The brainchild of James “Charlie Edd” Craddock

Two Spot owner James Craddock (far right). | Ritz Theatre & Museum

The Two Spot was built and owned by James “Charlie Edd” Craddock. The “kingpin” of West Ashley Street, Craddock was a controversial character who relocated from Harlem to Jacksonville in 1921. Soon after his arrival, he established the Little Blue Chip nightclub on the ground floor of LaVilla’s Richmond Hotel. Known as “Charlie Edd,” Craddock opened a bread line for the hungry during the Great Depression, giving him a reputation as a philanthropist in the city’s African American community.

Jacksonville’s Bolita King

A bar inside of the Two Spot. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

Also part owner of West Ashley Street’s Manuel’s Tap Room, Craddock’s clubs, bars and taverns were said to be protected by the local police and were hotbeds for bolita. Bolita (Spanish for Little Ball), was a type of illegal lottery gambling popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Cuba and among Florida’s working class Hispanic, Italian, and Black residents. Estimated at a total of $500 million gambled on the game annually, it may have been Jacksonville’s most profitable illegal business by the Great Depression. Craddock was so successful that in 1942, he paid the federal government $35,000 in back taxes.

Over the years, he acquired and owned several rental properties, the Charlie Edd Hotel, Young Men’s Smoke Chop, Uncle Charlie Edd’s Barber shop, loan offices, pawn shops, employing as many as 500. However, his most well-known business was the Two Spot nightclub at Moncrief Road and 45th Street. Craddock purchased the xx-acre property from Dr. Eartha M.M. White, founder of LaVilla’s Clara White Mission.

Birthing the Chitlin’ Circuit

Two Spot staff pose for a photograph. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

The Chitlin’ Circuit was the collective name given to a series of Black-owned nightclubs, dance halls, juke joints, theaters and other venues that were safe and acceptable for African American entertainers to perform in during segregation. Notable venues on the Chitlin’ Circuit were the Cotton Club and Apollo Theater in Harlem, the Royal Peacock in Atlanta, the Fox Theatre in Detroit, and the Howard Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Walter Barnes, a Chicago jazz musician born in Vicksburg, Mississippi, is credited as being an early originator of the “Chitlin’ Circuit”. Working with Craddock and Hidgon, Barnes successfully established a network of venues during the 1930s where it was safe, acceptable and successful for African-American entertainers to perform.

Establishing a winter headquarters in Jacksonville to conduct annual late-fall-to-spring Southern tours, contracts and routes created and promoted through Barnes’ position at the Chicago Defender soon became the Chitlin’ Circuit. Despite his death in 1940, his success in touring across the south encouraged numerous acts to follow the circuit during segregation. The increased popularity encouraged Craddock to invest in the construction of the Two Spot.