A Modern Area Map

Without extensive research information remains very limited at this time. I try to break down pages for various Amusement Parks but it seems the whole area around Pontchartrain Lake was a massive collection of 'this and that'. In late 1920's the whole area went through re-development stripping the area of most of what 'was there'. I have several associated pages and one might travel to them for similiar information.

West End

Bucktown

Milneburg

Spanish Fort

CREDITS: Various sources were used including New Orleans Magazine, New Orleans Library

The Lakefront

The Lake Pontchartrain shore includes Bucktown, West End, Spanish Fort, Milneburg, and Little Woods. Historically, the lakefront was a resort area where brass bands played at amusement parks, dance pavilions, saloons, picnics, and family "camps" (i.e., cabins on piers for weekend retreats). Early jazz musicians of all races and economic classes performed in groups at the lakefront, which was important as a place where musical ideas and techniques were shared and mixed. Joseph Sharkey Bonano was born in Milneburg. Most of the lakefront relating to jazz history was irreversibly altered in the late 1920s when the shoreline from West End to the east of Milneburg (more than 5 1/2 miles) was extended about 2,000 feet into Lake Pontchartrain. Important sites that were obliterated by the reclamation project and other efforts included Tranchina's and the Tokyo Gardens at Spanish Fort, the boardwalk and stilt camps at Milneburg, and the West End Roof Garden. Only a few isolated and altered structures related to early jazz remain today.