At the corner of Pauger and Marsais streets, First & Last Stop Bar has been a quiet anchor of New Orleans' 7th Ward, where regulars trade small talk over drinks as old jazz hums from a jukebox.

But on Nov. 10, it closed suddenly. As a mainstay for second lines and Mardi Gras Indians, the bar sold to a new owner and there has been a dispute with its operator, according to a report by The Lens . Now a famous name in New Orleans music, Kermit Ruffins, is stepping in to help.

Ruffins — who owns Kermit’s Treme Mother-in-Law Lounge — said he was initially offered a lease on the space and agreed. But he later learned that Carolyn Cushenberry, who has operated the bar for over two decades, would no longer be running it.

Instead, Ruffins said, he decided to pay the remainder of her rent out of

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