Founded in 1841 by free people of color, St. Augustine is the oldest African-American parish in the United States. Civil Rights activists Homer Plessy and A.P. Tureaud were parishioners of St. Augustine, as were jazz musician Sidney Bechet and Mardi…

Southport was one of the most infamous clubs in the area. It was owned by Carlos Marcello and is now a music venue called Southport Hall. It moved and changed names several times. According to Al Kleindienst, in the early 1910s Joe Hiland became…

According to Al Kleindienst, a long-time resident of the Greater New Orleans Area, the O'Dwyer family opened a gambling club at 100 Jefferson Highway in 1949 called "O'Dwyer's." The O'Dwyer brothers were well-connected…

According to Al Kleindienst, after a fire in 1942 destroyed George and Rudy O'Dwyer's Original Southport Club, they "moved to the Club Forest at 407 Jefferson Highway and called it O'Dwyer's Club Forest. They operated this…

Every club would produce their own gaming and roulette chips, marked with their names or an identifiable symbol. Since the closing of the clubs, these have become collector's item.

Al Kleindienst explained that he met a Dakin Street club owner because the owner would frequent the Kleindienst bakery. Al asked the man why he was always buying so many birthday cakes, and the owner explained that "if he was informed that they…

Oral history interview with Buddy Adams about gambling in Jefferson.

The state of illicit gambling in New Orleans was summed up well in the 1938 WPA New Orleans City Guide, "although gambling is, strictly speaking, illegal, these places are usually open for business from dusk to dawn." Gambling had a strong…

Clubs often changed owners, locations and names, but the general area and primary circle of families involved with the clubs remained largely consistent. While the gaming activity was illegal, it was largely tolerated (when not explicitly supported)…