Platial | Who and What's Nearby
Platial | Who and What's Nearby
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The Dark Tower
a while ago
110 W. 136th Street, New york, New York
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/exploring/harlem/placesmain_text.html#
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Description:
Nightlife in Harlem consisted of an electrifying mix of live jazz and blues, dancing, plays, and literary readings—not to mention eating, drinking, and conversing. A'Lelia Walker's parties provided all of these things in one place.
Walker was the heiress to the fortune of Madam Walker, her enterprising mother, who grew rich on the successful sales of hair care products for African Americans. A'Lelia Walker used part of her inheritance to fuel her interest in Harlem's cultural life. She renovated her brownstone on 136th Street, filled it with posh furniture, and invited black and white artists, writers, patrons, scholars, bohemians, and Harlem high society to dance, drink, and converse.
Walker's Harlem home became a popular nighttime hotspot, drawing guests like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and James Weldon Johnson, and performances by Alberta Hunter and Adelaide Hall. Guests sat in a room next to a wall adorned with Langston Hughes's poem, "Weary Blues." The room was named "The Dark Tower" after poet Countee Cullen's column in the magazine Opportunity. Walker originally asked popular Harlem artists Aaron Douglas and Richard Bruce Nugent to decorate The Dark Tower, but instead hired Manhattan decorator Paul Frankel.
In one controversial party, Walker supposedly served her white guests pig's feet and chitterlings, while black guests dined on caviar, champagne, and pheasant in a separate, more lavish room. While many Harlemites looked forward to Walker's parties, some regarded the "Mahogany Millionairess" with disdain, believing she merely liked to "show off her blackness to whites," as writer Richard Bruce Nugent once said.
Nightlife in Harlem consisted of an electrifying mix of live jazz and blues, dancing, plays, and literary readings—not to mention eating, drinking, and conversing. A'Lelia Walker's parties provided all of these things in one place.
Walker was the heiress to the fortune of Madam Walker, her enterprising mother, who grew rich on the successful sales of hair care products for African Americans. A'Lelia Walker used part of her inheritance to fuel her interest in Harlem's cultural life. She renovated her brownstone on 136th Street, filled it with posh furniture, and invited black and white artists, writers, patrons, scholars, bohemians, and Harlem high society to dance, drink, and converse.
Walker's Harlem home became a popular nighttime hotspot, drawing guests like Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and James Weldon Johnson, and performances by Alberta Hunter and Adelaide Hall. Guests sat in a room next to a wall adorned with Langston Hughes's poem, "Weary Blues." The room was named "The Dark Tower" after poet Countee Cullen's column in the magazine Opportunity. Walker originally asked popular Harlem artists Aaron Douglas and Richard Bruce Nugent to decorate The Dark Tower, but instead hired Manhattan decorator Paul Frankel.
In one controversial party, Walker supposedly served her white guests pig's feet and chitterlings, while black guests dined on caviar, champagne, and pheasant in a separate, more lavish room. While many Harlemites looked forward to Walker's parties, some regarded the "Mahogany Millionairess" with disdain, believing she merely liked to "show off her blackness to whites," as writer Richard Bruce Nugent once said.
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Tags:
jazz , dinner , parties , white , funny , race , artists , dancing , nightlife , culture , drinking , conversation , blues , writers , black , langston hughes , plays , literary readings , eatting , alelia walker , heiress , patrons , scholars , high society , hotspot , zora neale hurston , james weldon johnson , alberta hunter , aselaide hall , paul frankel , mahogony millionairess , party games
jazz , dinner , parties , white , funny , race , artists , dancing , nightlife , culture , drinking , conversation , blues , writers , black , langston hughes , plays , literary readings , eatting , alelia walker , heiress , patrons , scholars , high society , hotspot , zora neale hurston , james weldon johnson , alberta hunter , aselaide hall , paul frankel , mahogony millionairess , party games
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