Blues City Cafe

Blues City Cafe

One of the things I love to do in Memphis is look at old buildings and try and find out what used to be there.  There are so many interesting buildings as you walk along the streets of Memphis and each one has a story.

The one street that everyone wants to visit is Beale Street.  This is a street with a history of it's own.  It has so many stories that I could fill a page easily with.  Today I just want to focus on one building and that is Blues City Cafe.

As you make the corner from Second Street you are greeted on Beale Street by one of the doorman of Blues City Cafe as they ask you "Do you want the best meal on Beale"?  Of all the establishments that I have ate at on Beale Street, I have never gone wrong with a meal here yet.

Tony's Saloon

You go back a hundred years ago and that corner looked very different.  It was the home to Tony's Saloon.  I don't know who Tony is but it looks like he ran a pretty swanky joint on that corner.  It also looks like he never paid his light bill either.  But who cares everyone knows your name at Tony's Saloon.  This family even decided to bring their baby to Tony's which tells me it either had a great family buffet or that baby loved Tony's Big Beer.  

Blues City Cafe actually occupies three different addresses from 138 Beale to 140 Beale.  As you walk into Blues City Cafe you can make your way down to the Cadillac Room.  The room got it's name from the giant Pink Cadillac that is strapped to the wall.  You got to see this thing.  There is nothing like eating ribs and knowing there is a half ton car above your head.

Hotel Clark 

October 1939

As you make your way down to the next building that is when you make your way to the Blues City Band Box which advertises as having Live Music 7 Days A Week.  This building has a very lively past.  When this building was built in 1916 Woodrow Wilson was President and United States had not yet entered World War I.  

The building was built by Louis Lerner and named The Lerner Building.  Mr. Lerner was a native Memphian and engaged in the loan business at 138 Beale.  It sounds like Mr. Lerner had a couple guys out back which if you didn't pay him back you might not be able to walk home.  

Let's get to the good part of the story and introduce Rosie Butts.  Yes that was her real name and I love it.  In the 1920's Rosie ran a rooming house on the second floor above what is now known as The Blues City Band Box and General Store.   She ran a great establishment on Beale and made sure not to name her son Harry.

She decided to get out of the rooming house game in 1930 and Hartman Clark turned the place into a small hotel with about a dozen rooms.  Some you could even rent by the hour.  By 1935 he named his place Hotel Clark and advertised that his rooms were "for colored only" though such a clarification was hardly needed.  

Count Basie

Hotel Clark was a popular stopover over for Jazz musicians, including Count Basie.  They would rehearse in the rooms and also have after hours jam sessions upstairs.  How cool would it be having  Count Basie playing in the room beside you.  At this time the ground floor was home to pawnshops and stores offering clothing, liquor and jewelry. Everything a musician needs and under one roof.  

Hotel Jackson

In the 1960's Hotel Clark said goodbye to Beale Street and was renamed Hotel Jackson.  By the 1970's and 1980's Beale Street laid dormant with many buildings meeting the wrecking ball.  Though one building didn't and that was The Lerner Building.  

The next time you enter Blues City Cafe and smell those great tasting ribs think back to Tony, Louis Lerner and Count Basie hanging out upstairs rehearsing One O'Clock Jump.