Professional Documents
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trod the path from obscurity to fame-for her dinners are recommended
throughout the country.
-The New York Age
For much of the '20s, the Nest was 133rd St.'s main draw, and the block itself
was not especially notable as a destination. That all changed upon Tillie Fripp's
arrival. Like the heroine in a Fannie Hurst soap opera, Fripp left her cook's job
in a Philadelphia roadhouse in 1926, came to Harlem for two weeks vacation
and decided to stay. With just $1.98 in her pocket, she got a job working at a
133rd St. speakeasy and, within no time, word of her remarkable ham and eggs
(what the Age called the "porker-cackleberry combination") had spread like
wildre. Downtown columnists like Louis Sobol laundered her with praise, and
before long, Fripp had enough capital to open her own restaurant in the bottom
of a four-story brick rowhouse at 148 West 133rd. Tillie's chicken and waes
became musts for every in-the-know tourist, and her menu was augmented with
a jazz lineup that came close to matching the Nest's in quality and variety.
The success of Tillie's and the Nest led to more clubs on what had formerly been
a genteel residential street. Edith's Clam House, at number 146, opened on
October 19, 1928. It quickly gained fame through the larger-than-life person of
Gladys Bentley, who dressed in top hat and tails and delighted patrons with her
X-rated version of "Alice Blue Gown." (Sample lyric: "And he said, 'Dearie,
please turn around'/And he shoved that big thing up my brown.")
Mexico's, a popular musicians' hangout, was originally located four blocks south
but later moved to the basement of number 154. It was Duke Ellington's
personal favorite-"the hottest gin mill on 133rd St."-he later claimed, and dozens
of jazz musicians ocked there for nightly jam sessions and cutting contests.
With Basement Brownie's at 152 and Covan's at 148 (taking over Tillie's digs
once she moved to larger quarters on Lenox Ave.), the street was on re by the
early '30s, just in time for a new phase of its life.
One night near the end of 1932, a robust young woman with eyes like almonds
walked through the odd-looking doorway at 168 West 133rd-it was designed to
resemble a log cabin-and asked for a job. She had been making the rounds of
the street's clubs, singing at Covan's and Mexico's before getting red from the
latter after a dispute with the owner. She was now out of work, and therefore
much relieved when Jerry Preston, owner of this new place, agreed to take her
on for two dollars a night, plus tips. It was not an easy transition: The new
vocalist was awkward and had a hard time adjusting to the rollicking style of
house pianist Willie "The Lion" Smith, but when she sang, her notes were lush,
mellow tones that lled the room with moonbeams. One club regular later
recalled, "I never heard her in better voice in all the years I knew her." Perhaps
it was here more than anywhere else that Billie Holiday-and with her modern
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