Cafe Society opened in 1945 at 966 E. 105th Street. Along with Cedar Gardens in the Cedar-Central neighborhood and the Musical Bar in Akron, it was owned by Joe Gould in its early years. Advertising itself as “Glenville’s swankiest,” Cafe Society featured a circular bar. Presumably taking its name from New York’s Cafe Society, which operated from 1938 to 1948, the Glenville club was a mainstay for jazz music into the 1980s. The building is one of a rare few Cleveland Green Book sites that still stands today, housing the Khnemu Foundation Lighthouse Outreach Center.
Additional information coming soon.
Green Book Details
Cafe Society appears in the Green Book from 1947 to 1955 at 966 E. 105th St. under the category Taverns.
Resources
- “Joe Gould Denies Financial Tie in Roxy Bar.” Call and Post. June 1, 1946.
My mother and Father both worked at the cafe society back in the early fifties My mother was a barmaid and my father was the Porter and we lived at the 1st house on the corner of a 105th street right behind the cafe society on Kempton Avenue