North Omaha

Historic, soulful6 local spots

jazzhistoryculturecivil rights24th street

This walk starts at Big Mama's on 30th Street, crosses to the museum and Love's Jazz & Arts Center on 24th, continues to CULXR House, and finishes at Time Out Foods, a 30th Street counter that has been family-owned since 1971.

Go for the art and stay for a plate. The corridor is open, and it is still the neighborhood's main street.

Best for

Culture and heritage

The story

North Omaha grew into the center of the city's African American community in the early 20th century as Black families settled near the packing houses and along the North 24th and Lake Street corridors. By the 1920s-40s the area was a thriving cultural district, with the Dreamland Ballroom in the Jewell Building drawing touring jazz and blues greats. It is the birthplace of Malcolm X, born Malcolm Little in 1925, and a hub of civil-rights activism through figures like Whitney Young and the DePorres Club. Civil unrest in the late 1960s and highway construction disrupted the commercial district, and much of the corridor has been the focus of long-running preservation and revitalization efforts. Today institutions like Love's Jazz & Arts Center and the Great Plains Black History Museum steward that legacy.

North 24th Street Heritage Walk

2.1 mi40 min

1Start at Big Mama's Kitchen, 2112 N 30th St, Omaha, NE
2Continue to Great Plains Black History Museum, 2221 N 24th St, Omaha, NE
3Continue to Love's Jazz & Arts Center, 2510 N 24th St, Omaha, NE
4Continue to CULXR House, 3014 N 24th St, Omaha, NE
5Finish at Time Out Foods, 3518 N 30th St, Omaha, NE

Happening here

Native Omaha Days
A long-running community homecoming celebrating North Omaha's Black heritage with a parade, reunions, and music.
Late July, even-numbered years (biennial)

Explore North Omaha

North Omaha's 24th Street corridor is a living cultural district: a jazz center, a history museum in the old Jewell Building, and family kitchens that have fed the neighborhood for decades. The Dreamland Ballroom's story lives in that building. The Great Plains Black History Museum tells the wider one, and it is open Wednesday through Saturday. This walk starts at Big Mama's on 30th Street, crosses to the museum and Love's Jazz & Arts Center on 24th, continues to CULXR House, and finishes at Time Out Foods, a 30th Street counter that has been family-owned since 1971. Go for the art and stay for a plate. The corridor is open, and it is still the neighborhood's main street.