Evening Sun 1967

Another week, another failed attempt at interviewing Mr. Dixon. But all is not lost. I had a meeting with one of my advisors (Dr. Nix) about another project that I am participating in and she turned me on to the writings of Thomas Edsall. Currently Mr. Edsall a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist is a political writer for the Huffington post, but prior to that he wrote for the Baltimore Sun. One of the areas he covered was Pennsylvania Ave. So I took the info I received from Dr. Nix and dug up some additional info from Langsdale Library. Here is article he wrote back in 1967 for The Evening Sun. (I didn’t want to jump ahead to this period in Pennsylvania Avenue’s history, however this article was so brilliant that I had to post it this week!)
“Evening Sun, May 10, 1967 D1
"Pennsylvania Ave. Declining for Generation" by Thomas Edsall
It was a street crowded with shoppers patronizing busy shops by day that at night became the center of jazz in Baltimore. Before the Second World War Pennsylvania avenue [sic] was the hub of Negro life and activity in Baltimore. The stretch between Franklin Street and North Avenue was packed with movie theaters, tailor shops, food stores, nightclubs and barbershops. Downtown was more or less off limits to Negroes and Pennsylvania Avenue [provided both the day-to-day necessities of food and clothing and a place to spend one's leisure time in the evenings. "You felt free there," Dr. Furman Templeton, head of the Urban League, remembers. "You felt it was there for you."
Regular Parades
The Elks and the Mason[s] used to have parades regularly on the avenue and one elderly man remembers the avenue as "the place everyone went with their fancy costumes on Halloween [sic]. On Sundays Negroes came from other parts of the city and surrounding counties to stroll or to watch others strolling in their finery. The Pennsylvania Avenue Easter parade was famous. At night, clubs like Ike Dixon's Comedy Club, Gambee's and the Ritz Cafe lighted up the avenue with neon signs advertising the best in jazz -- performers like Pearl Bailey and Charlie Barnet. "Downtown you couldn't try on a dress or stop and have a snack with a friend," one woman recalled, "but the avenue was ours and, I'll tell you, it was a mighty fine place to go."
Best Dresses, Food
"The stores had the best looking dresses yo ever saw," she continued, "and at night you could get some of the best food in Baltimore at some of those restaurants." After the Second World War, as Negroes began to make advances, the middle class began to move out. By 1945, businessmen along the avenue were beginning to complain of a decline in sales and the clubs were getting less and less business. South of North Avenue, stores began to close, theaters became movies and many of the bars began putting in juke boxes to replace live bands. Since then both the mood and the physical state of the avenue have changed. Recently a group of twelve Negro youths who live in East Baltimore went to West Baltimore to play basketball. They were all big and could take care of themselves. On the way back they were walking down Pennsylvania Avenue to a bus stop. Approaching them was another group of Negro youths. One of the basketball players asked, "What do we do if there is trouble?"
"Run," was the reply.
Avenue's Reputation
The reply reflects the kind of reputation Pennsylvania Avenue has gained in recent years -- toughness.
Wesley Aydelett, a 23-year-old rock 'n' roll singer and neighborhood assistant for the Community Action Agency, compared the avenue to other places in the city with similar reputations: "It's tougher and more sophisticated." Guys out to prove themselves "come to Pennsylvania Avenue from Greenmount Avenue and Gay Street, but you won't find them going from Pennsylvania to Greenmount or Gay."
The avenue is also many different areas, some residential. Each has characteristics of its own.

Heart of the Ghetto
The one feature that unites is that it is the heart of Baltimore's Negro ghetto. As one observer put it, "The only whites you ever see down here are cops, social workers and embarrassed looking men who drift into bars late at night." It starts at Franklin Street and from there to the 1200 block is known as "the Bottom." The title, the bottom, probably began because the area is the base of a hill, but now the word is even more apt, for it is one of the poorest sections of Baltimore.
Buildings Empty
About a third of the stores and many of the homes appear empty. Junk-covered vacant lots, broken windows and crumbling buildings combine to give the area an overwhelming aura of decay. Most of the young people have moved out, leaving behind those who don't have the ability to move. Although the decline of the bottom has been caused by a variety of factors, one of the immediate problems is that the bottom is adjacent to the Mulberry-Franklin section of the proposed East-West expressway and may be the site of a connector.
No Repairs
Consequently, neither landlords, tenants or homeowners have wanted to invest in repairs, because the area is liable to be completely torn down. In the old days, the bottom had a reputation as the center of prostitution. It still goes on to a lesser degree, according to the police, but as one worker for the poverty program put it: "There's not much prostitution left because the men are sacred to come down here." None of the residents interviewed expressed any hope that their neighborhood could be helped and they all just want to move out.

