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"And
the
Gulf
Coast
is
a
playground,
its
western
half
a
sportive
prisoner
to
the
great
Latin
city
of
New
Orleans
whose
mother
it
was
and
whose
children
have
made
the
Coast
their
summer
playhouse
and
their
behavioristic
counterpart;
a
playground,
unpretentious,
inexpensive,
democratic,
and
naïve,
and
sometimes
garish
and
loud,
drawing
thousands
who
descend
each
winter
from
the
cold
lands
of
the
North;
and
host
also
to
its
own
laughing
people
whose
principal
coin
is
the
nickel
because
it
fits
so
easily
into
a
slot
machine."
Excerpt
from
“Gulf
Coast
Country,”
©
1951
Hodding
Carter
and
Anthony
Ragusin
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Once
upon
a
time,
before
the
interstate
highway
system,
air
conditioning,
and
color
TV,
a
trip
to
the
Gulf
Coast
of
Mississippi
was
more
than
just
a
vacation,
it
was
a
full-blown
family
adventure.
On
Wednesday
evening,
March
13th,
WYES/Channel
12
will
take
us
back
down
old
Highway
90
to
that
languid
dreamscape
of
boats
and
endless
afternoons,
night
fishing
and
humid
nightlife
in
GULF
COST
MEMORIES.
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To
a
map-maker
or
geographer,
the
Gulf
Coast
may
extend
from
Brownsville,
Texas
to
Key
West.
For
generations
of
New
Orleanians,
the
boundaries
are
subjectively
narrower,
usually
starting
at
Waveland,
Mississippi,
and
extending
to
Gulf
Shores,
Alabama.
Until
the
comparatively
recent
construction
of
the
Interstate
Highway,1
getting
to
the
coast
was
a
grueling,
humid,
dangerous
journey.
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Producers
Steve
Tyler
and
Kelly
Ward
point
out
that
the
towns
of
Waveland,
Bay
St.
Louis,
Gulfport,
Biloxi,
and
Ocean
Springs
have
a
history
that
is
even
older
than
New
Orleans.
Each
beach
community
claims
a
piece
of
this
illustrious
past
–
from
providing
a
home
for
the
original
Louisiana
colony
to
surviving
one
of
recorded
history’s
most
devastating
hurricanes.
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GULF
COAST
MEMORIES
uses
home
movies,
rare
photographs,
and
a
variety
of
personal
stories
from
“Coasters”
that
run
the
gamut
from
hilarious
to
tragic.
New
Orleanian
Allain
Andry
vividly
describes
setting
booby
traps
for
German
U-boats
on
the
beach
during
World
War
II
–
and
chasing
flying
squirrels
in
his
front
yard.
Biloxi
historian
and
writer
Murella
Powell
recountsan
odyssey
to
locate
her
missing
parents
in
Hurricane
Camille’s
aftermath.
Vic
‘n’
Nat’ly
creator
Bunny
Matthews
recalls
spending
weekends
at
the
Broadwater
Beach
Hotel,
where
he
shared
the
swimming
pool
with
actress
Jayne
Mansfield’s
children,
and
new
Orleans
resident
Phillip
Carter
reads
from
his
father’s
book,
Gulf
Coast
Country.
GULF
COAST
MEMORIES
was
made
possible
by
special
funding
from
the
Whitney
National
Bank.
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