BY JASON SAAB
NNB Reporter
[Edited by Katie Callihan]
MIDTOWN – The Manhattan Casino opened its doors in 1927 and was the centerpiece of Midtown St. Petersburg.
It was founded by Elder Jordan, a Midtown community member and local entrepreneur. His ultimate goal for the casino was to create a space for the Midtown community to come as equals, let go of fear and dance off all tension during harsh segregated times.
It was the community’s go-to spot, also visited by some of the greatest jazz musicians of that time.
The Manhattan Casino thrived as a part of the “Chitlin’ Circuit.” This was a route traveled by performers including B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Duke Ellington.
Alvin Burns, the former trumpet player for The Manzy Harris Band, also played at the Midtown casino.
In the film “Remembering the Manhattan,” Burns said, “There were bars, pool rooms, drug stores, grocery stores, and the Manhattan Casino was the nerve-center for the black community.”
Al Williams, former trumpet player for the George Cooper Band, said in the film “Remembering the Manhattan,” “People wanted to go to New York, they were traveling there, some couldn’t go there, some did make it, and others never went, so the Manhattan Casino was named for that. It was the closest thing to New York they had.”
The Manhattan was a place that not only had a friendly atmosphere, but a structure that brought such rare access to such timely, famous musicians.
Since its golden era, the Manhattan Casino has become a shell of its former self. Its undoing was ironically because of the desegregation movement.
When desegregation went into effect, the black community in Midtown became more accepted in the downtown area where they were formerly banned.
“Blacks could now visit locations outside of their traditional boundaries of the segregated years, but few whites came to places such as the Manhattan,” said Shnur, the archivist in special collections at University of South Florida St. Petersburg.
Once the Midtown community members felt free to move outside of Midtown, they left.
With both the black and white communities of St. Petersburg frequenting only the downtown area, the abandoned Manhattan Casino closed its doors in 1966.
In 2013, as part of former Mayor Bill Foster’s ‘Foster’s Forty’ plan, the Manhattan Casino reopened its doors after being left vacant for almost 50 years.
Despite the efforts to remodel Midtown’s old treasure, it’s hard to say that the old, historic landmark will ever be the same centerpiece it once was.
The Manhattan Casino currently hosts Sylvia’s Restaurant on the bottom floor and an empty dance hall used exclusively for private events on the top floor.
The community’s once ‘go-to’ spot has now become an empty hall of vacant seats.
Norman Jones, a community consultant for the film “Remembering the Manhattan”, said: “It was the end of an era, end of segregation, beginning of integration, and our community went to sleep.”