The Black Orchid (nightclub)
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The Black Orchid (nightclub)
The Black Orchid was an upscale Chicago nightclub that flourished in the mid to late 1950s where, according to print media critics, Johnny Mathis got his first big break. The club opened in 1949. The Black Orchid was declared bankrupt in July 1959, closed, and never reopened. The club was located at Rush and Ontario Streets in Chicago's Near Northside. The club was frequented by celebrities that included Tony Bennett and Hugh Hefner. Owners The founding owner, Al Greenfield ''(né'' Albert Melvin Greenfield; 1908–1984) sold the club in 1956 to Paul David Raffles (1932–1973), Pat Fontecchio (aka Patsy, ''né'' Patrick Frank Fontecchio; 1914–1994), and William (Bill) Doherty. Greenfield sold it so that he could be near his ex-wife, Gertrude Niesen, whom he married July 19, 1943, and remarried in the 1950s — and remained married to her until her death in 1975. Raffles, Fontecchio, and Doherty also owned The Cloisters Inn at 900 Rush Street. Before founding The Black Orchid, ...
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Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ...
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Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million residents within the city limits , Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, being the home of the Hollywood film industry, and its sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the west and extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and north into the San Fernando Valley, with the city bordering the San Gabriel Valley to it's east. It covers about , and is the county seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estim ...
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Dorothy Kilgallen
Dorothy Mae Kilgallen (July 3, 1913 – November 8, 1965) was an American columnist, journalist, and television game show panelist. After spending two semesters at the College of New Rochelle, she started her career shortly before her 18th birthday as a reporter for the Hearst Corporation's ''New York Evening Journal''. In 1938, she began her newspaper column "The Voice of Broadway", which was eventually syndicated to more than 140 papers. In 1950, she became a regular panelist on the television game show ''What's My Line?'', continuing in the role until her death. Kilgallen's columns featured mostly show business news and gossip, but also ventured into other topics, such as politics and organized crime. She wrote front-page articles for multiple newspapers on the Sam Sheppard trial and, years later, events related to the John F. Kennedy assassination, such as testimony by Jack Ruby. Early life and career Kilgallen was born in Chicago, the daughter of newspaper reporter James L ...
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Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Genius". Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called "Brother Ray". Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly due to glaucoma. Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two ''Modern Sounds'' albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. Charles's 1960 hit "Georgia On My Mind" was the first of his three career No. 1 hits on the ''Billboard'' ...
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List Of Jazz Venues
This is a list of notable Music venue, venues where jazz music is played. It includes jazz clubs, Nightclub, clubs, dancehalls and historic venues such as theatres. A jazz club is a Music venue, venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is licensed to sell alcoholic beverages. Jazz clubs were in large rooms in the eras of Orchestral jazz and Big Band Jazz, big band jazz, when bands were large and often augmented by a string section. Large rooms were also more common in the Swing era, because at that time, jazz was popular as a dance music, so the dancers needed space to move. With the transition to 1940s-era styles like Bebop and later styles such as soul jazz, small combos of musicians such as Quartets#Jazz, quartets and Jazz trio, trios were mostly used, and the music became more of a music to listen to, rather than a form of dance music. As a result, smaller clubs with small stages became ...
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Rogers Park, Chicago
Rogers Park is the first of Chicago's 77 community areas. Located from the Loop, it is on the city's far north side on the shore of Lake Michigan. The neighborhood is commonly known for its cultural diversity, lush green public spaces, early 20th century architecture, live theater, unique bars/restaurants, beaches, and progressive mindset. It is bounded by the city of Evanston along Juneway Terrace and Howard Street to the north, Ridge Boulevard to the west, Devon Avenue and the Edgewater neighborhood to the south, and Lake Michigan to the east. The neighborhood just to the west, West Ridge, was part of Rogers Park until the 1890s and is still commonly referred to as West Rogers Park. In 2022, Rogers Park was ranked as a top 5 neighborhood to live in the United States. History 19th century The Rogers Park area was colonized on what once was the convergence of two Native American trails, now known as Rogers Avenue and Ridge Boulevard, predating modern metropolitan Chic ...
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South Side, Chicago
The South Side is an area of Chicago, Illinois, U.S. It lies south of the city's Loop area in the downtown. Geographically, it is the largest of the three sides of the city that radiate from downtown, with the other two being the north and west sides. Much of the South Side came from the city's annexation of townships such as Hyde Park. The city's Sides have historically been divided by the Chicago River and its branches. The South Side of Chicago was originally defined as all of the city south of the main branch of the Chicago River, but it now excludes the Loop. The South Side has a varied ethnic composition and a great variety of income levels and other demographic measures. It has a reputation for crime, although most crime is contained within certain neighborhoods, not throughout the South Side itself, and residents range from affluent to middle class to poor. South Side neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Back of the Yards, Bridgeport, and Pullman host more blue colla ...
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Chicago History Museum
Chicago History Museum is the museum of the Chicago Historical Society (CHS). The CHS was founded in 1856 to study and interpret Chicago's history. The museum has been located in Lincoln Park since the 1930s at 1601 North Clark Street at the intersection of North Avenue in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood. The CHS adopted the name, Chicago History Museum, in September 2006 for its public presence. History Much of the Chicago Historical Society's first collection was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, but the museum rose from the ashes like the city. Among its many documents which were lost in the fire was Abraham Lincoln's final draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. (This draft had been donated by Lincoln to nurse Mary Livermore for her to raise funds to build Chicago's Civil War Soldiers' Home) After the fire, the Society began collecting new materials, which were stored in a building owned by J. Young Scammon, a prominent lawyer and member of the society. Howe ...
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Chicago Loop
The Loop, one of Chicago's 77 designated community areas, is the central business district of the city and is the main section of Downtown Chicago. Home to Chicago's commercial core, it is the second largest commercial business district in North America and contains the headquarters and regional offices of several global and national businesses, retail establishments, restaurants, hotels, and theaters, as well as many of Chicago's most famous attractions. It is home to Chicago's City Hall, the seat of Cook County, and numerous offices of other levels of government and consulates of foreign nations. The intersection of State Street and Madison Street, located in the area, is the origin of the address system of Chicago's street grid. Most of Grant Park's 319 acres (1.29 km2) are in the eastern section of the community area. The Loop community area is bounded on the north and west by the Chicago River, on the east by Lake Michigan, and on the south by Roosevelt Road. The ...
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North Avenue (Chicago)
North Avenue is a major east–west street in Chicago, Illinois, and its western suburbs. Starting at St. Charles's eastern border with West Chicago, its name changes from Main Street to North Avenue, just east of the Kane/ DuPage county line. From there, it travels straight east, carrying Illinois Route 64 until LaSalle Drive in Chicago. Illinois Route 64 then continues north onto LaSalle Drive for a very short distance until ending at U.S. Route 41 (Lake Shore Drive), while North Avenue continues east for less than one-half mile, changing its name to North Boulevard at Clark Street, and then continuing until its termination in a cul-de-sac at 200 East, just west of Lake Shore Drive. From Illinois Route 43 (Harlem Avenue) to its east end, North Avenue is within the city limits of Chicago. Route description North Avenue, signed as Illinois Route 64, travels east from Main Street at the St. Charles/West Chicago border. Continuing east (while still in West Chicago), North A ...
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Playboy
''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Known for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models (Playmates), ''Playboy'' played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, having grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc. (PEI), with a presence in nearly every medium. In addition to the flagship magazine in the United States, special nation-specific versions of ''Playboy'' are published worldwide, including those by licensees, such as Dirk Steenekamp's DHS Media Group. The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood. With a regular display of full-page c ...
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