The South’s Most Beautiful Supper Club is how Club Royale in Savannah, Georgia, was described. Housed in an Art Deco building on the corner of Skidaway and Victory Drive, it was certainly the swankiest nightclub in town during the 1930s and 1940s.

This dramatic menu cover shows the club lit up against the night sky.

Run by owner Al Remler, who promised patrons ‘fun and gaiety,’ there was a cocktail bar and supper club where steaks, seafood, fried chicken and Chinese food was on the menu. A full orchestra played every night.

Savannah was the last leg of a circuit traveled by jazz musicians. Some musicians came straight from New Orleans and others went to Chicago, Kansas City, St Louis and New York and finally Savannah. Many musicians wintered here – a change from the freezing temperatures up north.

Black entertainers were welcomed at white clubs during this era. Black patrons were not.

We’re still researching Club Royale history and don’t know when this supper club closed. In 1944, Billboard magazine still listed it as open and one of America’s best cocktail lounges. 

Courtesy Private Collection.