Pretty Baby: Storyville Tour

Storyville, New Orleans’ notorious red light district, was established by city ordinance in 1897 and operated through most of 1917.

The first three locations on this tour were part of a predominantly Black entertainment district before the Storyville era, on what was then called Franklin Street.

The 101 Ranch went by a different name in the 1800s, but its story speaks to the continuity of dance halls in this neighborhood before, during, and after the Storyville era. Buddy Bolden likely performed here, we know beyond a doubt that his predecessors and successors did.

The Tuxedo Dance Hall, by contrast, was relatively short-lived, but especially consequential: It is the namesake of the Tuxedo Jazz Band, the longest-running jazz group in the world today. It was also the site of a lethal gunfight in 1913 that reconfigured the music scene in the district.

Frank Early’s Saloon presented the virtuoso pianist and singer Tony Jackson, an important figure in the inception of jazz and a pioneer of Black LGBTQ performance in New Orleans. It is one of only three structures from Storyville still standing today.

Joe Victor’s Saloon played an ancillary role in the district’s musical life, but as the second surviving building from the district, it offers a tangible connection to the neighborhood that pre-dated Storyville. Cornet “King” Freddie Keppard and his brother, the guitarist Louis Keppard, grew up two doors down.