good morning my friends it is 6 o' a.m. and I am headed towards the last sunrise on what US gen xers call the CM Tower so you can hear the traffic behind me I'm now at the I 10 Beach and and there she is on her final day and you can see the police have everything blocked off where you can't get too close today is Saturday September 7th 2024 and the iconic skyline of Lake Charles will change forever starting in about an hour or two construction on the then Kashi Marine Tower or ZM Tower started in 1981 and was completed in 1982 but did not open until October 1st of 1983 at a cost of $45 million she stood 375 ft tall or 22 Stories the building was designed by Lloyd Jones Brewer Associates of Houston Texas and was constructed by miner dri of Houston and F Miller and Sons here in Lake Charles when she opened her doors in 1983 she was known as The kashu Marine Tower or the CM Tower until she was later purchased by hiberia and became known as the hiberia tower and that lasted until 2005 when Capital 1 purchased it and it became known as the capital 1 Tower which it remained known as to the people of Lake Charles until hurricane Laura finally dealt the final blow and destroyed her in 200 20 and that is the Capital One Tower which really got hit Rita knock some windows out but man not like that oh my gosh and the SE Tower is just oh my goodness and you can see glass from it on the road here my mother Judy my beautiful mother worked in that tower for a couple of years and I used to go there in the 80s as a child and sit and wait for her to get off work to go home from school or whatever it was and I would I would eat all the sugar cubes on the seventh floor she also used to walk me across the skybridge down across the street and take me to Wendy's for breakfast or lunch another great memory of mine from that Tower is uh who turned out to be a good friend of mine his name is Michael mcgaan a movie director from Lake Charles put me in the movie that he made here in Lake Charles called how to love a geek he put my band in the movie and was kind enough to allow me to be an extra in a couple of parts of the movie and I shot a scene at the top of that Tower at what used to be a restaurant and that was I think the 21st or 22nd very top floor and that was a lot of fun too and then it all came down to this [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] it's amazing what took 2 years to build took 7 Seconds to go down if you like what you saw here today guys please give this video a thumbs up please subscribe to my channel and as always I'll see yall next time [Music]