3, 2:00 p.m. we visit the valley of the priest along the north shore of a long, and the polynesian voyaging society in honolulu. at 4:00 p.m. eastern, three short documentaries. in 1956 film soldier in hawaii, "the hawaiian islands, and the 1952 film, "long jeans on the scope." weekend on thei free c-span radio at. we are featuring the honolulu mayor kirk caldwell saturday at 10:00 a.m. eastern. year, c-span is touring cities around the country exploring american history. here is a look at our recent visit to lake charles,

louisiana. c-span 3, allng we can, every weekend, on american history tv. >> lake charles is a very unusual town in the sense of the south. it's unusual in the sense of louisiana. it is not -- it doesn't have a plantation economy. it does have a civil war issue that has to drag along with it and it's a town that's reinvented itself a number of times to make it work. >> while in lake charles, we took a driving tour of the city, with lost lake charles author adley cormier. >> tell me a little bit about your tie. you're not from here originally. adley cormier: i wasn't born here. i've been here for 45 years, which is a pretty long time.

i'm a native of eastern louisiana. i came here to work for the department of labor. so in doing that, i had to learn the community, had to learn the industry, learn the history, and with the history background from lsu you become interested in where you are. >> i can't wait to hear all about the history of lake charles. tell me about the city today. adley: lake charles is in southwest, louisiana, about 30 miles from the gulf and the great state of texas. it's a town that's sort of on the cusp. it's the cusp of french louisiana, english louisiana, spanish louisiana. it's sort of population of 80,000. traditionally, a blue collar

town. through petro chemical and railroads to what we find now which is a wonderful mixed economy, that includes a fair amount of gaming and recreation as well as blue collar. >> should we see? adley: let's see it. this corner of louisiana was the no man's land. it wasn't part of the louisiana purchase so for 50 or 60 years this no man's land served as a buffer between the united states and the umpire of spain. and that meant this was an area that had quite a bit of use as a refuge for scandals and pirates. he knew most of the early settlers in lake charles. >> what year are we talking about? adley: we're talking about the late 1700s, early 1800s, 1803 to 1820. that's the period in which -- he was responsible for about 25% of all the trade in the lower mississippi valley. it was his black market. he would relocate people for

money. he dealt with all sorts of commodities. it wasn't just the gold and silver. we're not talking about johnny depp here. we're on lakeshore drive converting into shelby drive. >> so we're seeing actual lake charles? adley: you're actually seeing the lake. the city's namesake. of course, like charles's name, one of those people who was brought to this area, probably by jean le feet. on the wrong side in the french revolution and had to escape to europe and came west. pushed further west than louisiana, and then settled along the bodies of this particular shore. on the other side of the lake you can see the working side but on this side, there were workers as well. >> i'm seeing refineries and petroleum. adley: we have a huge refining industry the also two major oil refineries. the philip 66 refinery and the citgo refinery are both located here, and they are among the top 10 refineries in the united states. >> is that the city's biggest economic driver? adley: the biggest economic driver now are the casinos, in terms of actual payroll. >> so we can get a glimpse of them out by the bridge? adley: out by the bridge. there is one casino out there. the other two casinos, golden nugget and a second one, are sited on the property. they are a billion dollar

investment in southwest louisiana is part of what moves the economy now. we're moving from a blue collar economy in petro chemical to essentially a more mixed economy that includes a lot of resort and hospitality industry. and now we're seeing a little bit of the calcasieu river. it's the lifeblood of the area. it allows the port to exist. it provides for recreational activities, up and down.

