RL Reeves Jr Historical Time Capsule: Club Desire in New Orleans 9th Ward
A decade ago I was rambling through my little corner of the 9th Ward territory when I spotted the nearly tumbledown Club Desire. As New Orleans is wont to do the legendary nightclub has since been completely demolished and part of our city’s cultural fabric is now an empty dirt lot.
It’s 1946 and Charles Armstead has a vision. The old 9th Ward bootlegger wants to open a fancy nightclub but instead of planting it uptown where all the money is, he is determined to do it in his own modest neighborhood, the 9th Ward.
If you have enough verve and push there is little you can not accomplish and on February 10th, 1948, Mardi Gras night, Armstead threw a gala to celebrate the opening of his brand new cabaret. Dave Bartholomew’s Orchestra provided the entertainment.
The next six years are filled with lawsuits, police raids, and some of the best live music this little part of the 9th Ward ever saw. Fats Domino, Ray Charles and Count Basie all clambered aboard the stage to thrill the patrons. When I’m wool-gathering I like to fantasize about a time machine and this would be one of my prime destinations.
Mr Armstead would pass in 1954 and his daughter Audrey would run the business for a few years before migrating to New York City. New operators would come and go.
In 1965 Hurricane Betsy swept across New Orleans nearly destroying the club and the entire neighborhood. The business would reopen but eventually transition and become a disco. Imagine dancing to the Bee Gees in the room where Fats Domino made his bones.
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina dealt the old barroom a mortal blow. Eventually, FEMA held Section 106 review meetings as required by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 and determined that federal funds would be used to demolish the structure.
The neighborhood of the 9th Ward where Club Desire stood housed movie theaters, butcheries, department stores, pharmacies, gas stations, five and dimes, mercantiles…all shuttered over the decades.
New Orleans lost again.