake of the unrest
in Ferguson. For Bump, the Ernest J. Gaines award is particularly meaningful because it not only focuses on plot, as a Black story, but also the craft of fiction itself as the judging committee examines the work on a more granular level, he said. “I think that means a lot to me because I feel that, especially for debut writers like myself, when you enter the world you’re kind of forced to explain yourself as a Black writer, and you’re forced to focus on race and so one of the many things I think is cool about this award is that the storytelling is not necessarily the most important part of the story.” Bump is already at work on his second novel, The New Naturals, expected in 2022. The award will be presented to Bump at 6:30 p.m. on January 28, 2021 during a live virtual presentation. ernestjgainesaward.org. —Lauren Heffker
