Owner, Elizabethan Gallery
680 Jefferson Hwy.
In Mid City since: 1988
From the neighborhood’s biggest events to the Mid City Merchants Association itself, Liz Walker has had a hand in bringing those things to life.
Walker grew up on Government Street. When she decided to start her art gallery and framing business, it was by chance that she found a vacant space in the Goodwood Shopping Center just a few blocks from her childhood stomping grounds.
So it goes without saying she’s passionate about Mid City, having helped get the merchants association off the ground in 1991. She’s been a member of the board off and on ever since, and has been openly critical of its current leadership, which she says has dropped the ball on networking opportunities for new, small businesses.
Walker’s Elizabethan Gallery has also led the way for two of Mid City’s most popular events. Her annual fall open house helped encourage neighboring businesses to host their own events, and thus White Light Night was born more than 20 years ago. Her spring art show the Friday before Mother’s Day? That led to Hot Art, Cool Nights.
In a lot of ways, she might just be the cool, artsy mother of Mid City’s cultural growth.
What were those early meetings of the merchants association like?
We were meeting weekly at Piccadilly in Westmoreland Shopping Center. Early on, one of the first things we identified was that we had a huge number of art-related businesses. We pretty much identified ourselves as a cultural district, and at that time there was no such designation. In fact, we didn’t get officially designated as a cultural district until 2010. Even though it was just eight years ago, that really did help kind of jump-start a lot of what you’re seeing today.
Tell us what it was like opening your business.
I officially opened in September 1988. By Christmas, I knew that we could make it. Of course I was my only employee at the time, and I don’t mind saying it was hard in the beginning. It wasn’t hard getting my name out there because we are a very cultural community, but people were still just kind of getting into art and framing in the late ’80s. It was just beginning to be a popular thing, and average people realized they could afford art and get something framed.
What do you hope to see for the future of Mid City?
I hope that the renaissance that’s happening right now, of course, continues. I don’t see anybody that’s moving in that doesn’t have an idea that they are going to be here for a long time. They are here for success. Whatever happens with Government Street—if [the road diet] works well or doesn’t work well—I don’t see it as a detriment to the businesses that are here. I see that people will adapt.
What makes the neighborhood so special?
I believe the events we’ve had have endeared people to Mid City. I think they’ve found a lot of quirky and interesting businesses here that you don’t see in any other parts of the city, and it’s going to continue to be like that. That’s who we attract: We attract the people who have a different way of walking.
Read more on Mid City’s rapid growth in Baton Rouge from our October 2018 cover story.
