My mind began racing down Broad Street, America’s longest street, which once boasted legendary jazz clubs like Pep’s Musical Bar, the Showboat, Fantasy Lounge, Zanzibar Blue and Jewel’s. On June 5, 1945, Charlie Parker performed at the Academy of Music.
By harnessing technology and capturing oral histories, we can go back to the time when the joints were jumping on Broad, South and 52nd streets, and Columbia Avenue from 8th Street to 30th Street.
Jazz lovers can head over to South Philly and visualize Dizzy Gillespie at the Downbeat. While there, they can catch Billie Holiday at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.
At the upcoming Apps for SEPTA hackathon, we will build a prototype for a mobile app that will help visitors and residents locate former jazz clubs. Users can jump on a “Jazz Bus” to, say, Germantown and re-imagine feeling good at the Cadillac Club.
In collaboration with Lenora Early, founder of the John Coltrane House, we will re-visit Trane’s Philadelphia.
Are you jazzed? Then get involved with this Code for Philly project that’s at the intersection of technology, art and community empowerment.
For more information about All That Philly Jazz, send an email or tweet to @PhillyJazzApp.
