Places

The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa was the site of the last concert performed by Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. "the Big Bopper" Richardson hours before a tragic plane accident claimed their lives in February 1959. The performance at the Surf Ballroom has entered American cultural memory and played a major role on the early development of rock 'n' roll music.

Greenwich Village Historic District’s reputation for dynamism can be attributed to its history of emerging artists and writers as well as the political unrest and activism of its inhabitants. With the rise of the counterculture movement during the 1960s, Greenwich Village’s Washington Square Park became a hub for writers and musicians. In 1969, LGB residents of Greenwich Village pushed back against police harassment at the Stonewall Inn.

In 1933, the mission-style Spanish Ballroom was built over the 7,500 square-foot floor of the previous Crystal Ballroom. Many big name bands - Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Lawrence Welk, Bill Haley and the Comets, and others - played to capacity crowds of up to 1,800 dancers. It is still one of the premier ballrooms on the East Coast.

Pick a shady table to enjoy a picnic or tap your toes to blue grass music at a concert. Roanoke Mountain is a former campground turned picnic area along the Mill Mountain Parkway.

During the 1970s and early 1980s Sound 80 was widely recognized as the top recording location in the Twin Cities, and amongst the best recording studios in the nation. Designed and built using the latest acoustical engineering specifically for music recording. The studio was also heavily involved in the advancement of movie sound systems and digital recording. Utilizing Sound 80s cutting edge design and technology Prince achieved international success and stardom.

The Little Gem Saloon was Frank Deroux’s first tavern on the 400 block of South Rampart Street and also featured early jazz musicians. Later a “loan office” (pawn shop) was here, and after that a bar called Pete’s Blue Heaven. The corner was often a starting and ending place for Zulu Social Aid and Pleasure Club funerals. 449 South Rampart is one of three remaining two-story brick Italianate buildings that were part of an original row of five joined terrace houses.

The Iroquois Theater is the second of four structures in the 400 block of South Rampart Street that are strongly connected to early jazz history and particularly to Louis Armstrong. John Edward Hasse, curator of American music at the Smithsonian Institution, has said that “there is no block with more structures significant to the history of jazz” than this one.1 The Iroquois Theater was built in the fall of 1911 and had vaudeville programs until 1920.

Boston’s Music Hall hosted numerous conventions and musical performances. Abolitionists, suffragists, and civil rights activists often booked Music Hall for events and lectures.

The Jim Pepper House in Parkrose, Portland, Oregon was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2023. The property is significant as the childhood home of Kaw and Muscogee Creek jazz saxophonist Jim Pepper, who melded Native American musical traditions with jazz and rock.

The WSVS Radio Station in Crewe, Virginia was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2022. The radio station is significant as a ongoing hub of communications for a rural community since the 1940s, and additionally as the workplace of local deejay and musician Jody Rainwater.