The nineteenth-century building that houses BB's Jazz, Blues & Soups had been a private home, boarding house, reception hall, millinery, transient hotel, bar, diner and house of ill repute before Mark O'Shaughnessy turned it into a blues and jazz club for the first time back in 1976. As it turned out, our fair city wasn't quite ready to embrace its musical heritage, and the club closed the following year. Undaunted, O'Shaughnessy held on to the building, kept making improvements and tried again in 1980. Once more the venture was short-lived, and the building was leased out for more than a decade to other operators. Finally in 1996, O'Shaughnessy reopened BB's once more, and the third time was the charm. The long, narrow room has earned a reputation as a place to hear high-quality music seven nights a week, and the bar's 3 a.m. license has helped make it a popular after-work hangout for musicians, restaurant staff and other musically inclined night owls.