Room Four: Oral Histories of Claiborne Avenue

Sidney Barthelemy states the importance of Claiborne Avenue to African Americans in New Orleans, saying "Claiborne was the Canal Street for us."

Deacon John Moore discusses the importance of Claiborne Avenue to African Americans in New Orleans

Leah Chase gives her first impressions of Claiborne Avenue after her family moved to New Orleans

James Rivers: "Claiborne was like our street."

Benny Jones talks on the significance of Claiborne Avenue to the African American community

Leah Chase recalls a number of businesses on Claiborne Avenue owned and patronized by African Americans

"Claiborne was the Canal Street for us"

Segregation created and retrenched racialized spaces and places in New Orleans. While Canal Street became the main shopping thoroughfare for white New Orleanians, Claiborne Avenue was well known as a place that welcomed African American shoppers. Several interviewees noted this comparison.

Sidney Barthelemy on neighborhood opposition to Interstate 10 along Claiborne Avenue

Leah Chase on the lack of community resistance to Claiborne Avenue interstate

Leah Chase on the loss of the Claiborne Avenue neutral ground and neighborhood resentment over the interstate

James Rivers remembers first hearing about the coming interstate along Claiborne Avenue

Neighborhood Resistance to the Interstate?

Memories differ on the shape of neighborhood resistance to the interstate. While Sidney Barthelemy remembers staunch opposition, Leah Chase and James Rivers note that most residents paid little attention to the coming project. Civil rights activist Dodie Smith-Simmons has noted that "the Claiborne interstate was not a focus" of the local civil rights movement during the 1960s. Similarly, Louis Charbonnet, whose family has operated Charbonnet Funeral Home in the Tremé since 1883, remembers, “We tried to organize some opposition to it, but it just wasn’t enough.”[1]

[1] Quotes from Smith-Simmons and Charbonnet taken from Laine Kaplan-Levenson, “‘The Monster’: Claiborne Avenue Before And After The Interstate,” Tripod: New Orleans at 300 podcast, https://www.wwno.org/post/monster-claiborne-avenue-and-after-interstate. Accessed March 1, 2021.

James Rivers Giggles

James Rivers remembers music clubs on Claiborne Avenue

Benny Jones discusses music clubs on Claiborne Avenue

Benny Jones discusses "fifty or better" barrooms in the vicinity of Claiborne Avenue and laments the that the interstate "destroyed history"

Music Venues

One major focus of the CAHP interviews has been musical venues on the street and the musicians who played in them. Some memories stay locked away. Changing subjects from Claiborne generally to the music, Ray Sanders said to James Rivers, “There was a lot of bars on Claiborne, musicians on Claiborne street.”  The comment elicited a visceral, non-verbal reaction, a smile appeared on Rivers’s face, and he let out an excited, near-giggling laugh.[1] Luckily, the interviews, as well as research in street address directories, newspapers, and other oral history collections, have yielded names and locations of clubs, as well abundant personal stories of seeing and being seen on the street. Claiborne Avenue hosted local performers and national touring acts.

The number of music venues on Claiborne Avenue speaks to its status as an artery for the Tremé and Seventh Ward neighborhoods. Many interviewees emphasized that the side streets radiating from the main avenue contained as many clubs and bars as Claiborne itself. Drummer Benny Jones, a founder of the Tremé Brass Band, gave us a tour of “fifty barrooms or better” that he said stood on the side streets showed how they all led back to Claiborne Avenue. Jones guided us through a typical parade route. Many mentioned the Nightcap Lounge, the jazz club Terro’s, the Desert Sands, the Giant, Prout’s Alhambra, the Honey Hush Club, Big Mary’s, and the Off-Beat Club. Each club, as Moore ruefully noted, “ain't there no more.”

James Rivers let out another telling laugh at the mention of Club 77. “That was a swingin’ club” is all he said. Club 77 was a relative latecomer to the avenue at 810 N. Claiborne, featured in several oral histories. Deacon John Moore remembered Club 77 “was like built to be the plushiest of the plush joints."

[1] James Rivers interview with Raynard Sanders and Katherine Cecil, January 15, 2019.

Leah Chase: "It was because it was cooked by women, just cooked like they were cooked in their homes. You know, when you ate- when you ate at one of these restaurants it was just like eating in your home because that's the way they cooked. They would cook maybe lima beans or chicken or made oyster sandwiches and different things like that."

Benny Jones remembers the booths at Levata's Oyster Restaurant.

Restaurants and Bars

Remembrance of restaurants and culinary traditions on Claiborne Avenue run through the interviews. In one clip, Deacon John Moore remembers Steve’s Restaurant at 1536 N. Claiborne, where “they used to sell live chickens.” While Moore mentions Steve’s as the place “where you could get them hot sausage po’boys,” the bulk of his reminiscence revolves around the owner of Steve’s, who “lived around the corner from my house and he raised alligators and-and chickens and he used to sell parakeets and pigeons.”[1] Leah Chase adds nuance with her own memory of Steve’s Restaurant, where “they have chicken chops on the corner.” But Chase, as a chef, has a more layered connection to her memory of Steve’s. “And you can buy chickens,” at Steve’s, she says.

Interviewees remembered oysters, too. H&K Oyster House and men selling oysters from carts came up but no spot came up more than Levata’s Oyster Restaurant, at 1548 N. Claiborne, a few doors down from Steve’s. In Chase’s memory, “Levata’s…served the best oysters there was…on Claiborne Avenue.” Moore agreed, singling out Levata’s. “That’s where you go get raw oysters,” he insisted. Benny Jones remembered Levata’s for a different reason.

Restaurants, like night clubs, have cultural as well as social importance to their patrons and members of the broader community.

[1] Jones, interview.

[1] “Deacon” John Moore interview with Raynard Sanders and Katherine Cecil, April 13, 2016.

Sidney Barthelemy gives his memory of Mardi Gras on Claiborne Avenue

Leah Chase remembers Mardi Gras on Claiborne Avenue, particularly the street vendors and open houses that welcomed all comers.

Leah Chase remembers Mardi Gras on Claiborne Avenue and notes the distinction between "creoles of color" who didn't mask on Mardi Gras Day but dressed, instead, in their "spring suits."

Mardi Gras

Interviewees told of a number of Mardi Gras traditions that centered on Claiborne Avenue. Memories revolved around the passing of the Zulu parade at Orleans and Claiborne Avenues, open houses at the numerous insurance companies located on Claiborne, and different traditions that predominated among the varied groups of New Orleanians.