Grace's Little Belmont
*On December 20, 1934, we celebrate Grace's Little Belmont. This was a jazz music bar and lounge in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Located at 37 North Kentucky Avenue, it was one of the four popular Black nightclubs between the mid-1930s and mid-1970s. The Little Belmont was located across the street from Club Harlem, where it often shared performers and patrons. Wild Bill Davis and his swing and jazz quartet were featured summer performers from 1950 through the mid-1960s. The Little Belmont Bar was established by Herndon Daniels, a "sportsman" and numbers banker, in the mid-1930s.
By his testimony, Daniels admitted to being in the numbers business in Atlantic City since 1931 and paying protection money to Atlantic City racketeer Nucky Johnson. In 1932, Daniels was the proprietor of the Capital Club, a "nightlife resort" in Atlantic City. In 1939, Daniels was convicted of Federal income-tax evasion and sentenced to one year and one day at Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary.
Three days before entering prison in October 1939, he married Alice Dixon of Philadelphia, a former showgirl. She managed the bar in Daniels' absence, together with Isaac (Ike) Nicholson. In May 1941, Daniels testified in U.S. district court that he had perjured himself before the grand jury investigating a link between Atlantic City numbers of bankers in the hope that he could resume the numbers business after his release.
Elvera M. Sanchez began working as a barmaid at Grace's Little Belmont in 1941 after retiring from her show business career at age 35. She enjoyed telling jokes to customers and was known for sporting a gold napkin. The club closed in the mid-1970s and was later demolished.
