Harlem Bespoke: We finally found the city archive photo of the Cotton Club that is featured in the majority of images that are floating around on the internet. To the surprise of many, this was the midtown location with the arched windows at 1578-1590 Broadway by 48th Street and was where most photos were taken from 1935 to 1940 just right after the prohibition years. The famous Harlem location started up from 1922 on Lenox Avenue by 142nd Street but the owner moved everything to midtown when uptown became less of a tourist attraction after the 1935 riot. We were curious to see what the address looks like today and took some photos this past weekend.
The last three images show the 48th Street entrance which is the main photo reference on many websites these days and also the point of reference for the mosaic work at the 125th Street subway stop. Apparently the midtown building was around up until the 1990s but was demolished to make way for a glassy commercial property which currently is the location of Olive Garden. Most of the surrounding architecture was also demolished in recent decades so getting a sense of the actual history has pretty much been erased. Those interested in the Harlem location of Cotton Club can check out our past post for more photos:
LINK
No comments:
Post a Comment