"a world of 'honky-tonks' and 'dives,' 'palaces,' and 'cribs,' sordid indeed, but militantly gay and carefree. Jazz and swing music are said to have originated in the dance halls and saloons of New Orleans' red light district."

Federal Writers' Project, 1938

Storyville

For 20 years, the red-light district of 'Storyville' surrounded the St. Louis Cemetery No. 1. Storyville covered 16 square blocks in its entirety (Iberville to St. Louis and North Robertson to North Basin Streets - just northwest of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1). It began in 1897 when City Councilman Sidney Story 's city ordinance was inacted designating a confined area for legal prostitution as a means of controlling and regulating prostitution in New Orleans.1 "For years, the area between North Rampart and North Claiborne, existed as a haven for jazz and brothels" and at one point housed as many as 2000 prostitutes.2 Many important jazz musicians performed in these bordellos, including Jelly Roll Morton, Sidney Bechet, King Oliver, Buddy Bolden, Paul Barbarin, Kid Ory, Freddy Keppard, Bunk Johnson, Henry "Red" Allen, and Manuel Perez.

In 1917, the Department of the Navy convinced the city to close down the district "in an effort to curb vice because of the proximity of armed-services personnel."3 In 1940 that the remains of Storyville were demolished and in its stead the Iberville Housing Project was built, on the north and western edges of St. Louis Cemetery No. 1, bounded by Iberville, Claiborne, St. Louis and Basin Streets. This project resulted from the nationwide effort by the Public Works administration to “clear slums and construct low rent housing projects.”4

Opening quote: Federal Writers' Project, New Orleans City Guide, (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1938), 216

1. John R. Kemp, New Orleans: An Illustrated History, Woodland Hills, CA: Windsor Publications, 1981, 135.

2. Al Rose, Storyville, (Alabama: The University of Alabama Press, 1974), p. 73.

3. Leonard V. Huber, New Orleans: A Pictorial History from the Earliest Times to the Present Day. New York: American Legacy Press, 1971, 211.

4. Office of Policy Planning, Iberville Project Neighborhood Profile (City of New Orleans: The Historic New Orleans Collection, December 1978).