Louie's Place

Louie's Place, originally the L. Levaggi Saloon, is a two-story concrete building on Yosemite Boulevard in La Grange, Stanislaus County. Built in 1897, it replaced a wooden saloon that had burned to the ground. The fortress-like facade has an ornamental parapet, shallow round arches with keystones over the first-floor openings, and a cast heraldic sculpture above the entrance. Its smooth concrete surface is marked with oversize rectangular indentations in alternating horizontal and vertical patterns, possibly meant to imitate ashlar masonry. The date and owner's initials are imprinted on the parapet and entrance keystone. The side walls are poured-in-place concrete, stuccoed and etched to resemble block, and bolted metal plates at the floor line likely serve as reinforcement. A concrete horse trough and a well stand in front. The building matters as an early use of concrete for a prominent structure, a material rarely employed before the twentieth century, and for its unusual design. It still operates as a bar.