Ray Deter, owner of the famed New Orlenas bourbon bar d.b.a. where artists such as Stevie Wonder, Stanton Moore and The Neville Brothers once played, recently died after being hit by a car while riding his bike on New York’s Canal Street. Rather than a traditional funeral, friends and family celebrated Deter’s life by giving him a “second line” funeral parade in New York on Monday night, which is a New Orleans tradition where participants carry umbrellas and wave handkerchiefs in the air while marching behind a jazz band. Deter’s son Jake thanked participants on the bar’s Facebook page, saying that “even at such a sad time I couldn’t help grinning like an idiot. I feel like nothing else could have been more appropriate, a true celebration of a great man’s life and I don’t think he would have had it any other way.”

Deter opened the original d.b.a. bar in Manhattan’s East Village and expanded his circle to bars to include d.b.a. locations in New Orleans and Brooklyn. The bar’s New Orleans location regularly hosted live music. A memorial service is scheduled for July 13 at the New York City Marble Cemetery on East Second Street, with seating reserved for immediate family. A farewell benefit will occur on August 1 at d.b.a.‘s Williamsburg location.