New Orleans is the American capital of lush dilapidation. One arresting example of a vacant building with stories to tell sits at 2604 Desire Street in the Upper Ninth Ward: Club Desire.

The 1952 Federal Writers’ Project New Orleans City Guide mentions the club, saying, “Some of the Negro night clubs are patterned after those of Harlem, while others are no different than those patronized and operated by white people. Usually the music is ‘red hot’….”