It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that 2020 was the year the live music died, or at the very least, was put on indeterminate hold.

“The community supported me and my practice all those years, so I decided I wanted to give back to the community,” Dr. Bakowski said. “What better way than lighting up the bridge? It is something that can be enjoyed by all. It will showcase Shreveport-Bossier, instill civic pride, and be seen by millions driving I-20.

While so many restaurants – locally and nationally – have closed because of the COVID-19 impact, the fine-dining Bossier City restaurant is an outlier. Three new construction projects started just weeks before the pandemic – a courtyard, patio and wine cellar – are either finished or soon will be finished.

Tim Huck, who bought Notini’s Italian Restaurant in Bossier City late last year, has brought his dad out of retirement. Scratch that: He’s brought his dad’s pizza recipes out of retirement. That’s right. Just when you thought you would never again be able to treat your taste buds to a Pizza King pizza, now you can.

When you book an event at 421 Texas (which can handle from 20 to 400 guests), you can use whichever florist, photographer and entertainment group you would like. However, you will leave the cooking to Jackson, whose menu features his Nouveau Louisiane Cuisine.

“I didn’t know how skinny I was,” Meeks said. “When I got to college, I started working out. It really wasn’t until after college that the results started to show … I knew I needed to be stronger. I needed all the tools to be better. I kind of got addicted.

“It’s a shotgun-style house, so the front entrance from the porch is long and huge and has windows along the whole front of the house with columns,” described Jenny Rodgers. “You walk straight through that to the backyard – the back porch, basically. That’s the whole living room, great.

“Laid off. Not working. No income coming in.” Those are the reasons Executive Director Al Moore hears when he visits with whom he refers to as “clients” – people who come as often as twice a day to get a hot meal. Every day except Christmas, Christian Service serves breakfast from 8-10 a.