The area around Woodward was once nicknamed "Piety Hill". There are 22 churches on the NRHP along the street in Detroit and Highland Park. According to "The Detroit News", the sounds of church bells and horse hooves were some of the most distinctive sounds on Sundays along Woodward Avenue in the early 20th century. The street was home to jazz clubs starting in the 1910s and 1920s, starting a period of transition. During the 1940s, ministers lobbied for a law to prevent the issuance of additional liquor licenses in their neighborhood; the law was later overturned in 1950. Nightclubs along Woodward hosted a burgeoning music scene in the early days of rock 'n roll, and the area also had plenty of bars and burlesque shows as late as the 1970s. One local journalist called the mix of churches, clubs, and bars along Woodward Avenue "a precarious balance between the sacred and the profane".