Savoy Ballroom, c. 1930. This popular Harlem dance hall was referred to as "Home of the Happy Feet," and the "World's Finest Ballroom." The venue's lifespan was a relatively short 30-some years, but there is no doubt it made major contributions to the artistry of the Swing era. A plaque, dedicated in 2002, says the following: "Here once stood the legendary Savoy...a hothouse for the development of jazz in the Swing Era. Visually dazzling and spacious, the Savoy nightly featured the finest jazz bands in the nation...the great jazz dancers who appeared on its block-long floor ranged from professionals...to everyday Harlemites. During a time of racial segregation and strife, the Savoy was one of the most culturally and racially integrated of institutions, and its fame was international. It was the heartbeat of Harlem's community and a testament to the indomitable spirit and creative impulse of African-Americans. It was a catalyst of innovation where dancers and musicians blended to forge new, wide-spread and long-lasting traditions in music and dance." The club was opened on March 12, 1926 by Jay Faggen, who owned downtown swing venue Roseland, and Moe Gale, a Jewish businessman. It was managed by Charles Buchanan, a Black civil rights activist. The ground floor of the Savoy was marked by a hulking marquee. Patrons entered a lavish lobby, adorned with a glass chandelier and marble staircase which led to the 10,000 square foot ballroom on the second floor. The block-long ballroom of the Savoy had a capacity of 4,000 guests and saw around 700,000 patrons annually, meaning the wood-sprung floor needed to be replaced once every three years. Its pink interior was bathed in colored lights, with mirrored walls and a double bandstand that allowed music to play continuously, night after night. Musical acts included Ella Fitzgerald, Al Cooper, Erskine Hawkins, Lucky Millinder, Buddy Johnson, Cootie Williams, and later be-bop jazz musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Art Blakey, and Thelonious Monk. The ballroom also hosted "Battle of the Bands" competitions, the most famous face-off being between Chick Webb and Benny Goodman. In addition to musical talent, patrons attended the Savoy Ballroom for the spectacular footwork that could be seen on the dancefloor. Dances like the Lindy Hop, named for Charles Lindbergh, the Jitterbug, Flying Charleston, Jive, Snakehips, Rhumboogie, and variations of the Shimmy and Mambo were pioneered and popularized on the floor of the Savoy. The northeast corner of the ballroom now called the Cat's Corner was where experienced dancers would work on their routines all night, or enjoy dance-offs where "only the greatest...would stay on the floor to try to eliminate each other," as Barbara Engelbrecht writes in 'Swinging at the Savoy,' for the Dance Research Journal in 1983. A group called "Whitey's Lindy Hoppers" frequented the floor of the Savoy, and later went professional with the help of Herbert "Whitey," White, a bouncer with an eye for talent who was nicknamed for his streak of grey hair. Amateur dancers could learn some of the hottest new moves with the help of the Savoy Hostesses, who would partner-up for lessons for 25 cents a dance ticket. Entry to the club ranged from 30 cents to 85 cents after 8 pm, or just over $10 today. Other than a dress-code, the Savoy Ballroom had no discrimination policy. The only thing owners and staff were concerned about was whether or not you could dance. Patrons were around 85% Black and 15% white, though some nights the crowd was an even fifty-fifty. A tuxedo-wearing security team led by actor Jack La Rue monitored the crowd, and bouncers made sure patrons were dressed in a jacket and tie. The club was demolished in 1958 to make way for a housing project after many efforts to save the venue by the owners of the club, its patrons, and even Borough President Hulan Jack. The commemorative plaque was unveiled by who of Whitey's Lindy Hoppers, Frankie Manning and Norma Miller.

120 West 140th Street, 1920. Public School 139 (also called the Frederick Douglass Junior High School) was likely constructed in the first years of the 20th century. In the 1930s and 1940s school had a number of well-known teachers including poet Countee Cullen and James Allen, president of the New York State NAACP for some time. Today the former school building serves as a senior center.

