THIS SELF-GUIDED TOUR WILL TAKE YOU WITHIN A FEW BLOCKS OF APPROXIMATELY 40 VENUES WHICH FEATURED LIVE MUSIC IN THE DOWNTOWN AREA DURING THE SWING ERA.

TYPES OF VENUES INCLUDE BARS, NIGHTCLUBS/RESTAURANTS, HOTELS, THEATERS AND DANCE HALLS.

THE WALKING ROUTE BEGINS AT THE PALACE, CONTINUES SOUTH ALONG NORTH PEARL STREET. IT CROSSES STATE STREET TO SOUTH PEARL. THEN, IT TURNS EAST ON BEAVER, SOUTH ON LIBERTY TO HUDSON. TURN LEFT ON HUDSON TO BROADWAY. IT TAKES BROADWAY ACROSS STATE STREET, TURNS RIGHT ON MAIDEN LANE. IT RETURNS TO BROADWAY, HEADS NORTH, AND ENDS AT BROADWAY AND CLINTON.

HERE ARE SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS:

The Palace Theater was designed by John Eberson, “a well-known movie palace architect” (Waite, Diana S., ed. Albany Architecture. Albany: Mount Ida Press, 1993). Construction began in 1929 and was completed in 1931.

The Palace hosted numerous nationally famous Swing Era jazz musicians. A partial list of celebrities appearing at the Palace between 1938 and 1942 includes:

- Benny Goodman Orchestra – July 1938

- Ozzie Nelson and His Famous Orchestra – December 1938

- Gene Krupa Orchestra – July 1939

- Glenn Miller Orchestra – September 1941

- Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra with Bob Eberly and Helen O’Connell – December 1941

- Jimmie Lunceford and His Orchestra – January 1942

- Glen Grey and His Casa Loma Orchestra – October 1942

For more information, click on the VENUE – THEATERS tab.

WALK SOUTH ON NORTH PEARL STREET

The Strand Theater stood at 110 North Pearl Street. It opened on November 9, 1920 with a feature film entitled The Price of Redemption, another short film, and a “violin solo”.

During the Swing Era, the most prominent show we discovered was a Glenn Miller tribute concert featuring Albany’s Francis Murphy Orchestra.

The site is now empty.

CONTINUE SOUTH ON NORTH PEARL. WALK WEST UP SHERIDAN, ONE-HALF BLOCK.

Stuarts was an upscale restaurant and nightclub located at 4-6 Sheridan Avenue, just off North Pearl. It was owned by Irving Doling, along with his brother Romy. Irving was an attorney, who just happened to play piano for the Francis Murphy Orchestra. The Orchestra made frequent appearances at Stuarts. The Orchestra played at the grand opening in October 1940.

An ad in the Times Union, October 11, 1940 read:

“Albany’s Newest Dining and Dancing Rendezvous with Luxurious Bar Opens Tomorrow at 7:30pm.”

It continued:

“Connoisseurs of find foods will welcome STUARTS, Albany’s newest restaurant, opening tomorrow at 7:30 pm, on Sheridan Avenue, a step from North Pearl…The finest foods prepared and served in the ‘Delmonico Manner’ will be the established order at STUARTS…Dine in the delightful atmosphere of an exquisitely appointed Dining Room, or on the beautiful mezzanine, to the subdued music of Francis Murphy’s 12-piece orchestra.”

For more information click: VENUES – STUARTS.

WALK BACK TO NORTH PEARL, TURN LEFT ON NORTH PEARL, TOWARD STATE STREET.

We will let William Kennedy tell the story of the Rain-Bo Room (source: O Albany, pages 184-186):

“Albany had another legendary pleasure palace in the Kenmore Hotel, a famous place from the time Adam Blake, a black man, opened it in 1878, until the time of World War II, when it went into a slow, thirty-year decline…

“(Bob) Murphy took credit for obtaining a direct wire to WGY, Schenectady, one of the pioneer radio stations in the U.S. and owned until 1983 by General Electric. The wire enabled the bands to broadcast from the Rain-Bo Room on a national hookup. Bandleaders clamored to get booked into the place, and music publishers paid handsomely to get a song played on the air…

The parade of bands reads like a Who’s Who of popular music – Kay Kyser, Tommy Dorsey with Frank Sinatra, Guy Lombardo, Vincent Lopez, Rudy Vallee, Ben Pollack with Benny Goodman as his clarinetist, Red Nichols and the Five Pennies, Ben Bernie and All the Lads, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Fletcher Henderson, Sophie Tucker, Jack (and Charlie) Teagarden, Bix Beiderbecke before anyone new him. Two bands stayed in residence for long periods: Phil Romano, who was the first to broadcast over the radio and remained for six years, and Doc Payton, who lasted from 1929 to 1932.”

For more information, click on HOTELS.

The Harry Vincent Orchestra played the YMCA for two seasons of 44 weeks each, in 1946 and 1947. Read more about the Vincent orchestra here: HARRY VINCENT ORCHESTRA

WALK SOUTH ON NORTH PEARL. CROSS STATE STREET. STAND ON CORNER OF NORTH PEARL AND STATE.

Club Frolics and University Club/Grill – 79 and 84 South Pearl - (18 and 19 on map)

Skippy’s Music Bar- 9 Market St. - (20 on map)

Club Frolics and the University Club/Grill were two of the most popular Swing Era places. In the African American newspaper New York Age, a writer referred to the University Club as "the best (white) nightclub in the city".

