At the Curb
Club Harlem was the epicenter of the entertainment world on Kentucky Avenue
by David G. Schwartz
Today most Atlantic City entertainment happens in casino lounges and showrooms, but in the 1940s and 1950s, many of the city's superstar performers could be found on Kentucky Avenue, particularly at the Club Harlem. For over 50 years, the Club Harlem was the place to be.
The Club Harlem opened in 1935, when Leroy "Pop" Williams converted the existing Fitzgerald's Auditorium into a new venue. Williams hired Sam Singer, a former bootlegger, to manage the club. Like many other nightclubs of the time, entertainment was not the only attraction: illegal gambling drew many customers. During the day, Singer ran a profitable horse room, where visitors could bet on horse races from around the nation thanks to a hookup to the "race wire," a clandestine telegraph signal.
Pop Williams, who was the club's principal owner, was an early black entrepreneur in Atlantic City. Though his club occasionally featured white performers, and white visitors were common, it did something that most Boardwalk hotels in the 1930s and 1940s did not—actively catered to black guests. In a 1987 interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Atlantic City music legend Chris Columbo recalled that, denied entry to "white" hotels, "all we had was Kentucky and the Curb," as the famous stretch of North Kentucky Avenue was known. Other popular hangouts included Grace's Little Belmont, Jerry's Barbecue, Catfish's piano bar, and the Wonder Garden bar.
Though the club was popular, and Williams did not lack for financing, he took on two white partners in 1951, Ben Alten and Jack Southern. Williams wanted to expand, and at the time banks would not lend money to black businesses. So, a "partnership of convenience" was formed. But Alten, who handled the books for the club, became one of its leading advocates, and was known for decades for his good humor and excellent business sense.
Inside, the club had a main showroom seating about 900, and a bar area with two bandstands that provided continuous music. Nearly every black entertainer of renown played the Club Harlem at one point or another, from Billie Holiday and Cab Calloway to Diana Ross and James Brown. Comedian Slappy White and Larry's Steele's Smart Affair—a revue extravaganza featuring dance production numbers—warmed up the crowds for the headliners.
The club justifiably has a prominent place in Atlantic City history, but it is nationally significant as well. Billy Daniels found his career-making hit "That Old Black Magic" while working at the Club Harlem in 1942. Needing an uptempo opening, he spied a copy of the "Black Magic" sheet music on the club's piano. With a revamped arrangement, he rode the song to international stardom.
Daniels' was one of several careers made at the Club Harlem. Sammy Davis Jr. performed there as the child star of the Will Mastin Trio, and former Atlantic City Mayor James Usry worked there for 15 summers.
During the hectic summer months, the club ran at all hours. On Saturday nights, the club had four shows at 10 p.m., 12 midnight, 2:30 a.m., and the "breakfast" show at 6:00 a.m. The breakfast show was hardly a filling brunch—customers had better luck getting scotch and soda than ham and eggs—but it was usually the best show, musically, of the night. By that hour, entertainers appearing throughout the city came to "sit in" at Kentucky and the Curb.
With the city's decline in the 1960s and 1970s, the Club Harlem also encountered troubled times. A 1972 shootout between two rival Philadelphia gangs—on Easter Sunday morning, no less—ended with five dead and dozens injured. After that, business slowed.
The Harlem's owners had hoped that the arrival of casino gaming in 1976 would lead to a revival, but gaming regulations stipulated that any casino must have a 500-room hotel, thus barring the club from installing slot machines or table games. After struggling for over a decade, the Club Harlem closed its doors forever in 1986, and was torn down in 1992.
With a renaissance of new construction sweeping Atlantic City, perhaps the time is right for the Club Harlem's rebirth, either as part of a larger complex or as a standalone club. Returning the Club Harlem's name to the Atlantic City skyline would be a fitting tribute to the legacy of Williams, Alten, Columbo, and all of the entertainers and patrons who made the Club Harlem such an integral part of Atlantic City's nightlife for generations.
David G. Schwartz is an Atlantic City native and the director of the Center for Gaming Research at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. His second book, Cutting the Wire: Gambling Prohibition and the Internet, has just been released by University of Nevada Press.
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