This episode treats a venue as a biographical subject: Birdland, the Broadway basement named after Charlie Parker, who was effectively shadow-banned from playing there. In 1949, investors Irving Levy, Morris Levy and Oscar Goodstein secured 1678 Broadway and, after a liquor license delay, opened on December 15 with a 'journey through jazz' lineup including Lester Young, Stan Getz, Harry Belafonte and Max Kaminsky. Parker's financial chaos and unreliability kept him out until bassist Gene Ramey convinced Goodstein to allow quiet Monday nights in 1954. The hosts describe the 500-capacity room, the fenced bullpen where teenagers paid $1.50 to sit inches from the Count Basie Orchestra, live caged finches in a chain-smoking basement, Goodstein auditing food trays while reading philosophical letters from Charles Mingus, and four-foot MC Pee Wee Marquet ...