Paradise Valley Days: A Photo Album Poetry Book of Black Detroit, 1930s to 1950s - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1888754028 ISBN 13: 9781888754025

Publisher: The Guild, 1998

Synopsis

A photo album poetry book of Black Detroit from the 1930's to 1950's when "Paradise Valley was one of the most prosperous Black business and entertainment districts in the country. This poetry book takes a nostalgic look back into Detroit's past at a time when showgirls, tap dancers, and jazz greats took center stage. This book features more than 200 timeless photographs and the work of 56 poets.

About this title

About the Author

The Detroit Black Writer's Guild is a Non-Profit, Multi-cultural Literary Organization founded by Peggy Moore in 1983. Its goals are to train aspiring authors & poets, publish samples of their work, help them to launch a commercial career, & preserve Black Heritage. Herbert R. Metoyer serves both as the Executive Director & Executive Editor. The Guild currently has almost 500 members located in Michigan and 31 other states. Heather Buchanan is president.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

In its heyday, back in the 1940's, 50's, and 60's, Paradise Valley, a Black Mecca that was located on the lower east side of Detroit, dazzled and attracted more weekend visitors to her door step than did Greek Town or China Town during the same period.

Paradise Valley came of age during the height of segregation in Detroit. Legal "Deed Restrictions" prohibited a Negro from renting or owning property in all but the most wretched parts of the city - all on the lower east side. Back then, a Negro could be thrown in jail for being caught in any area west of Woodward Avenue.

It was in this climate that Negro businessmen like Charles Roxbourgh, Irvine Rhone, John White, and others took a somewhat condemned area bounded by Gratiot, Vernor, Brush, and Hastings and carved out "Paradise Valley."

At that time, Negroes had no political power. No one that looked like them was allowed to sit in the mayor's office or hold a seat on the "Common Council." For this reason, the citizens of Paradise Valley got together, erected their own City Hall, and elected Roy Lightfoot as their first mayor.

Did you know that before integration came to Detroit, Paradise Valley actually had more Negroes in business than any other city in the country?

This was due largely to the fact that Negroes who worked for the automobile industry earned fairly decent wages and they had a lot of money to spend. There were also many Railroad Porters who called Detroit their home, and they, too, were well paid.

As a result, businesses flourished. On St. Antoine Street there was Watson' Realty Co., Donald F. White Architect, Long's Cut-Rate Drug Store, Law Offices of Lewis-Rowlette-Brown; Biddy's Chicken Shack; Wilson's Modern Laundry; Wayne County Better Homes; Pekin Restaurant; Biltmore Hotel; Modern Barber Shop; The Pryor Hotel, and many others. By the way, most of the businesses used Richard Austin, who later became Secretary of State for Michigan, as their accountant.

All of these businesses were solvent, meaning that they operated profitably. And while all black businesses had to put their money in white-owned banks, none of the banks in the city at that time would hire a black in any position except that of a janitor.

On weekends, especially during the summer months, taxis ran almost non-stop between the train and bus stations transporting travelers and visitors into the city. Some to visit friends and family, and others who came just to relax and have a good time. A great majority of the visitors came from the south to get a taste of big city life.

At night, cocktail lounges, dance halls, showbars, and restaurants all came alive with dazzling lights, swing bands, sultry singers, dancers doing the Black Bottom, Jitterbug, or Hulley Gulley, and jazz and blues artist all on center stage. It was a time for "Zoot Suits," long watch chains, and wide brimmed Stetson hats.

In many ways, Paradise Valley was not unlike Harlem in New York. No Negro musician worth the salt in his bread would ever think of coming to Detroit City without visiting the "Valley." And it was there that you would find giants like Duke Ellington, Jimmy Lunceford, Lionel Hampton, Fats Waller, Cab Calloway, McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Louis Armstrong, and all the other Hep Cats.... Paradise Valley Remembered Like an unassuming lady abducted and vaguely abject She stands at the crossroads of the city; wheedling winds attack her back And on her cold shoulders chattering brown birds and gulls relax. Unblinking - like a peculiar marble statue she's bathed in soft velvets of twilight Winking street lights splash colors rhythmically on roofs of speeding vehicles on the go. And on damp asphalt her sober, expressionless face seems to assume an absorbing glow. Her fiber, capricious breezes cannot whisk away, like submissive leaves that fall at her feet and soon decay. Her spirit struggles through broken branches and objectively hovers over the wild flowers that dress her jagged pathway. Gilded messages scribbled on her crumbling walls render lucid clues and hints of the essence of her yolk belated... and bemused. The Great Black Strip Before the freeways were built, even before the riot of 43, there was a strip in Detroit called Paradise Valley, and it was swinging all night long... By TONI JONES Free Press Staff Writer Count Basie's band wailed "After Hours" thinly from the juke box, but the small gathering in the Garfield Lounge of the Randora Hotel hardly heard. The faces and clothes were 1972, different. Drinks were more expensive. And the music didn't croon live and bittersweet as it did 30 years ago. Gone were the handsome, smooth talking sporting men dressed in Al Capone suits with money in their pockets and beautiful women on their sleeves. Gone too were the big bands, the long shiny chauffeur-driven limousines, the high-ceilinged dance halls with their crystal chandeliers and the chorus girls in puffed sleeved satin dresses with low cut backs, floppy brimmed hats and cigarette holders.

The Randora Lounge at 98 Garfield now comprises almost all that's left to suggest the frenzied night life and the people who made this part of Black Bottom distinctly and uniquely Paradise Valley. The valley burgeoned in the early 30's along and around Adams and St. Antione shortly before, after - and some because of - the legalization of whiskey in 1933. Bag Woman These are my bags I carry my dreams My hatred, my nightmares Stuffed and folded Stacked, and twisted, and crushed. My bags are my fate Holding dreams upon dreams Defeat, honor, and love stuffed in between. A bag of dreams dragged upon my feet Buffed up, then layered down Beaten slowly Smoothed swiftly. A bag of love held close to my heart Crushed, torn into bits Wet with tears With fragments of kisses Touches of love Soft glances Unforgiving and cheated. A bag for the nighttime Full of fear Loneliness and hunger A remembrance of your smile To be needed, shared, and loved. Their heaviness covers my soul They guide my destiny They will never leave me But you did....

Edition details

• Publisher: The Guild
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1888754028
• ISBN 13: 9781888754025
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 112
• Editor: Herbert R. Metoyer Jr., Debraha Watson