Copyright © Acadiana Profile Magazine 2009

Breaux Bridge just feels like home

People from around the country, with little or no ties to the Acadiana area, are deciding to put down roots in this cozy Cajun community. And for very good reasons.

By William Kalec

Breaux Bridge is a classic south Louisiana Cajun community, having been settled in part by the Acadian exiles of the 18th century. Indeed, the phone book is filled with the names of descendants of these early Acadians: Boudreaux, Broussard, Champagne, Dugas, Hebert, LeBlanc, Mouton and Prejean, to name a few.

But in recent decades more and more out-of-staters are moving in – from Florida, California, New York and other parts of the country.

So, what’s the attraction?

Some come simply to retire in a town that doesn’t move so fast. Others just stumble on the place and decide they’d like to live here. Others are talked into settling in a community where the people are real and unassuming, the culture is rich, and the food lives up to its reputation.

*     *     *

The mid-morning traffic outside Ginger Kelly’s storefront is steady, but the day is so pretty that she’s compelled to tell her Breaux Bridge story in the sunshine, despite the noise.

Reared near Sacramento, Calif., in the 1980s, Kelly moved to Seattle, where she sold blown-glass pieces, jewelry and other home décor items. The art scene in the Pacific Northwest was vibrant and growing at that time, she says.

But everyday life didn’t necessarily jibe with Kelly’s personality. One day while waiting in a coffee line, someone asked her, “Why are you smiling at me?”

It seemed to be raining all the time in Seattle, so to escape the seemingly endless grayness and drizzle, Kelly regularly attended the New Orleans Jazz Fest. On several of those trips, she made stops in Breaux Bridge, as well.

“For 20 years I was saying, ‘I can get used to this weather,’” Kelly recalls of her time in Seattle. “Well, I hate that weather.”

In 2005, Kelly reached the tipping point and put her Seattle house on the market, intending to move to the New Orleans area. The house sold in four days, and within a month she relocated her business to Mandeville, north of Lake Pontchartrain.

Ginger Kelly is one of many shop owners
who sells her wares in Breaux Bridge's
quaint downtown business district.

Many of her friends out West figured Hurricane Katrina would cause her to move back, but damage was minimal around her property. Still, the storm did affect her bottom line.

With residents focused on rebuilding, income wasn’t being spent on secondary, non-essential items like arts and crafts. Property taxes in St. Tammany Parish escalated as did insurance premiums. A couple of Kelly’s friends from Breaux Bridge asked her when she planned to move to their hometown.

“I’m not moving to Breaux Bridge,” Kelly replied quickly.

But they were persistent, Kelly says with a laugh, and they continued pitching the idea of her making Breaux Bridge more than a weekend getaway spot.

“I had two different friends saying, ‘Oh, there’s a house over on Roma Drive. You should go look at it,’” Kelly says. “And I’d go, ‘I’m not buying a house over here.’ But I went and looked at it, and I ended up buying. I guess I’m a firm believer in things falling into place.”

In February 2008, Kelly leased the then-vacant storefront on Main Street and, for the first time, set up a retail shop to sell her artwork. Previously, in Seattle and Mandeville, she simply sold to customers out of a studio in her home. Any trepidation she had about how a transplant would be received in the business community vanished quickly.

Ginger Kelly moved her business to
Breaux Bridge from Seattle, via
Mandeville. In February 2008, she
leased a downtown storefront, where she
sells her glass art pieces and jewelry.

“I didn’t expect them to be negative, but you’re still someone new from out of town…. I didn’t grow up here. What kind of response would I get?” Kelly says. “And people were very positive and very encouraging. And it was, ‘Oh, if you need any help, let us know.’ And, ‘You’d be a great addition to our little downtown area.’”

Beyond that, the non-business residents have been welcoming, as well, she says. They wave to you when you drive down the street – which Kelly gets a kick out of. Conversations among strangers on the street are commonplace. And, to date, no one has asked Kelly why she’s smiling at them. The common courtesy is refreshing, yet foreign to outsiders.

While visiting Breaux Bridge, Kelly’s sister was taken aback when someone waved in their direction while driving.

“Do you know them?” she asked Kelly.

Kelly smiled and shook her head.

“And now, (my sister) lives down here, too,” Kelly says. “It’s just got a real interesting mix of people. Local people, new people – and the new people aren’t displacing the local people. It’s really rich with culture and music and artists. It’s just very interesting.”

*     *     *

Gary Teplistky and Olga Manosalvas never made it to “Beau Bridges.”

But they did find a home in Breaux Bridge.

