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Essays by Todd Sheridan, Felicia Harris, and Taivon Murphey

Pennsylvania Avenue by Todd Sheridan

 For almost two miles through the west side of Baltimore City is Pennsylvania Avenue, known as a mecca to all of the city’s Black citizens.1   This city street, from the early 1920s to the early 1970s known as “Street of Dreams,” was filled with night clubs, music, dancing, and gambling.2 But mainly it was a safe haven so blacks could enjoy Friday and Saturday nights without being harassed by whites.  The community was also filled with famous spots such as the Royal Theater, Sphinx Club, and many other shops, movie houses, bars and pool halls.3 Many famous and unknown black performers visited Pennsylvania Avenue.  During those periods business was driven by segregation which led to boycotting on the Avenue.  Some areas of the Avenue were more modernized than others and filled with lively entertainment.4 Despite these lively offerings, conditions on the Avenue were somewhat overlooked.

Pennsylvania Avenue was an entertaining sanctuary for blacks but some businesses thrived while following segregation practices. After a while, desegregation campaigns reigned through the blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue.  During the nation’s Depression, on December 8, 1933, over 150 African Americans came together and boycotted on the 1600-1700 block of Pennsylvania Avenue.  The protestors fought for jobs on the Avenue because white merchants would only serve blacks but would not hire them.  Blacks then targeted the Avenue’s largest employers, one of which is the A&P store at the corner of Pennsylvania and Lauren Street. Protestors carried signs reading “Don’t Shop Where You Can’t Work.” It was a nonviolent boycott that refused to give in until merchants were supported by the Circuit Court.  Merchants received a temporary injunction but the boycott continued.  Merchants then received a permanent injunction, to inhibit picketing and lift boycotting.  Despite how picketing was declared unlawful Blacks still used newspapers, handbills, meetings, and posters to publicize the boycott.5 The successful boycott ended in the spring of 1934 and the A&P commenced the hiring of Blacks with the first black employee Thomas Hawkins.6

Additional establishments on Pennsylvania Avenue practiced segregation. Eighty-six-year old Herman Katkow owned Beverly Shop Women’s clothing store on the Avenue in 1952 and also served and hired blacks. His associate, Joe Eisenberg, who owned Eisenberg Delicatessen in the 1800 block wouldn’t serve or hire blacks.7

The Charm Centre, August 1949, Paul A. Henderson Collection, Maryland Historical Society

Pennsylvania Avenue’s significance was mainly kept within the business boundaries.  People were entertained with standing on the block enjoying the lights and diverse stores. Ninety-year-old Clarence “Shad” Brown explains, “Yeah, the Avenue was the spot…I can name every store, club, and every bar all the way up [the street].”8

In addition to the clubs and theaters, Pennsylvania Avenue held two-day events on Easter Sunday. This is where African American ladies would attend the Easter parade, fashion shows and dancing at the Strand Ballroom.9 Beverly Reid was one lady who attending the Easter Parade and she said, “We had the Easter Parade on Pennsylvania Avenue and we strutted our stuff. We felt good about ourselves.”10

Easter Parade, April 7, 1934, Afro-American newspaper, Enoch Pratt Free Library

Even though Pennsylvania Avenue’s entertainment was a staggering attraction, somehow its conditions were not a priority compared to other streets. Pennsylvania Avenue consisted of two segments: Upper class and lower class. The Upper Class was from the 1800 to the 1200 block. This is where more economic activity occurred. Banks, bakeshops, restaurants and markets dominated a lot of commerce in the area. Parts of the lower class, from the 1100 to the 800 block, were filled with comedy clubs, theaters and dancehalls.11

The physical appearance of the Avenue did not add to its allure. It was poorly lit which made it tougher on the police as they patrolled the Avenue.

 “PA Ave City’s Stepchild” NCF—Streets O-P, MdHS

In addition there were, “[t]rash heaps at corners, garbage in the gutters, ashes in the street and on the sidewalk, crushed wooden baskets and cardboard cartons under parked cars, stagnant puddles of reeking water in the road and potholes in the street.”12 With the lack of environmental upkeep, the 1000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue earned infamous nicknames such as “the forgotten bottom.”13 Crime was also a problem for the Avenue as drugs, robberies, stickups and prostituting was a major issue. Store fronts were now regarded as the center of the narcotics traffic in Baltimore.14

Closed Building, 1972, Maryland Historical Society

Pennsylvania Avenue was a beacon of entertainment but it also attracted an unlawful sect. But when plush night clubs shutdown, drugs fed on its remains and only the criminal element remained.15 This criminal element has remained on the Avenue. In 2007, Shaidon Emanuel Blake, who said he made $180,000 selling drugs in one night on Pennsylvania Avenue, said to police, “Pennsylvania Avenue is a freaking gold mine. This is the heroin capital of America, ain’t no more dope sold nowhere than right there on Pennsylvania Avenue. It’s the largest open air drug market in the world for heroin.”16

Older citizens of Baltimore have fond memories of the Avenue and they hope that the current generation will experience them, too. Efforts are under way by different committees, such as Pennsylvania Avenue Lafayette Market Association (PALMA), that was created by merchants to rebuild markets on the Avenue.17 Other groups involved in rebuilding the Avenue are the Upton Planning Committee and the Pennsylvania Avenue Redevelopment Collaborative (PARC), the latter collaborative is run by George Gilliam who has overseen the clean up of empty lots, built the brick monument to the demolished Royal Theatre, and bringing jazz back to the Avenue Market.18

Pennsylvania Avenue was once the center for African American life and culture. Night clubs, music, and dancing were its main attractions despite its later addiction to crime and slow decrease in commerce and stability. Efforts have and still are being contributed to making the Avenue back to what it used to be. Long awaited revitalization has been anticipated but the recreation of the original Pennsylvania Avenue is a goal that is yet to be obtained.        

