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The Sunset Lounge: Music, activism and equality
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — It’s well past business hours and Bob Carter, artistic director and president of West Palm’s Actor’s Workshop & Repertory Company is preparing the next generation of stage actors.“The plays I do here are not Neil Simon, there are no feathers and sequins – the plays I do here are about the African-American experience, the Jewish experience – and the ramifications,” said Carter.Across town, Everee Jimerson Clarke, historian and activist is on deadline to publish her second book on the first black settlers to arrive to West Palm Beach.“To extend the railroad,” said Clarke. “I have…
Sun rises on a renovated Sunset Lounge
Tomorrow: An artist’s rendering of the soon-to-be Sunset Lounge. City of West Palm Beach The Sunset Lounge is being brought back to life as part of a neighborhood revival project north of downtown that includes the $12.5 million-plus building at North Rosemary Avenue and 8th Street in West Palm Beach, Florida on July 23, 2020. GREG LOVETT/palmbeachpost.com Yesterday: Before renovations began.TONY DORIS/palmbeachpost.comBack in the day: Sometimes more than 1,000 elegantly gowned women and tuxedoed men crushed onto the Sunset's polished dance floor to dance to the popular bands during the club's heyday.Palm Beach Post archives The Sunset Lounge is being…
Black History Month: A tour highlighting 9 West Palm spots of significance
WEST PALM BEACH — While it's Black History Month across America, West Palm Beach boasts more than a century of Black history and is taking steps to highlight that year round.There are multiple sites and neighborhood streets that speak to the historical significance of the Black community in West Palm Beach.”Tamarind, Henrietta, Sapodilla and Rosemary (avenues), you almost have the whole history of the community,” says former City Commissioner Ike Robinson, who made an early push for the Sunset Lounge renovation and is pressing current city leaders to open a museum devoted to the city's African-American heritage. “This city has so…
History in the Making
In the spirit of renewal, the West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency’s various revitalization projects in the Historic Northwest District will premiere this year.The cornerstone of the CRA’s work in the area is the multimillion-dollar revival of the Sunset Lounge, a jazz landmark that dates to 1925. During the racially segregated Jim Crow era, the Sunset Lounge belonged to the Chitlin’ Circuit—venues where African American entertainers could perform safely—and drew notable acts like Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Over the years, the hot spot fell into disuse and became a relic. The project aims to honor and restore the club’s…
The Sunset Lounge in West Palm Beach is trying to bring back its glory days
West Palm Beach was the Jim Crow South — Black folks tried everything they could to thrive under those conditions. If you speak to Black elders in the Historic Northwest District, they’ll tell you about one premier venue that felt like a safe haven for their excellence. And it just so happened to attract jazz greats, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, to name a few.You turn to WLRN for reporting you can trust and stories that move our South Florida community forward. Your support makes it possible. Please donate now. Thank you.The Sunset Cocktail Lounge, on the…
West Palm Beach Community Redevelopment Agency
401 Clematis Street,
West Palm Beach, FL 33401
wpb.org/CRA
561.822.1550
CRA@wpb.org
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