“Real News with Rick Outzen” broadcasted today from the Five Sister Blues Cafe in the heart of Belmont-Devilliers, also known as “The Blocks” or “The Four Corners.” Lumon May, Robin Reshard, and Maria Goldberg discuss the area’s history.
“The dwarf chicken was right outside where you see the patio,” May shared. “There was once a taxi stand. My dad actually built that lean-to for his taxi stand when Belmont-Devilliers was thriving.”
“Ms. Gussie owned this when it was Gussy’s Record Shop. As a kid, I grew up here with my grandmother buying a wig. My mother was big into gospel music, and so this was the only place where you could get records.”
“Upstairs, we had WBOP, which was Cooper Morgan, Lewis Lee and all those guys that ran the WBOP radio. Every year we’d have the WBOP anniversary, which was probably the Soul Bowl on steroids for a whole day. This entire area would be full with everybody, probably every African American from Pensacola.”
Listen to podcast.
Sena Maddison has begun a YouTube channel, Pensacola Insider. We cover the Belmont-Devilliers in an episode. View here.
