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2YT: New life for the over 90-year-old D'Agostino Building
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PORT ALLEN — The D'Agostino Building was built during the 1920s. It would go on to serve as the home for several different types of businesses in Port Allen, including a restaurant, a bar, a kids' clothing store, and, at one point, a barbershop.
The large building sits at the intersection of North Jefferson Avenue and Court Street in downtown Port Allen.
For nearly a century, the building stood as a shared space for businesses in the city.
The top floor holds 13 rooms that were considered the original boarding house; the bottom floor held five storefronts for rent.
Ramona D'Agostino-Budden says it all started as her grandfather's grocery store.
"I know it started on this corner; I'm not sure if it took up the whole building, but he passed away in 1933," D'Agostino-Budden said.
D'Agostino-Budden's father ran the grocery store for a while, but then she says he opened a bar nearby, but still in the building.
"I've always talked about it as an Archie Bunker bar, all locals in there," D'Agostino-Budden said.
D'Agostino-Budden says businesses continued to move in and out over the decades.
"70s, 80s, and 90s, we did have various, not as many long-term tenants, but a long-term tenant was a barbershop; we had a Kleinpeter bakery in one of the spots. Toward the end of the 90s, after that it was used for storage," she said.
In 2019, D'Agostino-Budden made the decision to sell the building to a family in Port Allen. After the sale went through, she says it took her three years to clean the building out.
"During those three years, I went through everything in 13 rooms, and I feel that's when I said my goodbyes. So, by the time I finished, I said, okay, in good hands, I'll be fine," she said.
Then, in 2025, the family who purchased the building from D'Agostino turned around and donated it to the city of Port Allen.
Now plans are in the works to reopen these doors that have been closed for decades, as the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce is partnering with the city of Port Allen to revitalize this historic building.
"You already have amazing small businesses along Jefferson and Court Street; this will just kind of elevate those businesses. We can all come together. I am all about community over competition, so this is going to be something that will really take us up to that next level," Executive Director of the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce Annie Claire Bass said.
Bass hopes that in the next few months, passersby can start to see action taking place at the site.
"We do have a little bit of funding right now through the state that the city has secured; I would like to seek out some private investors potentially, and maybe some federal dollars, so just a combination of things," Bass said.
D'Agostino-Budden plans to stay involved with the building in any way she can.
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