The section of Church St. was the inspiration for "Catfish Row" in the Dubose Heyward story "Porgy." This story later became the basis for George Gershwin's opera "Porgy and Bess," a fictionalized glimpse of black life in Charleston during the 1920s. The character "Porgy" was based on an actual Charlestonian, Samuel Smalls. Private homes and specialty shops now line the area.