Skippy’s was operated by Skip DeSair, who would go on to play in the Woody Herman Orchestra.

Two local bands that frequented the University Club were the Jimmy D'Angelo Orchestra and the Horton Girls' Orchestra.

Read more about: D'Angelo

The Horton Girls were an all-woman band out of South Bethlehem, NY. All women bands were not unusual, but there tended to be more numerous as WW II took men into the armed services. The Orchestra played a number of local venues, and, we have evidence that they played regional gigs in the northeast. Read more: Hortons

WALK EAST ON BEAVER STREET TO CORNER GREEN STREET

Myron and Rays – 50 Beaver St (28 on map)

Odd Fellows Hall – 46 Beaver St (29 on map)

Wally’s Gay Nineties – 44 Beaver (30 on map)

Capitol Hotel – corner Green and Beaver (32 on map)

New Roseland Ballroom – 31 Green St.

Stand on the corner of Green and Beaver Streets and you are at the “Crossroads of Swing Era Albany”. Between North Pearl Street to the north, Madison Avenue to the south, Broadway to the east, and State Street to the west stood 21 musical venues. This was the highest concentration of Swing Era musical venues in the city.

Most of these venues hosted local talent. But Odd Fellows Hall, at 46 Beaver, was the occasional host of world-famous entertainers. Notably, it hosted three concerts: Louis Armstrong and His Orchestra played the Hall in the spring of 1941. Count Basie played the Hall on April 1, 1940. New York Age (May 13, 1940) reported that the Basie concert was attended by 1,500 people, and that after the concert, Basie and the band reportedly went to the Rhythm Club and Club Hollywood on Madison Avenue.

In April 1940, Erskine Hawkins played the Hall.

WALK EAST TOWARD BROADWAY. RIGHT ON LIBERTY STREET TO CORNER OF LIBERTY AND HUDSON AVENUE.

Numerous clubs in these vacant spaces on Hudson, Division, Madison, Dallus Street. Among them:

Big Charlie’s Harlem Grill

Tally-Ho Tavern

Boarding Houses on Liberty.

Read about some of these venues under the VENUES tab. Regarding the Boarding Houses, our research revealed several entertainers living in boarding houses on Liberty Street. Some of these folks may have stayed in town for a short period, travelling with musical reviews. They may have been dancers, musicians, etc.

Not a great deal of musical activity at the White Elephant, but unlike many Swing Era bars, the building survives.

WALK EAST ON MAIDEN TO BROADWAY. TURN NORTH ON BROADWAY

Woodstock Grill – corner Steuben and Broadway (52 on map)

WALK NORTH ON BROADWAY TO UNION STATIONU

William Kennedy (O Albany, page 180) offers a colorful description of the block across the street from Union Station:

“If you were a Damon Runyon sort of sport, up until the 1940s you’d have hung out in the center of Nighttown, which was Broadway – a block long, between Steuben and Columbia Streets – directly across from Union Station. The block was home to some famous places, including the Famous Lunch, the American Tavern (which had been Schlitz’s Hotel), Brockley’s Grill, the Cadillac Hotel, Swift Mead’s saloon, Rinaldi’s fruit store for when you needed a banana, and Joe Preiss's pawnshop for when you went broke”.

The site is now an empty lot.

Union Station was the portal through which countless, nationally renown Big Band performers arrived in the area. We know of two major bands that had their own Pullman Cars - the Duke Ellington Orchestra and the Cab Calloway Orchestra. Stand in front of the former station and imagine these superstars spilling into downtown Albany.

photo circa 1938

The Hotel Broadway sat a few doors north of Columbia Street on Broadway. It was owned by an African American man, Charlie Miller.

The Hotel featured a couple of musical venues.

One of the most interesting people to play the Hotel was a woman named (Edna) Rookie Davis. Here is a quote from NY Age, October 11, 1941, about her show at the Hotel:

The Broadway Hotel had their opening last Saturday with a new band and show directly from New York City. The band had just finished an engagement from the Bankers Club in Atlantic City. “Rookie” Davis and her Debonnaires” is a very good swing band and is composed of the following men: Earl Jackson reed, Frank (Pat) Patton alto, King Oliver, tenor and arranger, Jesse Brown, trumpet, Tommy Crauston, trombone, Lonnie Giles, Bass violin, Banjo Bernie, piano, Melvin Butler, guitar, Milo Murdoch drums.

Mrs. Davis puts on a very good show with the following artist: Fifi Wanger, Blues singer, Billy Keith, torch singer, Chiquite, Shake dancer, and how she shakes. Davis and Davis, Rhumba team. The little Wraye girl brought down the house. Mrs. Rookie Davis, comedian works very hard to put over this very good show.

Another significant musician associated with the Hotel was Louis Armstrong. According to an article in the Times Union, May 13, 1941 (Spotlight on Albany by De Witt Schuyler, p. 15) Armstrong stayed at the Hotel and played an engagement at the Odd Fellows Hall:

"The greatest jazz trumpet player the world has ever seen has been spending the last few days in Albany. He's been bunking at the Broadway Hotel and his name is Louis Armstrong".

The site is now occupied by the Department of Environmental Conservation Building.

Click for more information on ROOKIE DAVIS.

Click for more information on the HOTELS

WALK NORTH ON BROADWAY

TOUR ENDS AT CLINTON AND BROADWAY