L OST N EIGHBORHOODS
v
FROM THE
ARCHIVES
Mayor
continued from page 4
One night my wife went
to see Sammy Davis Jr., and
she invited him to the Cot-
ton Club. So he came by
and he got up on stage and
performed with my little
four-piece band. Sammy got
up and performed, and that
was the highlight of the
whole seven years that the
club ran. He sent lots of
people there afterward.
Other celebrities came too
— like Joe Louis, the
Brown
Bomber.
And
remember Elvis did “Hound
Dog”? Well, the person who
performed that song before
him was Big Mama Thorn-
ton. She packed the place
out.
There were plenty of Port-
land groups too. One group
out of Portland who made
the big time was The Three
Little Souls. They later
changed their name to Sun-
day’s Child and appeared on
the Ed Sullivan Show and
the Sammy Davis Jr. Show.
Mel Brown was a 17-
year-old drummer when I
bought the club in 1963. He
went on to be Diana Ross’
drummer — and The Temp-
tations’ and The Four Tops’.
Then there were Ronnie
Steen, and Billy Larkin and
the Delegates, which fea-
tured Mel Brown and Hank
Sworn. Their key song was
called “The Pygmy,” and it
sold hundreds and thou-
sands of copies, but they
didn’t get that money.
That was the Cotton Club.
I sold that club — a night-
club has around a seven- to
eight-year run — and I
bought Paul’s on the corner
of Williams and Russell. I
kept that club from 1964 to
1970. Then Emanuel Hospi-
tal tore down that whole
neighborhood for redevel-
opment. It’s still empty
today. The only thing left is
the gold dome that used to
be on top of the pharmacy.
It’s the only part of that
block remaining after 34
years.
The corner of Williams
and Russell was the big
meeting place because it
had everything you wanted
right there. It had the phar-
macy, a dry cleaner; Sally’s
Soul Food restaurant, the
Citizens Bar, a pool hall, a
clothing store, a Chinese
restaurant and a meat mar-
ket around the corner. On
Sunday afternoon it was just
busy. Everyone would get
out of church and go to eat.
It was the spot.
For more about
your neighbor-
hood go online to
TheSkanner.com
Page 16 The Portland and Seattle Skanner v BLACK HISTORY EDITION v February 22, 2012
Black History