est crowd - 1,600 people - in the mid - 1930s. "If you couldn't get in, you would climb up on the fire es-
Robert Buff- ington said.
"That tells you how cen- tral this build- ing was to the black com- munity," Per- kins said. "They fig- ured if they put up a sign here, the whole black community would see it."
cape to hear the music," Perkins said. "The fire es- cape was al- ways full of people."
Often people inside the building would open the door to the fire escape and sneak in their friends, Tansil said. Crowds for the dances were orderly. A Capt. Hanks from the city police was hired to keep order. "When we had these crowds, we only needed one police- man," Buffington said. Local businessman Horatio Thompson paid to have a sign advertising his Esso filling station painted on the side of the Temple. A large arrow pointed to the sta- tion four blocks away. At one point the Odd Fellows ran short of money, Robert Buffington said. To keep the building going, Mrs. B.V. Baranco sold a lot on the east side of the building to the Home Oil Company, which put up a competing filling station on the property. "They had Lamar put up a billboard to hide Horatio's sign,"
Over the years, many businesses have occupied the historic building. A barber shop, the Temple Cafe, the Temple Theater, the Temple Cab Company, in- surance offices, a beauty shop, offices of the carpen- ters' union, a photography studio, a Christian bookstore, Hastings Realty office, the Spaulding Business College, the Louisiana Education Associa- tion and the Christian Faith Church. A Mr. Brockenbery operated a typing school with 20 typewriters donated by the Underwood Company. "With socks on his hand, he could type more words that you can imagine," Robert Buffington said. The first barber Robert Buffington can remember at the Temple Barber Shop was Joe Robbins. Any black barber in the city who wanted to trim hair had to pass muster with Robbins, Buffington said. When Rob- bins died around 1975, Walter Harrison took over the
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