Scholars have long agonized over the details of the emergence of jazz, but a near consensus has emerged that the almost mythical figure of Buddy Bolden was probably the originator of, certainly the most significant figure to popularize, what would come to be called jazz. Bolden never recorded, and in 1907 was committed to the Louisiana State Mental Institution, where he survived in a near delirium until 1931. Above it on the third floor was the Odd Fellows and Masonic Hall. Here King Bolden ruled. This abandoned hall at Rampart and Perdido Streets once hosted the legendary Buddy Bolden and is among the most important sites in jazz history.
Next door stands a vacant lot.
For the historically curious, Itzcovich's pawn shop once stood here with the distinction of selling a beat-up cornet to a young adolescent, Louis Armstrong. Armstrong, at the time, was working two doors down Rampart Street, delivering coal and bundled newspapers for the Karnoffsky family for fifty cents a day. Lithuanian Jewish immigrants, the Karnoffskys hold an unheralded place in the emergence of twentieth century music. The Karoffsky home and business still stands, with the faded lettering of their struggling business faintly legible on the building facade. Trying to attract attention to their junk wagon, they hit upon the idea of using young Louis.