Relocation Aid
If the area becomes the site of a connector, the residents will be helped to relocate and receive some assistance to meet the expense of moving. A liquor storeowner located at the bottom of the bottom said his business ahs been on the decline for the last ten years. Asked if he wanted to sell the store, he replied, "You want to buy it?"
At The Top
Farther along the avenue to the northwest is the area known as the hill or the top. Geographic definitions vary but it seems to extend from the 1300 block to the 1800 block. This is the area economically better off that the bottom with a shopping area, nightclub section, and some thriving pawnshops. The hill is also, along with sections of the bottom, a center of narcotics traffic. The narcotics problem has prompted one group of businessmen in the area, the Pennsylvania Avenue-Lafayette market Association, to hire a detective to protect their stores, especially from shoplifters.
Undercover Agents
There are eight or nine undercover agents working around the clock, according to Lt. Jacob Simonson, chief of the Narcotics Squad. On weekend nights the bars, which are centered in the 1400 and 1500 blocks, do a very good business. By 10:30 p.m. they are packed. Two of the bars, the York and the Casino, have live bands while the others have constantly playing jukeboxes. The manager of the Casino was careful to point out that the go-go girls there are more than adequately clothed. In fact, the girls have more clothes on than the go-go girls in most other East Coast cities.
Not Much Danger
Although the hill has a reputation of being dangerous, especially among middle-class Negroes, the impression gained from spending a number of evening in the clubs is that there is not much danger of being mugged. Police statistics show that the avenue has a crime rate about equal to the rest of crime-conscious Western district. One man who has spent much time on the hill and agreed that there is not much danger of being attacked said: "The people there have learned that to be outwardly violent doesn't do them or the reputation of the street any good. It just brings trouble."
Merchants Hope
Merchants on the hill have less of a sense of defeat than those on the bottom and although they complain, they still seem to think there is the possibility of improvement. Joseph Rodman, who has owned Rodman Hats in the 1500 block for 40 years, said the crime problem "gets worse and worse, the streets are dark and there are more and more dope pushers. “But the shopkeepers there still have the energy to complain to the city fathers and, like those in P.A.L.M.A to form improvement groups. Pennsylvania Avenue above North Avenue is a very different street. It is not as poor and is more of a residential area and it does not have the sense of decay that is so striking about the "top and bottom" below North avenue. The upper section also has one of the few remaining jazz clubs in Baltimore, Peyton Place, in the 2700 block. Both the bottom and the hill below North Avenue are in the poverty program's "target area" and statistics show that they deserve to be. A study made by Sidney Hollander and Associates, a local research firm, found that the average income per family is $3,750 with an average of 4.2 mouths to feed. In recent years middle-class professional and white collar workers have been moving out with a consequent increase in the percentage of very poor people, especially those on welfare. Only 3 percent of those who shop in the area are white, the study showed.
Population Decline
The population declined between 20 per cent between 1950 and 1960 and this downward trend is continuing as more and more clearance is being done for urban renewal. The nine blocks that make up the bottom and the hill average one liquor store and one bar each. Although the area is almost exclusively Negro, 79 per cent of the stores are owned by whites, according to a P.A.L.M.A. survey. But 85 per cent of the employees are Negro. The percentage of storekeepers who own their stores is relatively low: about 30 per cent.
Large Families
Large families are common. Over a quarter of the households have six or more members. Of the buildings in this section of Pennsylvania Avenue, only 3.2 per cent are in "acceptable condition." Also, 41.2 per cent were found to be "deficient" to varying degrees, and a majority 55.5 per cent, were in poor condition. The buildings are on average 58.7 years old. From 1953 to 1963, the assessed value of the land dropped by 10.8 per cent.
Summer Problems
These statistics show the area is on the decline and they reflect the same conditions that Negro leaders have pointed to in cities that have experienced severe problems in recent summers. Dennis P. Mello, Captain of the Western Police district, said there have been no incidents between the police and residents with racial overtones but said his men "have to be ready for a fight" when they make an arrest. The unemployment rate in the area is very high and there are large numbers of young men hanging around on the street corners every day.
Rights Advances
Ironically, one of the major reasons for the decline of Lower Pennsylvania avenue is the increased number of advantages available to middle-class Negroes that have come with civil rights advances. Robert Matthews, head of a C.A.A. center in the 1100 block commented that as more housing and decent jobs become available to educated Negroes, they move out of the area. His comment was echoed by almost everyone interviewed. The exodus of the middle class and the influx of hard-core poverty combined with narcotics and the increase in crime have changed the face of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Days of Jazz
Vernon Savage, former business agent of the Negro musicians union, remembers the days when Cab Calloway and Billie Holliday, the great jazz singers, used to come to the clubs on the avenue. In the days when Baltimore was completely segregated, the avenue was the only place a Negro could go shopping or even see a movie. It was the center of Negro life.
"Day Downtown"
One woman in her forties remembers that "when I was a little girl and the family was going to spend the day downtown, that meant we were going to Pennsylvania Avenue and we sure looked forward to it." One of the movie theaters we used to go to is now a vacant lot where a used furniture store displays its wares. Asked what the avenue is like now, Mr. Savage said, "It's just a memory."”
Edsall article gave a brief history of the beginning of the avenues decline. His writing style was both graphic and unique, something that we don’t see in news papers today. Next week we will be back on schedule with the arrival of blacks on Pennsylvania Avenue and the ethnic groups who fled once Negro’s arrived.

