Local club changed, along with community, through the years

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Much of the information used to compile this story came from a collection of newspaper clippings and advertisements kept by Jane LeHaye, the widow of former Jungle Dinner Club owner Lionel LeHaye. After a days work as a nurse’s aide, she would be a waitress at the club in the evenings. She also picked the name of the club, “Jungle,” although she’s not sure why she chose that name.)

The shell of the Rendevous Dinner Club that was destroyed by fire last weekend has gone through several transformations since an ad ran in The Gazette in 1945 offering “The Largest Stock Of Finest Furniture Of Ville Platte,” at LaHaye Furniture Co.

Martin LaHaye and his sons, Clifton and Lionel, ran the store for several years before deciding to get into the restaurant business. Clifton decided not to take part in the restaurant, so Lionel became the manager of the Jungle Dinner Club, and later owned the club.

Martin’s wife Cecilia was in charge of the cooking of what would become some of the most sought-after dishes in the parish and beyond.

A newspaper report of the grand opening on Friday, July 3, 1953, when the building went through its first extensive remake, described it as, “Completely modernized, air conditioned, television equipped.”

The report stated “an exceptionally attractive menu has been arranged for opening day.”

An ad in The Gazette the Thursday after the grand opening offered regrets that so many people came to the event, the club’s staff couldn’t keep up with “the pressure of too many customers.” The ad promised that, “Everything is under control now.” The wildly successful opening of the restaurant was an apt foretaste of success to come.

The menu had dishes area residents were familiar with, like fried shrimp, chicken and catfish, that were thought by many to be the best around here. But the LaHayes would offer dishes like oyster brochette or K.C. steaks, “your favorites cuts,” to keep the customers guessing, and coming.

The building went through another transformation at the beginning of the 1960s, when brothers Cliff and Jessie Manuel bought the Jungle. They reduced the restaurant portion of the building and made it mostly a dance hall.

The menu became more informal, and would involve people asking the cook what was being served that particular evening. Dances with live bands brought in more people to eat, despite the smaller restaurant, according to a story in July 2001 by former Gazette News Editor Roland Manuel.

So the building again transformed, this time adding restaurant seating along one side of the dance floor. The club maintained its reputation for serving delicious food as it built its reputation as the place to go for live bands and dancing that many people remember to this day.

“It was an integral part of this community for so long,” Camille Fontenot, tourism and chamber director, recalled last week. She remembered during the club’s early days, when families would come from all over just to eat at the Jungle, then stay overnight at the Platte Motel right next to the club.

She remembers that many local young people worked there as waiters and waitresses. She also remembers the campaign victory parties held there late at night after local elections were announced at the courthouse.

Fontenot also remembers her disappointment when she was unable to be in the audience when Fats Domino performed at the club in the mid-1960s.

Ernest Tubb, the “Texas Troubadour” performed there. So did Swamp Pop pioneer Rod Bernard. Ray Price, who formed his band, the Cherokee Cowboys, in 1953, played at the club, as well as Clint West, Dale and Grace, The Chandels, Margo White, Cookie and the Cup Cakes, Belton Richard, Aldes Roger and the Lafayette Playboys and the list goes on and on.

By the early to mid-1970s, the restaurant side of the business because successful enough to consider another transformation. This time, the kitchen and a storage area were expanded. The dances were phased out and the emphasis was placed basck where it was when the Jungle first opened in the early 1950s -- great food.

But the restaurant was so wildly successful, sometimes close to 100 people would wait in the lounge for restaurant seating, so the restaurant was expanded again in the mid-1980s.

After the last owner of the Jungle Dinner Club, Wendell Manuel, sold the building in 2009, the building went through a final transformation about two years ago when the last owner of the building, John Deville, renamed it the Rendevous Dinner Club. His remodeling project included installing a large screen TV, reminiscent of that first ad when the Jungle Dinner Club opened almost exactly 60 years ago.

Camille Fontenot said people still call her office when crawfish season begins to ask if the Jungle Dinner Club is still here, perhaps remembering when people would come by the busload specifically to eat the Jungle’s widely known crawfish dishes and other favorites.

Deville, the current owner, is still considering his options and has not ruled out rebuilding. The building that changed through the years to adapt to changing needs of its owners is gone forever. But the memories of so many people -- from Lake Charles to Alexandria, but mostly in and around Ville Platte -- will be with them forever.