Jacksonville’s largest Chitlin’ Circuit venue

A photograph of the Two Spot taken from West 45th Street. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

The Two Spot was located on West 45th Street, just north of Moncrief Road. Opening its doors on December 25, 1940, it featured a dance floor accommodating 2,000. An additional 1,000 could be seated surrounding it and on the mezzanine level. The venue also contained a bar, private dining rooms, a cafeteria, speedway, and cabins for overnight stays.

A desired location for traveling musicians

A guest poses in front of the Two Spot’s cottages for travelers. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

The Two Spot was Jacksonville’s largest site advertised in the Negro Motorist Green Book. First published in 1936, the Green Book was a compilation of accommodations, gas stations, restaurants and other businesses for people of color attempting to travel free of racial humiliation, discrimination and violence during Jim Crow. In addition to a performance venue, the Two Spot property contained several cottages where musicians and their bands could rest safely during travel through the Jim Crow era segregated South. Live acts at the Two Spot included B.B. King, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Charlie Singleton, Jackie Wilson, Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, Dinah Washington, Tiny York, Teddy Washington, and trumpeter Nat Small. James Brown recalled the Two Spot as “one of the biggest venues to perform as a Black musician during 1960s segregation.”

Nat Small’s uncle, Joe Higdon, was a business partner of Craddock’s Two Spot and owner of Ashley Street’s Hollywood Music Store. Craddock and Higdon were influential figures in the creation of what is now recognized as the Chitlin’ Circuit.

The Two Spot’s decline

A view of the Two Spot’s massive dance floor. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

The Two Spot served as Jacksonville’s most desired Chitlin’ Circuit destination during the 1940s and 1950s. After Craddock’s death in 1957, the venue was acquired by Ernie Busker and renamed the Palms Ballroom. Miami-based Busker owned other Palms nightclubs in South Florida. Despite the Two Spot’s popularity, the venue declined with integration. As musicians and patrons were able to perform and visit venues that had previously been considered off limits, segregation era Black-owned businesses and commercial districts declined nationwide. In 1967, the famed Two Spot property was sold, razed and redeveloped into an apartment complex.

A view of an annual African American Life Insurance Company dinner held at the Two Spot. | Ritz Theatre & Museum

Editorial by Ennis Davis, AICP. Photographs courtesy of wikipedia. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com