Central Avenue Jazz Festival Central Avenue Jazz Festival The Central Avenue Jazz Festival is a yearly annual free jazz festival that takes place the last weekend in the month of July in the Southern section of Los Angeles. Central Avenue, after which the area is named, was in the 1930s and 1940s a vibrant center for jazz. At this time the infamous covenant line along Washington Boulevard demarcated the areas where African Americans were allowed to live. Even the giants of jazz music, such as Duke Ellington were allowed to play in Hollywood and other areas, but they could not stay there. They often
Manhattan Avenue (Manhattan) Manhattan Avenue (Manhattan) Not included in the original Commissioners' Plan of 1811, Manhattan Avenue in Manhattan Valley lies between Columbus Avenue (9th Ave.) and Central Park West/Frederick Douglass Boulevard (8th Ave.), extending from 100th Street to 124th Street, at which point it merges with St. Nicholas Avenue. It saw its first buildings in 1885, a group of row houses on its western side. These buildings were brick with stone and terra-cotta trim. The now defunct New York Cancer Hospital, a landmark since 1976, is nearby on Central Park West. There are two historic districts on this avenue. Manhattan Avenue between