St. James Hotel

BEFORE THE MUSIC DIED: LaVilla – ”The Great Black Way”

May 13, 2015

Downtown·Feature·History·LaVilla·Neighborhoods·Perennial·Photos + Video·Videos

“West Ashley Street,” sang the in 1927, was the only place you could “ever lose these awful Jacksonville Blues.” That same year, recorded a mysterious ragtime blues guitarist named playing “Ashley Street Blues,” with singing, “I’m a heartbroken woman with the Ashley Street Blues.” recorded another version of “Jacksonville Blues” in 1928. She was “red hot” in Atlanta, she sang,

Downtown·Feature·History·Lifestyle·Neighborhoods·Northbank·Perennial

Making History: Ebb and Flow on the Northbank

The incorporated in 1859, two short years before the Civil War began and destroyed much of its nascent commercial district. Development was a long and slow process for the remainder of the century, often driven more by outside capital than the local sawmill and lumber trade. In 1868, local citizens