Storyville, New Orleans. Once filled with victorian era saloons, sporting houses and the Southern Railway Terminal, it was the birthplace of jazz where legendary pianists such as Jelly Roll Morton played. Most of it was demolished and replaced by housing projects and parking garages.
A bit of history: Basin Street was the main strip of the “District” with brothels and [Tom Anderson’s](http://www.storyvilledistrictnola.com/files/district_andersons_225x335.jpg) being the main saloon. Andersons is not standing anymore, neither are the other victorian era buildings on that side of Basin Street since the District was shut down in 1917. The white tall building to the immediate right of the saloon is especially interesting – it is Hilma Burts Ballroom, the foremost brothel which would have the upper class customers. This is where Jelly Roll was employed in his teenage days, to play for johns and their girls. He transformed blues and ragtime into early forms of jazz during this time on the piano. [This is a picture from inside the brothel, it is believed Jelly Roll is the pianist in the picture.](https://imgur.com/0OaJsfm.jpg)
To get a feeling how it would have sounded inside those gorgeous victorian buildings back then, [you can listen to this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jp8cMcZj_E) New Orleans has such a fascinating history, its tragic the 1900s erased a lot of the architecture which housed these historic events.
If you want to dig deeper, I highly recommend checking out [photographer E.J. Bellocq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._J._Bellocq), who took shots of the architecture and working girls of Storyville before it all was gone.
AAA_Industry_IsDying says
A bit of history: Basin Street was the main strip of the “District” with brothels and [Tom Anderson’s](http://www.storyvilledistrictnola.com/files/district_andersons_225x335.jpg) being the main saloon. Andersons is not standing anymore, neither are the other victorian era buildings on that side of Basin Street since the District was shut down in 1917. The white tall building to the immediate right of the saloon is especially interesting – it is Hilma Burts Ballroom, the foremost brothel which would have the upper class customers. This is where Jelly Roll was employed in his teenage days, to play for johns and their girls. He transformed blues and ragtime into early forms of jazz during this time on the piano. [This is a picture from inside the brothel, it is believed Jelly Roll is the pianist in the picture.](https://imgur.com/0OaJsfm.jpg)
To get a feeling how it would have sounded inside those gorgeous victorian buildings back then, [you can listen to this.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jp8cMcZj_E) New Orleans has such a fascinating history, its tragic the 1900s erased a lot of the architecture which housed these historic events.
If you want to dig deeper, I highly recommend checking out [photographer E.J. Bellocq](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._J._Bellocq), who took shots of the architecture and working girls of Storyville before it all was gone.
TheTantalizingTsar says
Would’ve been such a great tourist attraction