Lenox Lounge

Overview

Art Deco Harlem jazz bar at 288 Lenox Avenue, listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book from 1938 according to the National Trust, with a booth reserved for Billie Holiday and performances by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie, closed December 31, 2012 after a lease dispute; its facade was reportedly removed and the building demolished in 2017.

The Lenox Lounge stood at 288 Lenox Avenue, between 124th and 125th Streets, in Harlem, in a row the National Trust describes as 1880s-era brownstone tenements (Wikipedia gives the block). Its origins are contested. Most sources date its opening to 1939: Wikipedia and the National Trust credit Ralph Greco, Untapped New York names Dominic Greco as founder and also gives 1939, and CBS New York and DNAinfo give 1939. The Village Voice says Dominic Greco opened the club in 1942, and DNAinfo dates the Lenox Lounge name to 1943. The sources read for this record do not settle the founder's name or the year. Wikipedia, Atlanta Black Star and CBS New York (quoting the lounge's own website) describe Art Deco design; the record does not rely on further detail about the interior beyond what the National Trust gives (a 1,200-square-foot club with an Art Deco neon sign, zebra-print booths and a mahogany bar), what the Village Voice gives (zebra-patterned wallpaper in the Zebra Room) and what DNAinfo reports from the landlord's suit (banquettes, etched mirrors, a zebra wall and red paneling out front). DNAinfo says the landlord owns 286 Lenox Avenue, the building that housed the lounge, so the street number is not uniformly given. The Zebra Room is named by Wikipedia, Untapped New York and the Village Voice. The Lenox Lounge hosted leading jazz musicians. The National Trust says one of the booths was reserved for Billie Holiday, and the Village Voice places her table in the Zebra Room, and the Village Voice says she once had a table there, reportedly a booth on the left. Miles Davis and John Coltrane are named by Wikipedia, the National Trust, Untapped New York and CBS New York, and the Village Voice links them to the club's back room, and Dizzy Gillespie by the National Trust and Untapped New York. The performance dates are not given in the sources read. Press accounts name Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison as regulars (Wikipedia and Untapped New York for Hughes and Baldwin; CBS New York for Baldwin, Hurston and Ellison). Malcolm X is named as a patron or regular (Wikipedia; Untapped New York; National Trust), and the Village Voice links him to the club's back room. CBS New York says Alex Haley interviewed Malcolm X there; the record has not checked this against Haley's own account. The National Trust says the lounge was featured in the Negro Motorist Green Book from 1938 to 1955. A 1938 listing would predate the 1939 opening given by most sources, and the sources read do not resolve this; the Smithsonian Green Book citation could not be reached. The National Trust describes the lounge as part of the Green Book's network of Black-friendly places. Alvin Reed Sr., a retired postal worker and police officer (Village Voice; Atlanta Black Star), bought the club in 1988 for $85,000 (National Trust; Wikipedia, the Village Voice and Atlanta Black Star give 1988). DNAinfo says Reed took over in 1983. He found the club through a newspaper ad (Village Voice). He and his wife Ethel, the National Trust says, bought the club. Wikipedia says the Art Deco interior was restored from September 1999 to March 2000, the lounge's only closure. DNAinfo also says Reed restored the lounge in 2000. Untapped New York puts the 2000 renovation at $600,000; the Village Voice says the 1999 renovation was funded by a $450,000 donation from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone; the National Trust also names the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone as helping to finance the restoration but dates that help to 2008. The Village Voice says Wynton Marsalis sat in occasionally, Savion Glover often performed there, and Lillias White had a cameo, and mentions Anika Noni Rose singing with the Sugar Hill Quartet. Wikipedia says Madonna's 'Secret' video and the Mad Men pilot 'Smoke Gets in Your Eyes' used the lounge. On December 31, 2012, the Lenox Lounge closed permanently when its lease expired. Landlord Ricky Edmonds had proposed doubling the monthly rent from $10,000 to $20,000; Reed, who had accumulated back rent and faced an insurmountable increase, could not agree to terms. At midnight on New Year's Eve, Reed directed workers to strip the bar down: the crimson facade, neon sign, mahogany bar, banquet seating, light fixtures, and swinging double doors were all removed and transported three blocks north, to a former beauty parlor at 333 Lenox Avenue, where Reed had signed a new lease. Richard Notar (managing partner of the Nobu restaurant group) briefly took the original space with plans for a Notar Jazz Club, but abandoned the project after the gutting. The $25 million lawsuit filed by the landlord ended without full recovery of the fixtures; Reed's attempt to reopen at 333 Lenox never materialized, stalled by funding shortfalls and permit delays. The original building at 288 Lenox was demolished in May 2017 (Wikipedia; National Trust; Untapped New York).