Cedar Grove (french: Bosquet de Cèdre) is a neighborhood within the confines of Shreveport, Louisiana. It is located to the southwest of the downtown district, an area bordered by Hollywood Avenue on the north side to 85th Street on the south side; from Line Avenue in the east to Linwood Road on the west. It developed a recent reputation as a dangerous,

inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...

neighborhood, especially during the crack cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. Cedar Grove has a much longer distinction as home to working class gin joints, brothels, and illegal

gambling Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three el ...

as far back as the 1930s. One such club, the Woodlawn Club, was notorious for such activities and is reported to have hosted such big band names as

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-toned trombo ...

and

Rudy Vallée Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, musician, actor, and radio host. He was one of the first modern pop stars of the teen idol type. Early life Hubert Prior Vall ...

during its heyday. In May 2007, rapper Hurricane Chris shot a music video for his song "A Bay Bay" there. Cedar Grove is also home to Lava House Records, which hosts many of Shreveport's musical artists.

1988 Riot

In September 1988, a riot compelled the police to block off the entire neighborhood. Cars and businesses were burned. The rioting continued for two days. It stemmed from an incident in which a white woman shot at an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

man when a drug deal failed.C.A. Gruber. "Civil Disturbances: The Lesson of Cedar Grove." ''Police Chief''. September 1990, Vol. 57 Issue 9, pp. 12-16.

EBSCOhost EBSCO Information Services, headquartered in Ipswich, Massachusetts, is a division of EBSCO Industries Inc., a private company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. EBSCO provides products and services to libraries of very many types around the ...

SocINDEX, accessed June 26, 2007.

Notable residents

* Nathaniel Code *

Tillman Franks Tillman Ben Franks, Sr. (September 29, 1920 – October 26, 2006), was an American bassist and songwriter and the manager for a number of country music artists including Johnny Horton, David Houston, Webb Pierce, Claude King, and the Carlis ...

Gene Reynolds Eugene Reynolds Blumenthal (April 4, 1923 – February 3, 2020) was an American screenwriter, director, producer, and actor. He was one of the developers and producers of the TV series ''M*A*S*H''. Early life Reynolds was born on April 4, 1923, ...

References

Neighborhoods in Louisiana African-American riots in the United States {{louisiana-geo-stub