Their story of how they ended up in Cajun country begins in 1991, when these two native New Yorkers decided to start a business in south Florida based on the outcome of a coin flip. Heads, a coffee roasting company. Tails, a barbecue joint.

Heads it was.

Olga Manosalvas and Gary Teplistky
of Baby’s Coffee settled in Breaux Bridge
after the escalating price of commercial
real estate in south Florida drove
up operating costs.

After Gary underwent a crash course in the art of roasting beans, Baby’s Coffee, which trumpets itself as “the southernmost coffee roasters in America,” was born in Key West, Fla.

But, by 2007, the rising cost in commercial real estate and other bureau-cratic hurdles gave Olga and Gary reason to relocate the business. The original plan was to purchase a place in New Orleans that had taken on four feet of water after Hurricane Katrina. Gary and Olga intended to raise the floor six feet, above the water-damaged parts, and set up shop right there. But that deal fell through.

Around the same time, Gary and Olga were invited to visit Breaux Bridge by their friend who runs a local antique shop. Come have a good time in a small town, they were told. So Gary and Olga, who were in New Orleans to meet with coffee distributors anyway, rented a car and drove west a couple hours on Interstate 10 – on the “spur of the nothing,” as Gary puts it. 

“I thought the name of the town was Beau Bridges,” Gary says, in reference to the Hollywood actor. “The Avis guy told me, ‘No, it’s Breaux Bridge.’”

During the visit, Gary and Olga drove past a “For Sale” sign on a spot of land just off Rees Street. The location – near the interstate, where trucks could easily get on and off – appeared ideal, but there were other things to do and other places to see. So they drove on and proceeded to get lost. They spent the remainder of the day traveling between Arnaudville and Grand Coteau, searching for a route back to Breaux Bridge.  

The next day, they contacted the land owner. And the deal was made right there, not with ink and paper, but with a handshake – a gesture that still floors Gary. When the time came for them to find a contractor, same thing – the arrangement was confirmed on a handshake.

“Show me another place where this happens,” Gary says. “I’m not suggesting that the entire world go out and do things without contracts or anything like that. But what I’m saying is there is still an Old World quality to Breaux Bridge, Louisiana, that exists via the people who live in and love this area.”

Olga interjects.

“The authenticity of the people…there is a lack of cynicism that I find refreshing,” Olga says. “That gets to be a bit much in Miami Beach. Here, it was like a throwback to our childhood in a sense, because the people were real. I’m making it sound like Ozzie and Harriett, but in a way, it is, and that’s good.”

Bags of satsumas, figs and grapefruits were mysteriously left hanging from their doorknob as welcome gifts once Gary and Olga began settling in. There were no notes left with the bags.

“The friendliness hits you in the face,” Gary says with a touch of Northern elegance. “You go and ask for directions, and they’re doing it in longhand. That’s the kind of place this is.”

*     *     *

The two men appeared to be friends, but Carl Brazell wasn’t quite sure.

He noticed them on a Friday morning, conversing in front of a downtown bank. As Carl got closer, he overheard a portion of the dialogue. The two men were speaking in French, and Carl thought that was pretty cool.

Not that he needed it, but that unscripted cultural morsel reinforced Carl’s belief that his decision to spend his retirement in Breaux Bridge was the right move.

Carl and Susan Brazell decided to spend
their retirement years in Breaux Bridge
after working for much of their professional
careers in New York City. The couple
bought an old bed-and-breakfast inn
and turned it into their home.

“There’s something very wonderful about that,” Carl says.

Carl hails from Crowley originally, but he spent the majority of his professional career working in Manhattan and living in nearby Connecticut. He and his wife, Susan, used to travel to Breaux Bridge four or five times a year for vacation. To them, this area represented the real world, and trips down South were therapeutic in a way. That’s why they came so often.

In 2005, shortly after Carl retired, the couple purchased an old bed-and-breakfast inn from Dickie Breaux of Café Des Amis fame, and they turned that outfit into a single-family residence.

The Brazells picked Breaux Bridge because, while its pace might be slow (especially compared to that of New York City), there are enough cultural outlets to satisfy their desire to live an “active retirement.”

“First of all, you have to work to stay home in this town. There is something going on all the time,” Susan says. “We came from Connecticut; it is bor-ing. But here, every night of the week, if you want to, you can hear live music between here and Lafayette. You can go dancing, go out for great food. If you speak French, and you’re so inclined, you can go down the street and speak to people all day long.

“I swear, we live like we’re 40 years old, or 20 years old. We’re out dancing, having a great time all the time.”
Through their regular participation in the local music scene, the Brazells have been able to establish a core group of friends, which eased their earlier concerns over whether they’d be accepted even with Carl’s Louisiana heritage.