The Savoy Ballroom opened in 1926 during the Harlem Renaissance (1918-1937), a transformative period in African-American music, dance, art, fashion, literature, theater and politics.

At a time when racial segregation was still in force, the legendary dance venue, located between 140th and 141st streets on Lenox Avenue and taking up a whole block, had a non-discrimination policy. About 85 per cent of the clientele was black and 15 per cent white, but the most important requisite for entry was the ability to dance.

There was room for 4,000 dancers and the ballroom had twin bandstands to allow continuous music, with one band or orchestra playing while the other set up.

Among the dances performed were the Lindy Hop (also known as the Jitterbug), the Flying Charleston, the Jive, Snakehips, the Shimmy and the Rhumboogie. Little wonder that The Savoy’s nickname was the ‘Home of Happy Feet.’

Stars of the era such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman performed. Chick Webb was the best-known leader of the Savoy house bands and was responsible for bringing then-17-year-old Ella Fitzgerald, fresh from winning the Apollo Theater talent contest, to the jazz venue. Another popular dance band leader was Erskine Hawkins and his Savoy Sultans.

Jeff Gold’s book Sittin’ In: Jazz Clubs of the 1940s and 1950s describes the Savoy as ‘ the world’s most beautiful ballroom, with mirrored walls and a sprung dance floor.'

Owned by white businessmen Jay Faggen and Moe Gale and managed by African American civic leader Charles Buchanan, they sought to operate a ‘luxury ballroom to accommodate the many thousands who wished to dance in an atmosphere of tasteful refinement, rather than in the small stuffy halls and the foul smelling, smoke laden cellar nightclubs.’

The  Savoy and the nearby Cotton Club, another famous jazz club, were demolished in 1953 to make way for a housing complex.