The Early Years

My big interview with Mr. Ike Dixon founder of “Ike Dixon’s Comedy Club” fell through this week; however we may be on schedule for next week so lets keep our fingers crossed. While waiting for Mr. Dixon’s perspective I decided to pull up some info on the first settlers of Pennsylvania Avenue. Prior to starting my research I knew the first people who migrated to and established Pennsylvania were German, Jewish, and Italian residents and business owners. It was a place where residents could buy, sell, and trade goods.

City Paper published a brilliant article on the birth of the Pennsylvania Avenue and what it was like for early settlers (before it was an African American neighborhood). Below is an exert on the Avenue’s first residents.

“But African-Americans weren’t the first residents of Pennsylvania Avenue. “Other ethnic groups populated the avenue before blacks did,” says Alvin K. Brunson, director of exhibits and programs for the Center for Cultural Education, a nonprofit organization dedicated to educational and cultural enrichment located at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and Wilson Street. He says that before African-Americans moved in Pennsylvania Avenue was populated by Jews, Italians, Germans, and other European immigrants, both as residents and business owners.

“It was definitely a retail district before African-Americans moved in,” Brunson says. The neighborhood was largely Jewish and Pennsylvania Avenue was lined with businesses where “goods and services could be bought and sold,” he adds. “And the Lafayette Market opened in 1871 and was driving much of this retail business.”

Of course, the history of the Avenue—and its black population—goes back further than that.

“Pennsylvania Avenue officially appears on Baltimore maps back in 1818,” Brunson says, first called the Wagon Road in the 18th century, then Hookstown Road, then Pennsylvania Road, as merchants and others traveled and traded up and down the thoroughfare between Baltimore and Southern Pennsylvania throughout the 1700s and 1800s. (The street, officially named Pennsylvania Avenue in 1818, still leads to its namesake state, via Reisterstown Road.) Some remnants of these early European residents remain there today: Brunson references the Etting Cemetary, at Pennsylvania and North avenues. It’s the oldest Jewish cemetery in Baltimore and dates from 1799, with the last burial taking place in 1881.

Meanwhile, Brunson says, 1799 also marked the arrival of the first group of black slaves from Haiti, who settled near the first block of Pennsylvania Avenue at Franklin Street, Brunson believes, to help build the St. Mary’s Seminary as slave labor. (St. Mary’s Seminary was located at 600 N. Paca St. before moving to Roland Avenue, where it resides today.) Soon after the Civil War ended in 1865, many ex-slaves and blacks who gained their freedom before the Civil War moved to Baltimore. As the black population of the Pennsylvania Avenue area increased, so did the number of churches (such as Union Baptist, Bethel A.M.E., and Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist), schools, hotels, and other businesses catering to blacks, which in turn also drew more residents and visitors. There were also a number of theaters, most owned by whites. “Theater owners saw the influx of blacks into this area as a means by which to make money,” Brunson says.

