On this Date in Hampton History 1933 – The Hotel Willard, one of - TopicsExpress



          

On this Date in Hampton History 1933 – The Hotel Willard, one of two hotels serving African-Americans at Bay Shore Beach, burns. Developed by African-American entrepreneurs, Bay Shore Beach opened for black patrons in the summer of 1898, next to the whites-only resort of Buckroe Beach. Bay Shore’s amusement park eventually boasted a roller coaster called the Dixie Flyer, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, and bumper cars. Those who performed at its popular dance pavilion included Fats Waller, Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, James Brown, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong, and many whites broke the color line to listen and dance. Rebuilt years after the devastating 1933 storm and the Willard fire, the beach resort was eventually forced to close and was sold to real estate developers in 1973.
Posted on: Mon, 23 Sep 2013 13:08:47 +0000

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