Maple Leaf Bar

The Maple Leaf Bar opened on February 24, 1974, at 8316 Oak Street in Carrollton as the Maple Leaf Rag Time Bar and Chess Club, named after the Scott Joplin composition. The intellectual mission of quiet jazz and chess gave way almost immediately to nightly live music, and the Leaf has since hosted James Booker, Rebirth Brass Band, Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown, Walter "Wolfman" Washington, Papa Grows Funk, and The Radiators across its cramped, pressed-tin-ceiling stage. Students from nearby Tulane, Loyola, and UNO have used the room as an incubator for new bands for decades. The Sunday afternoon Everette Maddox Memorial Prose & Poetry Reading, held in the courtyard since the 1980s, is the longest-running poetry series in North America. More than 50 years in, the Maple Leaf remains one of the most important grassroots music venues in New Orleans.