Christina Royster-Hemby, “Street of Dreams,” Baltimore City Paper, photo by Ken Royster
http://wildside.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=9636

Pennsylvania Avenue 1991, Jeff Goldman

Pennsylvania Avenue, from NCF--Streets, O-P, Maryland Historical Society

Weekends on Pennsylvania Avenue by Felicia Harris

In the early 1900s and mid-1900s there were many clubs and theaters located on Pennsylvania Avenue. During this time, these clubs and theaters were popular in the black community. African Americans from all over would come to these clubs or theaters just to see a movie or to hear jazz. Saturday night would be a perfect time to catch a good movie, to see a famous musician play or hear a singer, and singers came from all over, play on the Avenue.

Even though whites and blacks had fun while going to these theaters and nightclubs, segregation was still in effect in Baltimore. Sometimes, members of bands that played in Baltimore stayed with homeowners that lived nearby.1 They couldn’t go downtown and stay at a hotel. The clubs that were owned by white owners didn’t want to hire African American employees. Blacks and whites were seated separately in most of these theaters. Although skin color caused problems on the Avenue for blacks, the Avenue was theirs. The Avenue was a place to spend their wages after working all week, a place to get together with friends, a place to hear great music. The Avenue didn’t represent segregation. The Avenue was where all people celebrated life. I researched two clubs to try and give a short history of places where Alvin Gillard said, “Back in those days if you were going out for the evening you started and ended on The Avenue.”2 Or, as Al Patacca a white man who played trumpet at the Royal Theatre, stated, “Saturday night it was people wall-to-wall inside, curb-to-curb outside, well-dressed and orderly, all come to hear good jazz. It was high tone, and elegant, believe me.”3                                       

The Lincoln Theater

The Lincoln was located at 936 Pennsylvania Avenue. It was built on the old site of the African Methodist-Episcopal Zion Church of Baltimore. The theater opened in early 1915. The first plan of the Lincoln was to show vaudeville and motion pictures to black patronage. In 1917, the theater showed vaudeville acts that changed every Thursday and motion pictures that changed daily. The cost of attending a show was $.10. The building was made by Theodore W. Pietsch. It was integrated almost as soon as it opened but, at first, the theater divided blacks and whites by an aisle. The theater, when first planned, was to sit 1,300 but when built it sat 400. The Lincoln was under supervision by theater managers Thomas and Dudley. When the theater was rebuilt, it could seat 900 people instead of 400. Otto Dutch Niquet was one of the operators there. The Lincoln was or may have been the only black movie theater to employ behind the screen talkers. Until it closed, in March of 1971, the Lincoln showed multiple films.

The Regent Theater

The Regent was located at 1629 Pennsylvania Avenue. The Regent was the second largest movie house in Baltimore. The Regent opened in 1916 by Louis Hornstein and his sons Simon C. and Isaac L. It cost about $10,000 to build and was built by Nathan Freeman. It sat about 500 people and when it was opened, on Monday, June 19, 1916, it featured photo plays, vaudeville acts and John W. Cooper a world-famous black ventriloquist. In 1917, Charles Moseley was the manager, and Ike Thompson’s orchestra provided the music. When Louis Hornstein ran the Regent, a person could not get into the theater if he was not dressed properly.

In 1920 and 1921, the Hornstein organization bought the adjoining lots down to 1619 Pennsylvania Avenue, and built a new theater. At the new Regent, seating increased to 2,250 seats. It featured boxes and a small balcony that seated 100-125 people. The new theater opened on January 31, 1921 with vaudeville acts and movies. The picture on opening day was “The Life of the Party” with Fatty Arbuckle, and the vaudeville show featured Sidney Perrin’s “High Flyers,” Iris Hall and Allen and Stokes.  Vaudeville stopped soon after sound “talkies” became the norm at theaters around the country. The Regent was the first black theater to show “The Jazz Singer.”

Some of the famous people to play the Regent included Cab Calloway, Lena Horne and Ethel Waters. Calloway had this to say about the significance of the Regent, “There were other theaters here before that made it possible for the Royal like the Regent. That (club) was way before the Royal.”3    The Regent changed over the years to meet the needs of the people. For instance, in April 1953, it got 3-D.

The theaters along Pennsylvania Avenue were exciting for generations of Baltimoreans. But in 2007 these theaters don’t exist.

Howard K. Rollins, Jr. and friends, 1940s, Collection of Howard K. Rollins, Jr.

People that lived through that time sit down and tell the stories of the Avenue and people my age listen and think, “there used to be something before Shake n’ Bake on Pennsylvania Avenue?” Well there is a strong, exciting history of Pennsylvania Avenue. We see clues as we walk by the Billie Holiday statue, and as we look at buildings that have shapes of old movie houses. It is a history that the youth of Baltimore need to embrace.

The Royal Theater by Taivon Murphey