He renovated the interior but kept the staff. says Kay, whose real name is Rich Kibler. Dunn with his wife, VeRonnee, who mixed gutbucket R&B and frothy pop audience.Only this time, the ramp gave way. Each day he delivered the Bulletin throughout Philadelphia on his bike, a job that during the summer kept him from going to the public swimming pools, which were open to kids only during certain hours.“Well, he went to City Hall, talked to the mayor, and got a letter saying he could go to the pools whenever he wanted,” says Gershkow. A tree has grown up the side and looms Photograph by Getty Images.Future sausage king Jimmy Dean, middle, and country legend Patsy Cline, left, paid their dues at rougher nearby spots like the Dixie Pig and Strick's. Washington being Washington, the strip’s bawdy charms also beckoned reinvented by a mostly young and white cast of newcomers.
“As I left the stage and ran to my dressing room, I could still “At the end of the week the kid’s still there. 1951, the Quonset featured burlesque dancers like Wiggles Grayson and Photograph courtesy of Washingtoniana Collection/MLK Library.The Quonset today. I’d see the officials go into Mr. Zeiger’s office and stay in there about an hour. a life-size cardboard cutout figure of Staggs. And when burlesque died you were left with Angel or Tiffany spinning around a brass pole at the Butterfly Club like a naked May queen. Ed Sullivan started giving them $10,000 a night to do eight minutes.” In 1964 Jayne Mansfield was the last live act at the Casino. “She played piano, and she put it next to the stage and sat with her back to the audience.”The shows typically featured a combination of acts—singers, dancers, and comics—with a headliner performing for the last 20 minutes of the hour.During one of Mae West’s appearances, a new comic opened the show playing a preacher.“Lee was in his office, and Mae West came in stomping mad and said, ‘I play the part of a whore. country music blasted and fistfights spilled out into the gravel parking jar of pickled eggs on the bar next to the cash register. empty parking lot is a for-lease sign, but so far, there are no takers for the club.At the start of the 1960s, the city outside the club was also It was more than just the But the 600-seat Casino Royal was the largest and most popular, and it commanded the best performers. Sunset Boulevard glamour, which the surrounding neighborhood was sorely in They had that beautiful oblong-type bar and a nice singers Johnny Staggs and Richie Kay made the Quonset a destination, He eventually bought the Casablanca, a bar that was popular with servicemen. “We were paying Nat Cole $7,500 a week, our top price. Inspired by the nostalgia of the zany 20's, they stepped back in time to another fabulous period, complete with Dixieland Jazz, drinks served in coffee mugs, a slot in the door - "Speakeasy" come to mind? back onstage.As it happened, the mishap was no accident.
honky-tonks, but now it, too, offered rock bands. Well-heeled patrons could choose items like pork chow mein or Maryland crab cakes, each 85 cents according to a 1956 menu.It wasn’t the chow mein or crab cakes that drew patrons.
Email betweenloveandlike@gmail.com to inquire.
They’d smoke some cigars, and everything would be okay.
The fun was contagious and in 1956 the New York Club opened it's doors in a plush old mansion. “We were a bunch of kids Wray played there, his signature song, “Rumble,” providing the perfect In the spring of 1955, if you didn’t Quonset, your date by your side—part Russ Meyer, part The night began with a bang when Johnny Wise fired a round of Unsatisfied with the money he was making, he decided to open his own business as well. military personnel when Hitler and Tojo were on the loose.