Design
The Secret to Memphis's Blues District Success
Lots of cities have tried to build thriving arts and entertainment districts, but few have anything like Beale Street. As he gets ready to retire, the developer who made it happen looks back.
In New Orleans and Kansas City and Memphis and Chicago and Los Angeles and New York, jazz and blues emerged from the fertile soil of vice: drinking, gambling, prostitution and general lawlessness.
Defiance of prohibition and enforcement of segregation created the environments in which black (and white) musicians could develop the music of outlaws. But eventually, of course, alcohol was legalized and segregation was stamped out, and in some towns, these districts emptied of both people and business.