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Lady Day's Philadelphia 10 stops on foot, then a short drive to the final 3
Map is offline right now — the tour below still works. Narration plays on its own as you reach each stop.

A self-guided walk — and a short drive — through the Philadelphia that opened and closed Billie Holiday's life. From the Earle Theatre and the federal case styled “The United States of America v. Billie Holiday,” down the South Broad jazz corridor to her last Philadelphia stage, then by car to the Blue Note, the Coltrane House, and the hospital where a baby registered as “Elinore Harris” was born in 1915 — the city where Lady Day began and ended, telling one town's version of a whole life. Narration plays on its own as you reach each stop, so the screen is for when you're stopped, not walking or driving. Ten stops are on foot; after the walking core, a card on your screen hands you off to three final stops that are a short drive away.

🎤 Walking, then driving. Narration plays on its own as you reach each stop. When you reach the driving extension, keep your eyes on the road — the screen is for your passenger or the parking lot, never the driver.

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The route, in order

  1. Earle Theatre site Where Billie Holiday sang “Strange Fruit 'til they made me stop” — and where a legend was born from an ambiguity.
  2. Robert N.C. Nix Sr. Federal Building “The United States of America v. Billie Holiday” — “and that's just the way it felt.”
  3. Academy of Music The grand hall on Broad — and the concert-stage comeback that followed prison.
  4. Radnor Hotel site (1956 raid) The 1956 pre-dawn raid — a city bust, a chihuahua, and a bail slip that didn't stop the show.
  5. Douglass Hotel / Showboat + PHMC marker Her Philadelphia home — with the legendary Showboat in the basement, and two eras of jazz recorded in one room.
  6. Pep's Musical Bar site / Walk of Fame The jazz corner of South Broad — and the bronze plaque that finally put her name in the sidewalk.
  7. Philadelphia Clef Club of Jazz Born from a segregated Black musicians' union — the first building in America built to be a jazz institution.
  8. Emerson's Bar & Grill site Her last Philadelphia stage — the real bar behind the famous play, months before the end.
  9. Attucks Hotel The Green Book hotel where the 1947 federal case began — with a raid on a room she'd already left.
  10. Marian Anderson Museum A closing counterpoint — another Philadelphia-born Black voice the country tried to contain.
  11. The walk ends here — the drive begins The walking tour ends here. The last three stops are a short drive — or a natural place to finish.
  12. Blue Note site “The town's swankiest jazz emporium” — where she packed the room three or four times a year.
  13. John Coltrane House (exterior) A National Historic Landmark rowhouse — deed back with Coltrane's family, restoration under way for the 2026 centennial.
  14. Philadelphia General Hospital site + PHMC marker Where the life began — April 7, 1915, a birth certificate, and a name that isn't even hers.

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