Lavis Conoco ready at the pump since 1957

Squeezed within one quarter of a downtown Houma intersection, the Lavis Conoco station looks strangely out of date, as if the autos patiently awaiting repair or a fueling outside should have big fenders or tail fins.

But the red-and-white art deco-style building is not imagination’s figment.

The gas station was built by Conoco in 1941. Jake Walker was walking down the street during construction and stopped to ask if they were hiring. Conoco hired Walker to manage the gas station, which he did until he bought the station in the late ‘50s or early ‘60s.

He then operated the Conoco gas station as his own until 1973, when he offered to sell it to Lavis Bourg, Sr.

Lavis Bourg, Sr. originally started in the gas station business in 1957 when he opened the ’63 Texaco’ that was located on Barrow Street next to where New York Bagel Café & Deli is now. Then, in the early ‘60s, Lavis Bourg, Sr. moved from that location to a gas station on Main Street across the street from where Terrebonne General Medical Center is now.

Lavis Bourg, Sr. actually owned that building and stayed there until Walker offered to sell him the Conoco station on Barrow Street in 1973. Lavis Bourg, Sr. bought the Conoco station and leased the gas station on Main Street to his nephew Ralph Boudreaux. When the twin span bridges were built over the Intracoastal Waterway, the state bought Lavis Bourg, Sr. out.

“Daddy had me there at 9 years old sweeping out cars, cleaning windshields and washing cars,” said Lavis Bourg Jr., the second generation of his family to operate the gas station and repair shop at 318 Barrow St., whom everyone knows as “Jay.”

For Lavis Bourg Sr., who died in 2003 at the age of 75, caring for and fueling up the vehicles of Houma area drivers was a labor of love. Although Jay came to work full time later in his life – he had worked in the oilfield for 16 years – operating the station has become a labor of love as well. From the days of boyhood, Jay retains fond memories of the station’s worth to his dad.

“I was awesome to watch him work,” Jay said. “He knew what he was doing. I’d watch him repack front wheel bearings, do oil changes.”

Harley Bergeron, a cousin who has worked in the family business for 40 years, said there are unique aspects to the operation that make him proud to be a part of it all.

“We have regular customers, doctors and lawyers and older people, they think a lot of us,” Harley said. “They come here for the service and to shoot the breeze, too.”

For Jay, the focus on service is what has kept the company successful.

“We always gave our people the service they wanted,” Jay said. “If they broke down we would check them out and work on it, go jump a car off if they needed it, we would do that. We still do service on the road.”

Gasoline at Lavis costs a little more than at most gas stations, in part because it is a full-service operation, meaning the gas gets pumped for you. They also check your oil and other car fluids, as well as tire pressure if you would like them to. The old-fashioned full-service touch is offered by very few gas stations locally and throughout the nation, a victim of changing times as well as a desire quick in-and-out fueling and a demand for the lowest prices possible.

But enough customers want the special touch Lavis gives to keep the operation going, said Jay.

“We have loyal customers been with us years,” he explains. “Our gas is more expensive. But they want the service, want the windshield washed and cleaned up or, if they need work on the car, to just drop it off and let us take it from there for them. Also, customers like to be talked to and to know they matter.”

The station is only open five days a week, but restricting hours is one way the small business can ensure that it can remain going over the long haul. Jay says, at this point, he couldn’t imagine doing anything else for a living.

“I love doing this, this is my thing,” he said. “I enjoy talking to the people, seeing the people come in. You start every morning looking forward to customers coming in just so you can talk to them. All of that, that’s why we are still in business.”