Gazette 120
NEW ORLEANS 26 April - 5 May 2013
| Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3 | Page 4 | Page 5 |
Just north of the Williams house is the junction of Dumaine Street & North Rampart Street /
On the corner is the building which was once home to Cosimo Matassa's J & M Music Shop &
his famous recording studio where many hit records were cut by Fats Domino, Little Richard, etc
Opposite is the entrance to Louis Armstrong Park
In the park / 'Congo Square is in the "vicinity" of a spot which Houmas Indians used before the arrival of the French for
celebrating their annual corn harvest and was considered sacred ground. The gathering of enslaved African vendors in
Congo Square originated as early as the late 1740s during Louisina's French colonial period and continued during the
Spanish colonial era as one of the city's public markets. By 1803, Congo Square had become famous for the gatherings
of enslaved Africans who drummed, danced, sang and traded on Sunday afternoons. By 1819, these gatherings numbered
as many as 500 to 600 people...These African cultural expressions gradually developed into Mardi Gras Indian traditions,
the Second Line and eventually New Orleans jazz and rhythm and blues.'
Congo Square / Sheila with Louis Armstrong's statue
TUESDAY 30 April
722 Toulouse Street / ' "Tennessee" Williams lived in an upstairs apartment at this location...
It was here that he wrote a short story "The Angel in the Alcove." '
Index of past issues of Gazette still available on-line
Photographs © Derek & Sheila Henderson 2013