Hoofers Club

The Hoofers Club was an African - american entertainment establishment and dancers club hangout in Harlem, New York, in the early to mid twentieth century. The club was a legendary site of some of the best of jazz and tap performers , particularly in the 1920s and 1930s. It was located on Harlem's "Swing Street," the stretch of 133rd Street between Lenox and Seventh Avenues known for its music and dance venues ["Catching the beat of hidden Harlem" by Jessica Ramakrishnan, Columbia News Service, May 2, 2006, [http://jscms.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2006-05-02/ramakrishnan-harlem/] ] . Among the tap-dancers who appeared at the club were Bill Robinson, Jack Wiggins, John Bubbles, Honi Coles, Eddie Rector, Dewey Washington, Raymond Winfield, Roland Holder, Harold Mablin, "Slappy" Wallace, Warren Berry, and Baby Laurence and other black tap dance greats. . ["Tap Dance in America: A Very Short History," by Constance Valis Hill, [http://www.nypl.org/research/lpa/dan/hines/TAPENCY2002cites.pdf] ] . The Hoofers Club was depicted in Francis Ford Coppola's film "The Cotton Club" from 1984. The "Tree of Hope," a piece of which is still touched by performers for good luck on the stage of the Apollo Theater, originally stood outside the Hoofers Club and the nearby Lafayette Theatre ["The New York Times", July 14, 1969, quoted in [http://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/tree_of_hope/] ] .

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