A recent article compared it to New Orleans' Magazine Street shopping area. It's the kind of shopping neighborhood you might expect to find in a much bigger city.

Right here in Baton Rouge, tucked into a beautiful old historic part of the city, you'll find an amazing collection of highly diverse specialty shops, galleries, restaurants, and other services.

It's called the Historic Merchants District on Perkins Road, and if you have only one free afternoon while you're in Baton Rouge, this is the perfect place to spend it.

Browse through a dozen delightful shops and galleries. Dine at one of four restaurants featuring great local cuisine, hamburgers and crawfish pies and perhaps the best Italian food in town.

Buy a book. Pick up a gift basket to take home or send flowers home to say you miss a loved one.

Choose a beautiful adornment to take back for your home or garden.

You can also refill a prescription or fill up your car or get your hair done. The neighborhood also has its own medical center, dentist and yoga center.

All living together harmoniously within one of Baton Rouge's most charming residential neighborhoods.

You'll find this afternoon of entertainment along the section of Perkins Road that runs from Glendale Avenue to Hundred Oaks near Baton Rouge's City Park.