Prior to the turbulent 1960's and the advent of urban renewal, Clarissa Street, which is located in the old 3rd Ward, was a true melting pot that witnessed the friendly intermingling of Blacks, Irish, Jews and Italians. The streets were cobblestone. Trolley cars, similar to those in San Francisco, were a familiar sight in the 1940's.The neighborhood had everything from a hotel, a deli, a bakery, a meat market, friendly neighborhood pubs, a billiard hall, a public school, restaurants that specialized in New Orleans cuisine and southern style cooking, a YMCA, ice cream parlors, a Fraternal Lodge, beauty salons, barber shops, churches, a funeral home, a community newspaper and the Pythodd Club that catered to some of the greatest names in jazz during the late 1940's, 1950's and 1960's

[source: Flying Squirrel website, 2015-Aug-11]