BLACK ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT-PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

While this area’s designation as an arts and entertainment district may still be in its infancy, the neigh-borhood has had a long history as a cultural center for the city’s African American community. During the 1940s, 50s and 60s, Pennsylvania Avenue was the place to go to see the latest singers and musi-cians perform, most notably at the Royal Theater, which hosted entertainers like Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles and James Brown. Unfortunately, the theater no longer exists, but a monument stands in its honor. Keep an eye on this neighborhood for big things to come soon—proposed ideas for include a museum devoted to jazz legend Cab Calloway, or a museum for Black women’s history.

“THE AVENUE” ON THE MOVE

Pennsylvania Avenue Redevelopment Collaborative is a cluster of mixed used that surround the famed Pennsylvania Avenue. The key strategies for this area will be Community Engagement. Green Space & Safety, Economic Development, Housing & Community Development, Transportation and Quality of life.

The renaissance of Historic Pennsylvania Avenue is well on its way. Pennsylvania Avenue Redevel-opment Collaborative has members of all the Historic communities surrounding “The Avenue” at the table, Druid Heights, Sandtown Winchester, Penn North, Upton, the merchants and the faith based community.

Billie Holiday Park has gone through renovation and upgrading in 2009. Legends Park, an outdoor entertainment area located on Laurens Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and Fremont has also been upgraded and is in use today.

Read more about the Billie Holiday Monument.

In addition, there are plans to rehab our famous Sphinx Club a place where politicians, community leaders and sports figures such as former Baltimore Colt football players would enjoy an evening of entertainment. This was one of the places where political and social issues were discussed and major community decisions made

Click here to read about Historic Pennsylvania Avenue Main Street involvement in the community.

HISTORY OF PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE

From the 1920s through the late 1950s, “The Avenue” housed theaters, hotels, live music venues, fine eateries and businesses that catered to the city’s black community. But racially-mixed crowds packed in for Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Dizzie Gillespie, Nat King Cole, Redd Foxx, Louis Arm-strong, Duke Ellington and other black entertainers as they performed at the famed Royal Theater. This served as “one of the major stops on the black entertainment circuit,” according to The Baltimore Sun in 1975.

Barred from most other venues—not just in the state but also in the country—many of the nation’s top black performers at the time either got their start or found adoring crowds at the Royal Theater. Considered the crown jewel of the district, it was demolished in 1971.

The Penn Hotel, the first black-owned hotel in Baltimore, proved another popular destination along The Avenue. Inside the hotel, visitors flocked to the lobby to catch glimpses of celebrities like Pearl Bailey, Count Bassie and Ellington, who frequented the in-house restaurant, according to The Sun. Other establishments on Pennsylvania Avenue like Gamby’s, The Sphinx Club, Ike Dixon’s Comedy Club and Club Casino enjoyed steady business through the district’s heyday. Institutions like the still-standing Arch Social Club — regarded as one of the oldest African American social clubs in the country — and businesses like the Ideal Savings and Loan provided the corridor with additional depth. Residential homes, schools and churches testified to the neighborhood’s stability.

But crowds quieted as television evolved into households and as statewide desegregation in the 1960s minimized the district’s unique appeal for black consumers. By 1975, The Sun reported that Pennsylvania Avenue had fallen “into a state of decay and disrepair,” and soon “became a focal point for narcotics traffic in the city.”