A plaque remaining from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem.

Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.

Recent entries:
“Pleae lower the cost of living. I’m not built for OnlyFans” (4/19)
“Please lower the gas prices. I’m not built for OnlyFans” (4/19)
“Imagine having your own apartment and nobody ever comes over” (4/19)
Entry in progress—BP18 (4/19)
Entry in progress—BP17 (4/19)
More new entries...

A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z


Entry from June 13, 2021
Uncle Tom’s Cabin or Black Tin Pan Alley (Gaiety Building)

Entry in progress—BP
 
Wikipedia: Gaiety Theatre (New York City)
The Gaiety Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 1547 Broadway in New York City from 1909 until 1982, when it was torn down.
 
The office building that housed the theatre, the Gaiety Building, has been called the Black Tin Pan Alley for the number of African-American songwriters, who rented office space there.
 
It was designed by Herts & Tallant and owned by George M. Cohan
(...)
In 1982 it was one of five theatres torn down to make way for the New York Marriott Marquis Hotel.
 
Black Tin Pan Alley
The office building above the Gaiety was popular among black composers who were not allowed in the Brill Building. Among them were Harry Pace, W.C. Handy, Clarence Williams (musician), Perry Bradford, Bert Williams, and Will Vodery. Andy Razaf would pick up his mail there.
 
Google Books
Tin Pan Alley:
An Encyclopedia of the Golden Age of American Song

By David A. Jasen
New York, NY: Routledge
2003
Pg. 1922:
Gaiety Building
The Gaiety Building housed many Tin Pan Alley publishers during the late 1910s and throughout the 1920s. Located at 1547 Broadway, it was home to several black publishers, notably PACE AND HANDY and PERRY BRADFORD Music Company.
     
Google Books
Playing the Changes:
Milt Hinton’s Life in Stories and Photographs

By Milt Hinton, David Garett Bergerand Holly Maxson
Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press
2008  
Pg. 160:
In those days, the heart of Tin Pan Alley was the Brill Building at 46th and Broadway, where some of the most successful people in the music business had offices. A block down the street was the Gaiety Building, also known as Uncle Tom’s Cabin, where prominent black personalities including Perry, Eubie, and Noble Sissle had their offices.
   
Google Books
Broadway:
Its History, People, and Places
An Encyclopedia
Second Edition

By Ken Bloom
New York, NY: ROutledge
2012
Pg. 181:
Black composers uptown in Harlem nicknamed the Gaiety “Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” Among the black publishers ... They moved into the Gaiety Building from Chicago, and once in New York their business took off. The firm left the Gaiety Building in ...
 
Twitter
Caro Kinkead
@Caro_Kinkead
Replying to @Caro_Kinkead
The Gaiety hosted Minsky’s Burlesque and boasted the 1st sunk orchestra pit on Broadway. The office building above it was known as Black Tin Pan Alley due to the number of PoC songwriters who rented space there. #RWA19 7/
3:37 PM · Jul 22, 2019·TweetDeck

Twitter
Scottland in SF
@slksfca
Replying to @silentmoviegifs
If I remember right the building that housed the Gaiety was known as the Black Tin Pan Alley, which makes its demolition doubly tragic.
8:46 AM · Jul 7, 2020·Twitter Web App

Posted by Barry Popik
New York CityMusic/Dance/Theatre/Film/Circus • Sunday, June 13, 2021 • Permalink


Commenting is not available in this channel entry.