In this column: blues spots, the strolls, Maxwell Street (Market), Chicago, Indiana Avenue, Indianapolis, Avenue D, Forth Pierce, U Street Black Broadway, Washington, Beale Street, Memphis, Bourbon Street, New Orleans, French Quarter, Broadway Nashville, Honky Tonk Highway, Stacy Mitchhart Band, Blues Outlaws, Sixth Street (Dirty Sixth), Austin, Rainey Street, 18th and Vine, Kansas City, Muddy Waters.
Introduction
Many strolls that were important in the past have now disappeared; the population declined or municipalities had other plans for the city's development, buildings became empty and the street became impoverished.
In cities where organizations strive to preserve cultural heritage, streets have been renovated and are part of tourist attractions such as The Mississippi Blues Trail.
Maxwell Street
Maxwell Street in Chicago was a place where businesses grew selling anything from shoestrings to expensive clothes.
Its immigrants arrived from several continents and many countries shortly before the turn of the century. In the 1940s, Southern blacks worked in Maxwell Street's stores and entertained its crowds with Delta-style blues.
Goods on card tables and blankets competed with goods in sidewalk kiosks and stores.
The Maxwell Street Market is a Chicago tradition with an eclectic mix of handmade crafts, resale housewares and clothing, live music, family fun and some of the best street food in Chicago.
The Original Maxwell Street Market is centered at Maxwell and Halsted Streets and stretching from Roosevelt Road to 16th Street.

Maxwell Street and the Blues
Indiana Avenue
The story of Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis, the historic district that was once full of Black-owned entertainment businesses.
Honoring Black History in Indianapolis: What happened to Indiana Avenue?
Avenue D
During its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s, Avenue D in Forth Pierce was the main corridor in the Village of Lincoln Park – it was St. Lucie County’s bustling center for African American-owned shops, restaurants, businesses and a theater.
New push to revitalize Lincoln Park neighborhood in Fort Pierce
U Street, Black Broadway
Washington D.C.’s historically black neighborhood of U Street is a treasure trove of African-American history hiding in plain sight. Once known as “Black Broadway,” U Street was a thriving center of African-American culture and social change, an oasis of innovation in a city scarred by Jim Crow laws throughout the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Iconic figures like Zora Neale Hurston and Mary McLeod Bethune found refuge in Black Broadway, and performers such as Louis Armstrong and Billie Holliday made regular appearances there.
But when the city became desegregated and black families began to patronize venues that had formerly been off-limits, U Street’s economy collapsed. White-owned businesses descended upon the neighborhood, and Black Broadway was slowly erased from history, preserved only by the stories and memories of its former residents. According to Deuces Live executive director, “It was once said that one could live their whole life on the Deuces."
The Story of D.C.’s Black Broadway on U before Harlem
Take a tour of DC’s Black Broadway
Beale Street, Memphis
Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately 1.8 miles (2.9 km). It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, the blues clubs and restaurants that line Beale Street are major tourist attractions in Memphis. Festivals and outdoor concerts frequently bring large crowds to the street and its surrounding areas.
In 2020, in Memphis, the Beale Street Historic District and the WDIA radio station were added to the U.S. Civil Rights Trail.
Beale Street, Memphis Keeps Blues Music Alive
Memphis: The Sounds of Beale Street
Bourbon Street
Bourbon Street is a historic street in the heart of the French Quarter of New Orleans. Extending twelve blocks from Canal Street to Esplanade Avenue, Bourbon Street is famous for its many bars and strip clubs.
The streets were named after French royal houses and Catholic saints. Bourbon Street was named after the House of Bourbon.
By the 1940s and 1950s, nightclubs lined Bourbon Street; there were over 50 different burlesque and striptease shows and venues with exotic dancers. The French Quarter is also known for its numerous festivals, including the annual Mardi Gras.
The most-visited section of Bourbon Street is "upper Bourbon Street" toward Canal Street, an eight-block section of visitor attractions including bars, restaurants, souvenir shops and strip clubs.
History of New Orleans French Quarter | Almost Demolished
Cheap and Fun Things to do in New Orleans
Live Music in New Orleans French Quarter! | New Orleans, LA
Broadway Nashville (Honky Tonk Highway)
Starting in the 1930s, Jimmy Rodgers began singing in the honky tonks on Lower Broadway. As his fame grew, other aspiring singers and songwriters were drawn to the area. The heart of the country music scene, the four-block stretch of Broadway earned the nickname Honky Tonk Highway, a moniker akin to Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Beale Street in Memphis.
The bars and music venues launched the careers of many legendary performers. lining the street now house a variety of country western-themed shops and restaurants as well as honky tonks. These establishments have at least one stage where artists perform all day. The music starts in the early afternoon and carries on into the evening. Stroll down the road or sit at a street-side table and enjoy the music and the atmosphere.
Nashville Nightlife
Grown Ass Man – Stacy Mitchhart Band – LIVE!! in Nashville – Blues Outlaws
Sixth Street (Dirty Sixth)
Sixth Street is distinctly Austin. With its colorful and bustling array of bars, restaurants and entertainment venues. Sixth Street has a personality all its own. Closed to through traffic Thursday through Saturday nights, expect this area to become wall-to-wall people in search of great live music and cheap drinks.
A walking tour of Austin’s 6th Street (live music)
Rainey Street
Rainey is one of Austin's premier nightlife and live music destinations with its many unique bungalow bars and food trailers.
Austin, Texas Walking: Rainey Street
18th and Vine
Kansas City’s historic jazz district is home to legendary smoked meats, the stellar Negro Leagues Baseball Museum and celebrated live music clubs. It’s this combination of barbecue, baseball and bebop jam sessions that melds together for one sweet melody.
Beyond 18th and Vine, Kansas City has a diversity of musical venues.
Sample KC’s signature sound at the district’s acclaimed Jammin’ at The Gem series or inside the museum’s working jazz club, The Blue Room. Night owls are in for a real treat at the Mutual Musicians Foundation, where the late-night sounds bebop until 5 a.m. Have an instrument of your own? You’re welcome to join—this is where the jam session was invented after all.