 |
| BLAKE
PONTCHARTRAIN™
|
01 14 03 |
New Orleans Know-It-All
 |
|
After the "Halfway House" -- a swinging jazz club in the 1920s -- closed its doors, the building became an ice cream parlor and then the office of an extermination company before falling into disrepair.
|
Photo by Eileen Loh Harrist
|
Hey Blake,
What can you tell us about the "Halfway House" at 102 City Park
Ave.? Are they going to demolish the building? What a shame if they do. My husband's
uncle,
Charlie Cordilla, played there in the early 1920s. His clarinet and saxophone
are on display at the Louisiana State Museum.
-- Patricia Gambino
Conroe, Texas
Dear Patricia,
A decision has not yet been reached about the fate of
the former Halfway House. The Firemen's Charitable and Benevolent Association
has leased the property
to the Orleans Parish Communication District, a private enterprise that plans
to construct a 40,000-square-foot building that will house all of Orleans Parish's
emergency communication facilities. Concerned members of the New Orleans Jazz
Restoration Society have met with the manager of the company, and demolition
plans are on hold.
The Halfway House got its name because of its location -- halfway between the city and Lake Pontchartrain, along the New Basin Canal. It was a swinging place, popular with the young folks as a music club and dance hall in the 1920s.
During that period, Sunday afternoon was a good time for city dwellers to head for the lake to the camps and resorts at West End, Bucktown, and Milneberg. There was great music to hear and seafood to eat. By evening, when folks headed back into town, the young people stopped at the Halfway House.
Your husband's uncle, Charlie Cordilla, was a member of the
Halfway House Orchestra along with another fine clarinetist and saxophonist,
Leon Roppolo.
The orchestra, which was led by cornetist Alfred "Abbie" Brunies and included his brother, trombonist George, made more than 20 recordings between 1925 and 1928. These are still available on records and CDs. The band's specialty was "hot" jazz, and they played tunes like "Pussy Cat Rag," "New Orleans Shuffle," and "Barataria."
The band broke up, and the club that had opened in 1915 closed around 1930. Shortly thereafter, the building became an ice cream parlor. Because of its ideal location -- on the streetcar line out to West End -- the building remained a local favorite. There are still many of us old geezers who remember going to the parlor and getting a double dip of ice cream for a nickel.
From 1952 to 1995, the building was occupied by the Orkin Exterminating Company. Vacant since then, the building was damaged by fire in June 1995.
Leon Roppolo, who died at age 41 in 1943, is buried across the street in Greenwood
Cemetery. Like the great Buddy Bolden, he spent the last years of his life
in a hospital for the mentally ill. The Halfway House is visible from his
grave. Perhaps it should stay that way.
Hey Blake,
Some years ago when I lived in the Quarter on Chartres Street, I knew a lady who had a cottage in Martinique Alley. As far as I can recall, it was in the Faubourg Marigny or Bywater. I have not been able to find the alley, and nobody I know seems to know anything about it. It is not included in New Orleans street addresses. Is there still a Martinique Alley?
-- Travis Hardy Boykin
Dear Travis,
Yes, there really is a Martinique Alley, but it is a very short alley indeed, only one block long. There are about four households in the 1000 block. Its ZIP code is 70117, and you can find this mystery street in Bywater running perpendicular to Rampart Street between Clouet and Louisa streets.
Hey Blake,
How old is East Jefferson Hospital? Is Ochsner older?
-- Jackie
Dear Jackie,
Plans for East Jefferson General Hospital began in the 1960s. Construction began in 1967, and the hospital opened on Feb. 14, 1971. However, Ochsner, as locals call it, is quite a bit older. It was in 1944 that the Alton Ochsner Medical Foundation, which included Ochsner Foundation Hospital, was founded. Five years before, Dr. Alton Ochsner had discovered the link between tobacco and lung cancer, some 25 years before the U.S. Surgeon General. Then in 1942, he and four Tulane University School of Medicine physicians established the first multi-specialty group practice in the South.
Other Stories This Week in Features:
Cover Story
Uptown Ruler
Feature Story
Three Faces of Perfect
Wedding Resources
Recently in Blake Pontchartrain:
New Orleans Know-It-All 01 07 03
New Orleans Know-It-All 12 31 02
New Orleans Know-It-All 12 21 02
Blake Pontchartrain Archives
|
|
