Kids help restore home of jazz legend in Dix Hills

Some kids joined in helping to restore the home of jazz legend John Coltrane.
The group was hard at work all week mending the fence outside the home of John and Alice Coltrane in Dix Hills.
The home of the pioneering jazz musician was named a national treasure last year by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The restoration work is courtesy of a program through the National Trust. The program exposes local youth to vocational trades while breathing life into historic sites.
"It's important for us to show that we are here and want to bring the home back to its original state, and that we want to be good neighbors," says Jackie Burbridge, the project manager of the John and Alice Coltrane Home.
Coltrane lived with his wife, Alice, in the home in the 1960s. The home fell into major disrepair by the early 2000s.
The Town of Huntington purchased the home in 2006 and handed it over to a community group. Restoration work inside has been going on for more than a decade now.
When the renovation is complete, the centerpiece of the home is going to be a recording studio in the same place where Alice Coltrane made her first records.
Ron Stein, president of the John and Alice Coltrane Home, says the home will be open to the public within the next few years and will fully celebrate the Coltranes' legacies.