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Paradise Valley: Gone But [[continued on next page]]

Hastings Street Opera!
Boy, it´s all down on
Hastings Street... Yes.
Yes. Anything can happen
on Hastings Street.-
Detroit Count, "Hastings
Street Opera."

It was through Paradise
Valley that we were able to
spring from this ghetto. -
Sunnie Wilson

By DEBORAH HAWKINS

Paradise Valley, wich
harbored one of Detroit´s
largest entertainment
districts, means many things
to many different people. Not
only was the Valley a hot
nightspot, but a significant
origin of Black progress.

The most Blacks living in
Detroit in the late 30´s and
early 40´s, the Valley is a
pleasant memory of days
when they could sit in a cool
bar after a monotonous day in
the factory, with drink in 
hand, and lose themselves in
the uplifting beat of jazz or
relate to the sorrowful groans
of the blues.

The Valley, roughly
bounded by Hastings, Brush,
Gratiot and Vernor Highway,
was a unique entertainment
district from the 1920´s to the
mid-1950´s.

Such well-known musicians
as John Lee Hooker (who
recorded "Boogie Chillen"),
Bobo Jenkins (who later
created a political blues) and
Louie Jordan´s Tympany Five
got their start in the Valley.

The Valley also served as a
one-night stand for many
obscure entertainers. Such
was the case of "One String
Sam," a street musician who
recorded a couple of tunes for
Joe Van Battle´s record shop,
and disappeared.

But the Valley is best known
for featuring the musical
giants - Dinah Washington, 
Lionel Hampton, Jimmy
Luncefor, Billie Holiday and
Duke Ellington, and Count 
Basie. Since Black en-
tertainers were not allowed in
many of the white-owned
hotels, theses entertainers
would often stay at the Carlton
Plaza or the Norwood hotel.

This was a special treat for
many regular patrons because
often, after the Duke of Dinah
Washington had finished their

acts at the Greystone, they
would engage in many im-
promptu jazz sessions at the 
Valley´s bars and nightclubs.

Paul Oliver, a leading
scholar of Black folk music
described Hastings St. in the
Valley for Detroit Magazine:

"On this unlovely but
colorful street were situated
the bars and joints where the 
men could burn their spending
change after working hours
and listen to the blues singers
and guitarists and pianists
demonstrate their new bass
figures, exchange rythmns
and verses and carve each
other in musical com-
petition."

Christopher Littlejohn was a 
teenager when the Valley was 
at its height. He worked in one
of the corner drugstores in the
Valley and was in awe of the
tremendous activity on the 
streets an in the bars.

"It was in the Valley that I
skipped school for the first
time," recalled Littlejohn.

To some, the Valley was a
cultural melting pot where
Blacks and whites mingled in
bars.

To others, the Valley was a 
valuable start for Black
businessmen.

Tom Briscoe, a frequent
patron of the Valley in its
heyday and now an employee
of the Detroit public schools,
said the Valley was significant
for all the businesses were
owned and run by Blacks.

"Those who lived during
this time didn´t realize the
significance of the Valley,
with Black businessmen
keeping money within the
community," Said Briscoe.

Briscoe said established
Black businessmen in the
Valley would extend loans to
other potential Black
businessmen who could not
obtain a bank loan.

In addition to extending
loans, the businessmen aided
community organizations and
provided training and
leadership to young people.

Briscoe cited Jap Sneed,
owner of the former Three
Sixes, as one of these
benevolent Black
businessmen. Sneed helped

build the neighborhood´s
YMCA and served on the
Brewster Athletic Board.

Food baskets were often
given to the needy and the
nearby Phyllis Wheatley
Home and St. Matthew´s
church always counted on the 
local businessmen for 
donations, as did the NAACP
and the Urban League.

"It was the Black
businessmen who kept the
streets safe," said Briscoe.
"There was no fear of getting
mugged or beaten up. Violent 
crime was unheard of in the 
Valley."

"They talk about Black
power now," said Briscoe.
"These businessmen prac-
ticed Black power then."

Indeed, the businessmen
gave an autonomy to the
Valley that was rare among
most entertainment areas.
The bar owners took care of
their patrons, as was wit-
nessed when Buffalo Bill
James went to the police
station after every raid to
clear things up. Meanwhile,
his patrons were back at the
club playing the numbers.

"Mayors" of Paradise
Valley were elected almost
every year by the populace
another symbol of the valley´s
autonomy. Mayors, like
Chester Rentie, Roy Lightfoot,
Reuben Patton and Don
Walters, were responsible for
staging charity drives and
finding jobs for the unem-
ployed. The Michigan
Chronicle, wich was located
in the Valley at this time, later
established the mayoral
elections as a Valley in-
stitution.

Although crime was low in
the Valley, several policemen
walked their beats in this
area.

Briscoe remembers some of
the more colorful officers -
like "Blondie" Hayes, who
was respected but feared in
the Valley, and Mrs. Walker,
whose job was to check the
bars for minors. "She could
give a mean back slap,"
recalled Briscoe, laughing.

But the autonomy and the
glory of the Valley started to 
diminish in the 1950´s. By 1960,
when the Chrysler freeway
sliced into Hastings St., the
Valley was already on its way 
down.

There are several theories 
for the decline of Paradise
Valley.

One is that the 1943 riot,
together with the repeal of the
Covenant act (wich per-
mitted discrimination in
housing), prompted Blacks to
move from the Valley area to 
other parts of the city. The
Valley lost a lot of patronage
because Black started new
entertainment areas in their
own neighborhoods and did
not frequente the Valley
nightclubs as much.

Briscoe points to the 
migration of a new group of
Blacks from the South
following World War II as
another reason for the 
Valley´s fall in popularity.

"This new group of Blacks
did not experience the Valley
in its prime and consequently
were not interested in keeping
ir alive," said Briscoe.

"Also, these Blacks were
not restricted to living on the
near-eastside as were Blacks
in earlier times. So they
started nightclubs in their own
neigborhoods on the wets-
side," he said.

Another possibility for the
loss of interest in the Valley´s
nightlife was the development 
of the "Motown" sound in the
late 1950´s and early 1960´s.
Motown brought to Detroit an 
organized, cosmopolitan,
sleek sound which sharply
contrasted with the local,
simple sound of the early
"urban" blues and jazz.

Whereas the musicians in
the Valley´s club wore work
clothes or simple suits, the
Motown artists wore flashy,
heavily ornamented 
costumes.

Whereas the Valley´s en-
tertainers sang about the
simple, more universal
problems of life - being
lonely, jilted, drunk or
overworked -Motown´s stars
dealt with much more
rebellious and political
themes, reflecting the mood of
the 1960´s.

As the Valley was absorbed
by Stroh´s Brewery, Hudson´s
and the freeway, the
proprietors either stayed or
went out of business.