[Albany NY]

Originally Posted by Slauson Slim

Thanks for the nice welcome folks.

Soon I will post some pictures. My grandfather owned the Royal Cafe in Downtown LA in the 1920s - mom told me that it was torn down to make room for City Hall.

In the late '50s and early' 60s the 54 Ballroom at 54th and South Broadway hosted the best and biggest name African American/R&B/Soul acts. The tour buses - Motortown Revue, James Brown, Bobby Bland, BB King, Ike and Tina Turner Revue, etc. - would be parked in front.

I would walk home from school past the 54 - this would be about 1959 to about 1964. A few times, I could hear the singers and musicians rehearsing, and I would go halfway up the stairs to hear better. Once or twice I was allowed to go upstairs after a musician saw me sitting on the stairs. The big polished dance floor, the stage, booths along the wall, the bar. Seeing the musicians and singers in their day clothes while they worked out an arrangement and got familiar with the room. And me in the white shirt/cords school uniform with my books.

I was too young to go to the shows in the evening.

On the ground floor was the 54 Bar, which featured Billy Preston on the Hammond organ......this would have been about '63 or '64. Also on the ground floor was a shoe repair shop and a liquor store. The liquor store had an old - even then - black and white patterned tile floor and nice interior architectural decorations.

The 54 closed when the neighborhood changed, and the building deteriorated.

Wow, slauson slim, just wow! Even the most fascinating photos tell only part of a story. Facts and figures, build dates, demolition dates, etc., all add to the scene. But memories like yours almost bring these photos into our own lives. I'm now imagining B.B.King in his shirtsleeves, wiping sweat from his brow, carefully setting down Lucille, wondering who that little schoolboy is standing there across the empty dance floor. Thank you so much for bringing this scene to life for us! I really look forward to future posts from you.