00:05:19 · Charlie Lamar, Ian Dallimore
[00:05:19] S1: Well, in 1908, actually, think, my grandfather had been in Pensacola, moved from Georgia in 1902, which also happens to be the year my father was born. And the bank that he had come to be the president of my grandfather was located in the Opera House, what was called the Opera House. By that time, it was basically a vaudeville theater, which I always found strange that there was a bank in the backside of the theater. But in any event, there was a man there named Mr. Coe, the manager, and he was operating, what I think he called the Pensacola Amusement Company, which was the opera house. And he had one called the Pensacola Poster Company, which basically at that time was just automobiles were starting to run around in Pensacola. And they had the poster company to post bills, which I'm not even going into the details of how posters are posting bills. [00:06:19] S0: We're gonna put a photo of this up. [00:06:20] S1: But basically the posters that you see around a jazz fest and stuff, those are the size of the outdoor advertising at the time, which was advertising the events at the Opera House. But also during the off season, which was most of the year, he got into the business of posting for the local haberdashery or the grocer or stuff like that. And so he and my father formed a partnership in 1908. Mr. Coe decided to move back to somewhere in the Midwest he'd come from. So they had to divvy up their business interests, part of which was an interest in the Opera House itself. [00:07:02] S0: Which was the moneymaker, right? Of the Yes, two
00:07:02 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:07:02] S0: Which was the moneymaker, right? Of the Yes, two [00:07:06] S1: Opera House, the building and then the poster company. And so they flipped a coin in my grandfather's office according to family legend and my grandfather lost. So he got the poster company. And Mr. Coe got the interest in the Opera House which about ten years later, less than that probably 19, well about ten years later I think, hurricane came and blew down the Opera House. And so in our book, the subtitle is Bad Luck, Good Fortune. Because of that, we got into the billboard business. [00:07:44] S0: Yeah, and it's interesting too, because if you look at from a timeline perspective, and we'll put the link from our website where we have the history kind of laid out over time, it's interesting, and being a history buff, realize this as well, but it wasn't until 1908 that the Ford Model T automobile was actually introduced. So therefore that's whenever the true people can get around and drive around. So then simultaneously you have this small billboard company that began to pop up as well. So it really helped drive the purpose of having roadside billboards. I love that story so much because again, every company has a beginning and a purpose. And to your point about the book, I always say when I'm giving speeches, it's kind of like, yeah, and we lost, but did we really? Because the Opera house is, and you have a place in Pensacola as do I, and I don't think the Opera house is there anymore. [00:08:40] S1: No, no, blew away. Literally blew away a few years It's
00:08:40 · Charlie Lamar, Ian Dallimore
[00:08:40] S1: No, no, blew away. Literally blew away a few years It's [00:08:44] S0: a parking lot. I may add to the story, Charlie, that there's Lamar billboard there just out of spite, but I made that part of the legend up. I'm hoping that goes on for another one hundred years too. So as the history kind of goes on, so you have your grandfather started the company, And at what point did your father come on onto the company?
00:08:44 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:08:44] S0: a parking lot. I may add to the story, Charlie, that there's Lamar billboard there just out of spite, but I made that part of the legend up. I'm hoping that goes on for another one hundred years too. So as the history kind of goes on, so you have your grandfather started the company, And at what point did your father come on onto the company? [00:09:05] S1: Well, what happened is my recollection and I'm being told this long before my time. In the late 20s, my father was in college and his older brother had gone to Princeton and my father was at Princeton. And basically it was before the Great Depression. Pensacola had its own depression. And so my dad came back and worked basically in the little billboard company because by that time, the bank was also gone. My grandfather had been the president of it. Had gone bankrupt in one of those Yellow Pine disaster recessions in Pensacola. And eventually my grandfather sent my dad to New Orleans where his older brother was already in the bond business and was told, okay, let's start a branch in New Orleans. And that seemed like a great idea. And from all I've been told, they had a great time in New Orleans that is in their 20s. However, New Orleans kind of belonged to General Outdoor, which was a national billboard company by that time. And it was suggested that the Lamar's might want to leave the New Orleans market and in compensation, they were told we would trade their boards in New Orleans for some boards in this little river town up river called Baton Rouge. So my dad moved here in Baton Rouge in 1927.
00:10:37 · Ian Dallimore, Charlie Lamar
[00:10:37] S0: Yeah, and this is obviously an audio podcast, but Charlie basically did air quotes suggested that they move. That's a very subtle way of saying, you're not really welcome here. But it's interesting because then that opened up really the segue into what Lamar for the next twenty, thirty years, even up until the last twenty years was all about is mid sized markets. Okay, we're not gonna be in Miami, but we're gonna be in Fort Myers. We're not gonna be in LA, but we'll be in San Bernardino. And it really kind of helped shape that focus, right? Was a big part of... [00:11:14] S1: That was definitely the sweet spot for us. And it worked out very, very, very well. Mean, it was again, bad luck, good fortune because by building out that, well, Pensacola was already in the 100 to two fifty maybe markets And Baton Rouge likewise, having gotten the standard oil refineries and capital and inner cities. So it was growing, but at the time it was quite small. And we branched out over the next forty, fifty years. Yeah, that was the modus operandi is to find these mid level markets like Lafayette and Lake Charles, Louisiana and on and on. So I think the first time we had a big market was Dayton, Ohio. And that was probably in the late 70s, early 80s. And we stuck with that as far as staying out of the big cities. We didn't even try until, as you said, maybe twenty years ago or so. And now we have a substantial presence in most of the big markets, we're not the dominant player in any of them.
00:11:14 · Charlie Lamar, Ian Dallimore
[00:11:14] S1: That was definitely the sweet spot for us. And it worked out very, very, very well. Mean, it was again, bad luck, good fortune because by building out that, well, Pensacola was already in the 100 to two fifty maybe markets And Baton Rouge likewise, having gotten the standard oil refineries and capital and inner cities. So it was growing, but at the time it was quite small. And we branched out over the next forty, fifty years. Yeah, that was the modus operandi is to find these mid level markets like Lafayette and Lake Charles, Louisiana and on and on. So I think the first time we had a big market was Dayton, Ohio. And that was probably in the late 70s, early 80s. And we stuck with that as far as staying out of the big cities. We didn't even try until, as you said, maybe twenty years ago or so. And now we have a substantial presence in most of the big markets, we're not the dominant player in any of them. [00:12:27] S0: Yeah, so your grandfather passes away in 1944 and then your father completely takes over the company at that time? [00:12:35] S1: Well, it's a little more complicated. [00:12:36] S0: A little more complicated