HAMMOND — Mariner’s Inn, a downtown staple for Southeastern students and Tangipahoa residents, served its last meals Wednesday. Now, people have the chance to buy a piece of its history through its auction and estate sale.
The sale, which started Thursday morning, will go on until Saturday, when the long-time restaurant will close its doors for good.
The 2023 death of longtime owner Bruce Labrecque, the COVID-19 pandemic and a more recent boom in the area’s restaurant options all contributed to the decision to close the restaurant, Mariner’s waitress Leslie LaMarr-Goodson said.
Its sign proclaimed it to be “famous since 1979,” when it opened as a spinoff from Port of Call in New Orleans. Labrecque bought the place in 1982.
Labrecque’s obituary said his landing in Hammond was a fluke. The Connecticut native was heading to south Louisiana to work in an oil field.
“His car broke down in the Hammond area. From that point on, Hammond became his permanent home and the community became his family,” the obituary read.
Lebrecque had studied horticulture at UConn, and had a “dream of feeding the world,” according to the obituary.
A life’s work
Mariner’s became his life’s work, his children said.
His son Tyler Lebrecque said the restaurant was a critical part of his youth.
“This place was always my home, more than any house I have ever lived in,” he said.
His other son Bailey Lebrecque started working there when he was 11, standing on a milk crate to reach the sink to wash dishes.
Daughter Chelsea Kessenich said her parents met at the restaurant and she recalled being a little girl and running around the pool table.
The public response to the closure announcement made the whole family emotional, she said.
“Everyone was so positive, sharing stories,” she said. “It just really spoke volumes as to what my dad created over the years,” she said.
One couple celebrated the 25th anniversary of their first date there on Saturday, Feb. 14, sharing their memory in a Facebook post and asking people to support local businesses.
Employees looking back
LaMarr-Goodson, who has worked at the restaurant for 16 years, said Mariner’s was a “central heartbeat” of Hammond.
“It’s a huge part of Hammond,” she said. “I feel like in working here, it wasn’t just working at a restaurant. You were part of the community.”
Former waitress and bartender Raissa Kowalski was there for the restaurant’s last day.
“It makes me so sad,” she said. “I wish there was something we could do to keep it open.”
Kowalski said she wasn’t the best bartender, and often had to get someone out of the kitchen to help when patrons ordered drinks much more complicated than beer.
“That’s what I remember,” she said.
LaMarr-Goodson, who also teaches elementary school special education, said she’ll miss the connection to Mariner’s customers and staff.
“It’s the people. It’s being part of birthdays, weddings, anytime people came to celebrate, or even just to be sad,” she said.
Estate sale
The family scheduled an estate sale beginning Thursday and running through Saturday, Feb. 21.
“We had a line outside the door” when the siblings arrived at 7 a.m. Thursday, Kessenich said.
Less than four hours later, “everything is almost gone.”
A diving helmet, the restaurant’s signs, a cannon and a collection of guns all found new owners Thursday morning, she said.
“Our biggest goal was to make sure the community had a piece of Mariner’s,” she told UWK.
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