Biloxi Blues

Biloxi's Black nightlife grew up around the base. During World War II the pianist Paul Gayten, a Kentwood, Louisiana, native, led a band at the Army post here, then settled at Club Robin Hood in New Orleans, where his trio recorded two early rhythm and blues hits in 1947, True (You Don't Love Me) and Since I Fell for You. Both reached the Billboard rhythm and blues top ten. Gayten later scouted and produced for Chess Records, where he found Clarence Frogman Henry. Back on Main Street, the clubs serving Keesler's airmen ran on jukeboxes and local bands.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art — 1.0 mi
  Frank Gehry's pavilions on the Biloxi waterfront, built around the pottery of George Ohr, the self-styled Mad Potter, and the rebuilt Pleasant Reed House.
• Biloxi Lighthouse — 1.0 mi
  A cast-iron tower lit in 1848 on the Biloxi beachfront, kept by women for most of its first century and still in service after Camille and Katrina.
• Biloxi Beach Wade-In Marker — 1.1 mi
  The beachfront parking lot beside the Biloxi Lighthouse where state markers recall the 1959 and 1960 wade-ins that opened Mississippi's public beaches to Black residents.
• Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum — 1.7 mi
  A Point Cadet museum on Biloxi's oyster, shrimp and schooner past, from the packing houses and the shrimpers' unions to the Vietnamese families who rebuilt the industry.

More markers nearby

• Tyrone's Barber and Beauty Shop — steps away
• Cathedral of the Nativity (B.V.M.) — 0.4 mi
• The Magnolia Hotel — 0.5 mi
• Chris LeDoux — 0.5 mi