>> let me ask about the relationship here with the water, particularly with weather. i mean, we know a lot about louisiana, getting hurricanes, i mean, are these buildings just closed up? adley: we're actually designing buildings to be much sturdier now than they were before, and so houses that have withstood decades of existence are doing fine. the thing is, new construction also has to meet the requirements of fema. now this body of water is tidally effective and storm surge comes right up to this body of water, so we do get flooding, you know, periodically. >> what really affects live down here? one thing that people can't notice as they are watching this, is, it's hot and human. adley: it is very hot and humid. we do have a hundred degree days and will occasionally have a hundred percent humidity. >> so it's tied as one of the most humid cities in america? adley: you sort of design your life to live inside during the

summer and outside during the other seasons. we're on ryan street named for jacob ryan who laid out the city of lake charles. and it also connects north lake charles and south lake charles. it's the main drag of the city. >> tell me, what would this have looked like early on in the city's history and how has it evolved? adley: early on, it would have been essentially a wooden fronted buildings, sort of like a wild west town. packed closely in, and built of pine and cyprus, rich in turpentine. it was such a city in 1910, the great fire demolished most of lake charles leaving us with several souvenirs of the great fire in the rebuilding including the 1911 city hall and the wonderful courthouse. these two buildings are really wonderful pieces of architecture that remind us that you've got to build well, build strong, and billed for the future and that's exactly what they did. most of lake charles fell victim to urban renewal in the 1970s, these parking lots were put in. only today in 2018, do you see, there has been maybe one generation renewal of all of. this i mean, it's now a fairly lively street scape with wonderful additions. post rita additions, sidewalks, cables, and all the other

wonderful stuff that's been added to enhance the downtown experience, and it's sort of a mecca for entertainment, music, and entrepreneurial energy is being spent downtown and we're going to stay on ryan street and go right to the calcasieu river. we'll see how close lake charles is to the wilderness, we're going into the industrial part of lake charles. all of these vacant lots here would have been covered with saw mills and construction shops and mill work fabricators and that sort of thing, using the lumber that would have been harvested along the calcasieu river. you can actually see we're going to dip closer to the calcasieu river. and you can see the trees that once lined both sides of the river.

>> and you're seeing that morphing, that you typically associate with louisiana. adley: right. and now we're going to follow the river, this is their double loop of the calcasieu river. this is north -- >> we're on the river. there is no guard rail. adley: you're in the water. and this is what, on the northern bank, this is what the early settlers would have seen along the calcasieu river back then, in the day. this would have been filled with cut lumber floating, logs floating on this body of water, waiting to be run into the saw mills and the mill shops of lake charles. >> it's interesting to me how quickly we went from downtown to here? adley: to wilderness. >> do you feel that that sort of duality defines the city? >> it does because you're a remote urban outpost in the middle of nowhere, you think, when you look at the map, and

you can go from urban lake charles to this, almost instantaneously, and no matter what direction you go, out of the city, you can do that. >> we've driven by the lake. we've seen the refineries and the casinos, the downtown, and now this fairly picturesque bayou. if there was anything you wanted people to know about lake charles, who maybe live on the other side of the country, have never heard of it before, what would that be? adley: i always found it a good place to live. it has a great deal of variety. it's a town that's had to be very self-reliant, and one of the best experiences of that was after the horrible year of rita, when everybody was focused on the horrible things going on in new orleans, lake charles essentially rolled up its sleeves and did things. it's a down that doesn't wait for somebody to come and save it. it's a town that will actually roll up its sleeves and work, and that's good. i think that's a very good thing. >> thank you so much for taking us around lake charles today.

adley: my pleasure. >> our staff recently traveled to lake charles, louisiana, to learn about its rich history. learn more about lake charles and other stops on our tour at c-span.org/citiestour. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> "what does it mean to be american?" that is the studentcam question, and we are asking students with a short documentary. define how it expands the american experience. we are awarding $100,000 in total cash prizes, including a grand prize of $5,000. the deadline is january 20, 2019. for more information, go to our

website, studentcam.org. >> >>american history tv, authors william oldfield and victoria bruce, discuss the story of frank oldfield, a united states postal inspector who helped build a case against a 20th century organized crime group called the black hand that would intimidate and extort money from small businesses. this talk is a little over an hour. >> good evening, everyone. welcome to midtown scholar bookstore. my name is catherine lawrence. i am pleased to welcome you here this evening and delighted to have this illustrious panel joining. scott mark, journalist victoria author william oldfield will describe