Southport Hall - A Brief History
Joe Hyland, one of New Orleans' two earliest gambling
kingpins, started his career in his teens. Chartered
social clubs had a long tradition in the Crescent City,
and often served as fronts for illegal gambling operations
and later for illegal liquor speakeasys during prohibition.
Hyland opened the Southport Inn operations at the turn
of the century, just a few blocks from New Orleans city
limits in Jefferson Parish, 9001 Oak, at River Road.
Games of chance in the "Free State of Jefferson" included
roulette, craps, horse book, poker and black jack, the
lottery, keno, and a bank card game called "Kotch," were
played at Hyland's Southport. Once raided by the Louisiana
National Guard in 1915, Hyland's Southport catered to
an exclusive clientele, including high ranking government
and law enforcement officials.
Hyland brought two kids, brothers Rudy and George O'Dwyer,
into the operation. The name was later changed to the
Southport Club and sold to the O'Dwyers. They sold it
to Charlie Kerner around 1916 and re-named it the Old
Southport Club.
The New Southport Club is located in Jefferson Parish,
just outside the city limits of New Orleans, off River
Road. Once owned by Carlos Marcello, who the Times Picayune
newspaper called "the purported organized crime
king of New Orleans," the New Southport Club was
an illegal casino and nightspot in the 1930s to the 1950s.
It is the only gambling building that has survived in
a 3 block area and has been refurbished as the Southport
Hall, a night club.
The New Southport Hall is the perfect place to experience
ambiance and great music.