Grace's Little Belmont 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 situated on that street between the mid-1930s and mid-1970s; the others were Club Harlem, the Paradise Club, and the Wonder Gardens.
- Venue
- Grace's Little Belmont
- Town
- New Jersey, US
Grace's Little Belmont 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 situated on that street between the mid-1930s and mid-1970s; the others were Club Harlem, the Paradise Club, and the Wonder Gardens. The Little Belmont was located across the street from Club Harlem, with which 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, and Elvera M. "Baby" Sanchez, mother of Sammy Davis Jr., worked at the bar. The club closed in the mid-1970s and was later demolished. The Little Belmont Bar was established by Herndon Daniels, a "sportsman" and numbers banker, in the mid-1930s. By his own 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 listed as proprietor of the Capital Club, a "night life 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 who had performed at New York City's Connie's Inn, Cotton Club, and Kit Kat Club. Alice 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 bankers in the hope that he could resume the numbers business after his release. In July 1940 the Little Belmont, Club Harlem, the Paradise Club, and the Wonder Gardens were targeted in a midnight raid by police officers, accompanied by the newly elected mayor, Tom Taggart, seeking proof of illegal gambling activities. The police confiscated "three truckloads of gambling paraphernalia"