Watt-Pinkney Mansion, 1925. Built in 1796 by John DeLancey, the dwelling later known as the Watt-Pinkney mansion originally stood on a low rise of what would become 139th and 140th Streets. Archibald D. Watt acquired the house and its 300-acre farm in 1826. Eleven years later, following the crash of 1837, he borrowed funds from his stepdaughter, Mary G. Pinkney (1810-1908). A mortgage on the Watt acreage secured the loan. In the 1860s, when Seventh Avenue was extended northward, the house was moved around the corner to 139th Street. Mary G. Pinkney left a fortune in uptown real estate and a house worthy of becoming a museum. However, her home was not to enjoy the fate of the Morris-Jumel Mansion. Around 1915 the Libya nightclub opened in the mansion near the foot of Libya Hill. Harlem’s most influential politicians, professionals, and theater people patronized the club, where the Clef Club provided the musicians. A young Ethel Waters, famous later as a singer and then as an actress, performed at the Libya as part of a dance duo. The nightclub closed in 1921. For a time, the local community tried to interest the City of New York in acquiring the property for a playground, but the house was ultimately demolished in 1925.

Street scene outside Daniel’s Bar & Grill, Harlem, 1939.

Abyssinian Baptist Church ca. 1923 Abyssinian Baptist Church was located on West 40th Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues when Adam Clayton Powell Sr., arrived from New Haven to take up the pastorship of what was the largest black congregation in the world in 1908. Powell, who moved his family to a house in a predominantly white neighborhood on West 134th Street, soon tried to interest his congregation in relocating the church to Harlem but encountered considerable resistance. Abyssinian did not purchase land on West 138th Street between Seventh and Lenox Avenues until 1920. A white architectural firm designed the Gothic edifice, completed in 1923, which still features stained-glass images of blue-eyed blond angels, saints, and biblical figures. Adam Clayton Powell Jr., who succeeded his father as pastor in 1937, used the substantial power base afforded by the largest black congregation in America to win election as the first black member of New York's City Council and as Harlem's Congressman for twenty-five years.

Abyssinian Baptist Church ARCHITECT: Charles W. Bolton & Son DATE: 1922-23 STYLE: Neo-Gothic The Abyssinian Baptist Church is the home of one of New York City’s oldest church organizations and the second oldest within the family of African-American churches in Manhattan. Organized in 1808 by a small group of black worshippers who withdrew from the predominantly white First Baptist Church on Gold Street, the Abyssinian Baptist Church was incorporated in the following year, adopting the ancient name for Ethiopia. The northward movement of the Abyssinian congregation, which occupied several successive locations from its first home in a wooden church on Worth Street to its imposing stone edifice in Harlem, followed the residential patterns of New York’s black population. Under the leadership of the Reverend William Spellman during the second half of the nineteenth century, the church grew rapidly into one of the wealthiest of the “African” congregations. In the twentieth century, the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell, Sr.’s “social gospel,” blending social activism with spiritual leadership, set the tone for Abyssinian’s ongoing mission to serve its community. Commissioned during Powell’s tenure, the striking church building and the adjoining community house were the work of Charles W. Bolton & Son, a productive Philadelphia firm which specialized in churches. The neo-Gothic design of the church reflects the tradition of Protestant church architecture of the 1920s. Powell’s son and successor, Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who served eleven terms as a U.S. Congressman, put Abyssinian at the forefront of the national crusade for social reform and civil rights. During his pastorate, the church membership grew to over 10,000, placing it among the largest Protestant churches in the world. Today, the church leadership under the Reverend Calvin Butts continues its commitment to religious and social service and economic development in Harlem.

369th Regiment Infantry Armory ARCHITECT: Tachay & Vaight DATE: 1921-34 STYLE: Art Deco The 369th Regiment Armory occupies the eastern half of the block bounded by west 142nd Street and West 143rd Street at 2360 Fifth Avenue, just off Harlem River Drive. Like other New York City armories built in the late 19th century and early 20th century, this armory is a highly specialized structure built to serve as a training and marshaling center for the National Guard. The armory consists of two sections, the drill shed, and the administration building. The building combines the medieval design forms of earlier armories with contemporary Art Deco elements.

Grocery at 552 Lenox Avenue (Malcolm X Boulevard), undated photo. In 1922, this grocery was part of a network of businesses associated with the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the black nationalist fraternal organization founded by Marcus Garvey. It was part of a cooperative network of three such Harlem groceries. As part of the organization’s agenda, African Americans were encouraged to patronize UNIA businesses in an effort to build wealth among the community. In a 1922 advertisement for UNIA businesses, the grocery is listed with a simple tagline: “oit pays to patronize your own.” In 1919, Marcus Garvey himself resided at 552 Lenox Avenue, with his then-wife Amy Ashwood Garvey.

2465 Seventh Avenue (Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard), ca. 1939. Two sailors stand in the doorway of a Seventh Avenue restaurant; note the bunting advertising the 1939 World's Fair.

73 West 141st Street, ca. 1930.