Vintage 1950, CLUB HARLEM, Atlantic City Promotional Ashtray. All Sepia Floor Show. Featuring black entertainment. One of the greatest night clubs in entertainment history. Legendary for bringing Sammy Davis Jr, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, James Brown, Billie Holliday, Sam Cooke, Aretha Franklin, etc… to Atlantic City.
Even Sinatra and Duke Ellington did guest shows. A vintage crown jewel of black entertainment memorabilia… this ashtray belongs in a black music museum.
CHRIS COLUMBO – & his Group were the house band for many years at “CLIFTON’S CLUB HARLEM” – ATLANTIC CITY – This was called “Happiness Avenue – Kentucky & The Curb”
The acts at Club Harlem were hard to beat. Larry Steele’s Smart Affairs, Sepia Revue, and Beige Beauties featured “fabulous Club Harlem girls” performing dance numbers and show girl routines. Headlining acts included famous performers such as: Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Cab Calloway, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Sam Cooke, Sarah Vaughan, Ray Charles, the Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, the Stylistics, and Ella Fitzgerald.
1972 proved to be a difficult year for Club Harlem. Owner Leroy Williams died at the age of 75. Early Easter Sunday morning, a shootout occurred between warring Philadelphia gangs leaving 5 dead and the club in a state of disarray. It truly never recovered. The club shuttered its doors in the late 1980s and the building stood vacant for several years.
On December 11, 1992, a Northeaster storm damaged the already dilapidated building, hastening its ultimate demolition by its property managers. By the end of December 1992, the Club Harlem was no more.
