COTTON CLUB

Nightclub in New York City's Harlem district in the 1920s and '30s.

It opened in 1922 at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue under the management of the reputed bootlegger Owney Madden (1892–1964). It became fashionable and featured the finest African American performers in the U.S., performing for an exclusively white audience. Louis Armstrong , Cab Calloway , Duke Ellington , Lena Horne , Bill Robinson , and Ethel Waters were among its featured artists. The club later moved downtown (1936–40).