For New Orleans music devotees, Tipitina’s has long served as an icon of the city’s music history and the local music scene’s communal spirit. But that’s not what compelled Roland Von Kurnatowski to buy the historic club in 1996. For the wealthy, New Orleans–born real estate developer, purchasing Tip’s was a pragmatic solution to a dollars and cents problem. He and his wife, Mary, were converting the old Fontainebleau Hotel on Tulane Avenue into a storage facility and had decided to rent out ...