In fact, while African-Americans increasingly dominated almost all aspects of everyday life on Pennsylvania Avenue as the 20th century dawned, they did not dominate its commerce. Although there were always what Brunson categorizes as “a handful” of black-owned businesses on the Avenue—including the Smith Punch Base Coffee and Tea Co., which moved into the 1400 block in 1908, and the Cortez Peters Business School, which opened in the 1200 block in 1935—“from the 1920s to the 1950s, the businesses were predominantly owned by Jews,” he says. More black-owned businesses sprouted on the Avenue in the ’60s, Brunson says, but adds that “sometimes people paint a picture of Pennsylvania Avenue as a haven for black businesses, and that’s not true.””[1]

This article was a gift and a curse for me. I say this because it’s a valuable resource and full of useful info. The flip side is that City Paper basically did all of the work for me, so I now need to go above and beyond to find more information. But most importantly I found some good primary sources throughout the article that I could use as my projects builds.

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[1] http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=9603

Research Process

As stated in the last blog entry, my primary reason for the study is to create a narrative that accurately depicts the history of Pennsylvania Ave. After clearly reading and analyzing the information generated by my findings, students should be able to extrapolate multiple reasons for the current state of Pennsylvania Avenue by having the necessary tools to answer questions like.

1) How did these business flourish?

2) What caused them to fail?

3) Who were the key players or investors responsible for fueling the movement?

The Maryland Room at the Enoch Pratt Free Library will be my main source for finding primary documents and other pieces of information about Pennsylvania Avenue. I will also conduct interviews with people that frequented the area in its “Heyday”. I am now in the process of landing an interview with Ike Dixon Jr., former owner of “Ike Dixon’s Comedy Club”. This interview could make or break my study. An interview with him could not only bring a wealth of knowledge and experience about Pennsylvania Avenue, but also the true perspective of an actual business owner during the glory years of the Avenue. Mr. Dixon may even be able to provide me with pictures that libraries and newspaper archives couldn’t dream of getting. I would also like to get his take on the Avenue as it is today.

When most Baltimore Residents think of Pennsylvania Avenue today the first thing that comes to mind is an open-air drug market. Zombie like heroin addicts roam up and down the block all day long in search drugs or money to buy drugs. The historic buildings, which once were popular nightclubs and theaters, are now boarded up, tore down, or abandoned. Those buildings didn’t always look like that.

There once was a time in the mid twentieth century where the bright lights of Pennsylvania Avenue gleamed across the city of Baltimore. Todd Sheridan described it as, “Two miles through the west side of Baltimore City is Pennsylvania Avenue, known as a Mecca to all of the city’s Black citizens. This city street, from the early 1920s to the early 1970s known as “Street of Dreams,” was filled with nightclubs, music, dancing, and gambling. 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. 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”.[1]

This generalization by Mr. Sheridan is common amongst scholars and former residents alike, but we are going to find out how the Avenue developed into place of Black business. Next week we will start with the 1800’s and the arrival of blacks in West Baltimore.

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[1] Sheridan Todd, (http://www.mdcivilrights.org/PAAve.html)

The Mission

Every young African American businessperson in Baltimore city today is familiar with Pennsylvania Ave, and what some would call “The Mecca of Entertainment” meant to Baltimore’s black residents in the first half of the 20^th century. Time and time again I hear stories about the jet setters and black socialites who flooded the Ave. People like Billie Holiday, Red Fox, and Duke Ellington loved to perform in front of sold out crowds, party the night away, and sometimes-even lodge with popular Baltimoreans. The Avenue also was the place for African Americans to enjoy live theater and patronize a long line of African American owned businesses. Often people who frequented the Ave in its hey day compare me and my business partners to the men who flourished in that era, which brings me to my question and the topic of this study. What happened?

What happened to Pennsylvania Ave, its legacy, and the tradition of strong black businesses in predominantly black communities? None of these business traditions were passed down to my generation or remain prevalent in the African American community today. When I owned a liquor store, I learned to maximize my profit potential from some Korean friends that use to live in my neighborhood and most of my real estate teachings came from a Jewish guy that once owned half of Old Town Mall and a Irish contractor from Highland town. Which basically means the innovators of that Pennsylvania Ave era left us young black businessmen in Baltimore to fend for ourselves. And I am here to figure out how and way this occurred and what key indicators caused this massive downfall.

To answer this question and many more I will attempt to discover the origins of Pennsylvania Ave and how it evolved to be the center of black business and entertainment followed by the events leading up to its glory years which even still are widely celebrated today. I will finish the study with the events leading up to its demise and its current state today while answering my question in the process.

To successfully complete this mission I will only use primary sources including live interviews, oral histories, news articles, and real images from that era. I will complete this study with the utmost integrity all while paying respect to all of the residents and business owners who celebrate this magnificent era and remembering the sacrifices of those brave African Americans who attempted to challenge the norm by succeeding in business.