American blues singer Gladys Bentley (1907 - 1960) poses with bandleader Willie Bryant (1908 - 1964) outside the Apollo Theater where posters advertise a performance by Bryant & his band, New York, New York, April 17, 1936. Courtesy of Frank Driggs Collection Via Getty Images)
Icon of Harlem’s Gay Night Life Gives Way to Wreckers
March 10, 2013
“A year and a half from now, if all goes according to plan, the block of Seventh Avenue between West 131st and West 132nd Streets will have gained an eight-story building with 115 new rental apartments, one-fifth of them for lower-income families; a new church and fellowship hall; a new garage and new stores.”
“But it will also have lost a rich cache of social and cultural history: the former Lafayette Theater and an abutting structure that long ago housed Connie’s Inn and the Ubangi Club; places where Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, Ethel Waters, Duke Ellington and Gladys Bentley appeared.”
“James F. Wilson, executive director of the CUNY Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies, said the Ubangi Club, the Lafayette and Connie’s were at the epicenter of the cultural and musical scene during the Harlem Renaissance. “The Ubangi Club, in particular, epitomized the raucous energy and devil-may-care attitudes of the musicians, singers, and patrons who went there,” he said. “What a relief this club must have offered from the Depression and daily frustrations outside.”
The intersection of 131st Street and Seventh Avenue — a Harlem hot spot called "The Corner" — was the site of Connie's Inn, a popular nightclub located in the basement of 2221 Seventh Avenue. Connie's Inn was established in 1923 by Connie Immerman, during Prohibition, the period from 1920 to 1933 Via NYCAGO
'A rendering of the Lafayette, an apartment building on Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard that is to replace the Williams Institutional C.M.E. Church and its adjacent Bell Center. A large cross on the ground floor marks the entrance to the church’s new space.' Courtesy of Meltzer Mandl Architects Via New York Times
“The building, to be called the Lafayette, will include 19,000 square feet for the church, which will have its own entrance on Seventh Avenue, with a large cross to underscore its religious identity. The sanctuary will have a balcony and seat about 700 worshipers, Rev. Dr. Julius C. Clay said. There will also be classrooms, offices and a fellowship hall. The pastor said the church was getting new space worth $5 million. ‘Free of debt,’ Dr. Clay said. ‘That’s the real miracle of the whole thing. I thank God for that.'”
“Still, preservationists like Michael Henry Adams, who has been fighting for Harlem’s architectural patrimony for decades, are dismayed about losing another historical treasure. He faulted the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but a spokeswoman for the agency said it had never received a request for a formal evaluation of the theater building’s eligibility.
Lafayette Theater - April, 1936-opening night of Orson Welles 'Macbeth'-Ubangi in background Courtesy of Harlem EYE Via beatonthestreetharlem
“‘It sounds really cliché to say,’ Dr. Wilson said, ‘but when I used to take students to Harlem’s historical sites, I would point to the facade of the old Lafayette and the Ubangi structure, and say, ‘If only these walls could talk.’ Sadly, I guess we’ll never have the chance to hear what they’d have to say.'”
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