It has taken a while for New York to get around to it, but one of its most famous residents at last has a fitting memorial.
On October 15, after a US$1.6 million renovation, the Louis Armstrong House in Corona, Queens, opened to the public as a fully fledged museum dedicated to perhaps the greatest of the founding fathers of jazz.
The house, which Armstrong bought in 1943 and lived in until his death in 1971, was willed to the City of New York by his widow, Lucille. It has been in the civic authority's hands since she died in 1983, and was long ago designated a National Historic Monument and a City of New York Landmark.
So it has taken 20 years for Pops, Dippermouth, Satchelmouth and Satchmo as he was variously called to get his tribute. It's already two years on from the centenary of his birth, but at least the memorial sounds like an appropriate one. The house has been lovingly restored and refurnished, with artefacts from Queens' College's Armstrong Collection of personal effects, to reflect the unassuming way the couple lived.
Although prone to the occasional extravagance - Lucille Armstrong was once asked how she kept the gold-coloured bathroom taps from tarnishing and replied that with solid gold it wasn't a problem - generally speaking Armstrong didn't live the life of a star.
The couple chose to live in a mostly working-class area where they were well liked by their neighbours. Although they had no children of their own local kids were always welcome to drop in to eat ice cream and watch western movies. The Satchmo of What A Wonderful World was the real deal.