DJ Ryan Swift

Color Photo of the Savoy Ballroom.  I don’t think I knew the marquee was so red.

When researching old photos of Harlem (like the above rare color photo of the Savoy in 1940 - click image to enlarge) one can sometimes catch a glimpse of a few white folk walking around back in those days.  So what was the demographic make up of Harlem during those dramatic years of the Harlem Renaissance?  A reader who grew up in Hamilton Heights during the 1960’s mentioned to us previously that her part of West Harlem was still very diverse well into the mid decades of the last century: LINK

(via @theSwingDJ)

Sound effects man of [Count Basie] orchestra at Savoy Ball Room. Chicago, Illinois.

Lee, Russell, 1903-1986, photographer.

CREATED/PUBLISHED
1941 Apr.

PART OF
Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information Photograph Collection (Library of Congress)

[Note the Coleman Hawkins poster in the upper left]

Couple Jitterbugging in True Savoy Style

Gjon Mili/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images Feb 01, 1949

Couple jitterbugging in true Savoy style among crowd dancing on ballroom floor during Natl. Urban League Guild annual ball at the Savoy Ballroom.