I first dreamed of listening to jazz on Central Avenue when I read "On the Road" by Jack Kerouac. His visit is chronicled by a blogger in Albuquerque.
This weekend is a chance to have your own Central Avenue jazz memory at the 12th annual Central Avenue Jazz Festival.

photo from viewfromaloft.typepad.com
The media has really caught on this year. Check it out here.

On the Road: "Terry came out and led me by the hand to Central Avenue, which is the colored main drag of LA. And what a wild place it is, with chickenshacks barely big enough to house a jukebox, and the jukebox blowing nothing but blues, bop, and jump. We went up dirty tenement stairs and came to the room of Terry's friend Margarina, who owed Terry a skirt and a pair of shoes. Margarina was a lovely mulatto; her husband was black as spades and kindly....The wild humming night of Central Avenue -- the night of Hamp's 'Central Avenue Breakdown' -- howled and boomed along outside. They were singing in the halls, singing from their windows, just hell be damned and look out."