Louis Armstrong House Museum
34-56 107th St., 718-478-8274
In 1943, Louis Armstrong moved into this modest house in Corona with his wife, Lucille, and lived there for 28 years, before he passed away in his sleep in 1971. Today, the house is a museum that honors and preserves the jazz legend's legacy. Homemade reel-to-reel recordings, photographs, letters and manuscripts, as well as five trumpets and 14 mouthpieces are part of what is perhaps "the largest publicly held archival collection in the world devoted to a jazz musician." Still furnished as it was when the Armstrongs lived there, the museum features all of the couple's original furniture, appliances and paintings. Outside is their Japanese-inspired garden. Guided house tours start on the hour every hour Tuesday through Sunday. Although the institution closes for major holidays, it's always open on July 4, in honor of Armstrong's birthday.