History

Founding

Lakewood was founded in 1816.

Points of Interest

Post Road

Post Road is a major thoroughfare that runs through Lakewood and connects it to Interstate 10. The road spans the breadth of the entire town and runs through residential and business districts. The local public high school, George Washington High, is located nearer the road’s northern end.

Old Route 10

As its name implies, Old Route 10 is the remnant of a former branch of the interstate that once directly connected Lakewood to New Orleans. The route is located northeast of Lakewood, and connects to Post Road.

Market Street

Market Street comprises Lakewood’s historic business district, and still hosts many small businesses and eateries. It is a picturesque neighborhood, with quaint shopfronts and popular hangout spots.

Lejeune Parkway

Lejeune Parkway is a historic greenway that, in Lakewood’s early history, was home to some of its most prosperous families. In recent years, it’s fallen on hard times, as the wealthy crowd closer to the lakeside. The titular park is also much the worse for wear, despite repeated beautification investments.

Lejeune Circle

The municipal center of town was once the literal center of it, before the town’s postwar building boom. The circle still functions as the town’s square (wrong shape, but still) and represents the center of the local government.

Beauvais Boulevard

Beauvais Boulevard is the main thoroughfare running through Lakewood’s warehouse district. These warehouses were mostly built in the interwar period, and not all of them are currently in use. The boulevard is the main artery of east Lakewood, and not generally considered a pleasant place to be in after dark.

Rowan Court

Rowan Court is a sequestered neighborhood comprised mainly of townhouses. These residences are occupied primarily by renters. A primarily middle-class neighborhood, it has a more cramped, dingy feel compared to the more suburban avenues that crisscross the wider limits of town.

Pelletier Place

Pelletier Place (namesake obscure) is a residential street in the west end of town. The block is popular with families, but that’s not quite the reason the dysfunctional Wilcox-Hudsons have made their home here.

Kleinfeld Road

Kleinfeld Road is a residential street in the southwest part of town. The Henderson family lives in a good-sized home in this neighborhood. Their neighbors include Riley Marra and Stacy Winters.

Crescent Street

Crescent Street is a pleasant residential neighborhood in the southwest end of town. Maggie and Emma Duval have lived on this street for Emma’s whole life.

Edmonds Avenue

Edmonds Avenue is located in the southwestern part of Lakewood, not far from the water. The houses here are well-appointed and grand. Well-to-do Lakewood families such as the Murrays and Atwoods reside here.

Wren Way

A stately avenue running adjacent to Wren Lake’s northwestern shore. It is lined by lavish properties, and dominated by two venerable parochial institutions: Lakewood’s twin Catholic secondary schools. The street corkscrews toward the water at its extreme end, reaching the old regatta, which is now dominated by the Lake Club.

Lakeview Terrace

Lakeview Terrace is, as its name suggests, right at the water’s edge, hugging the northern edge of Wren Lake. It’s home to a row of palatial lake houses, including the mayoral mansion, built on the ruins of the Maddox family’s 19th century sugar plantation.

Trivia

Drivers entering Lakewood are greeted by a sign proclaiming the town “a nice place to live”.¹

1. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 20 ↩︎