This is a draft of the public presentation I want to give to the Baltimore community on the significance of 2216 Druid Hill Avenue. I would like to develop this into something for Maryland Colleges and Universities.

1. One reason why Druid Hill
Avenue is important in
American history.
2216 Druid Hill Avenue

2. Home to two American trialblazers
Cabell Calloway III
resident from 1920-24
Blanche Calloway,
resident 1920-21?

3. Not really remembered in any signifcant way,
most people have no idea who she is and her
role in shaping American music and history. Gave
up entertainment industry to serve God.
Made her professional debut in the Eubie Blake musical
“Shuffle Along.”
Introduced her brother to Louis Armstrong who gave
Cab his first job.
Also helped Chick Webb, Cozy Cole, and Ben Webster.
One of the first female African American band leaders.
First female to lead an all male big band on tour.
“Blanche had a very good way of entertaining, she was
wild and wiry in certain things and very sensitive in
others. Although Cab may not say this himself…his
sister taught him everything he knew about
performing.” Earl “Fatha” Hines
Blanche Calloway, a woman ahead of her time.

4. “King of Swing” & “King of HideHo”
– not many artists get this title,
almost no one has it bestowed
upon them twice.
Left Baltimore in 1926 and in 3 years had taken
over at the Cotton Club, the number one
entertainment venue in America at that time,
enjoyed 5-year run before European tour.
The first African-American to write a dictionary
and to sell one million records with “Minnie the
Moocher” First African-American to have own
radio show regularly and internationally.
Became a world class, Grammy award winning
musician whose career spanned 70 years.
“Entertaining is my way of expressing godliness.”
“During the 30s and 40s there wasn’t a city or
town where we played that we didn’t break
attendance records in nightclubs and theaters.”
Cab Calloway: A Legacy Baltimore Can Be Proud of …

5. How important was Cab Calloway in music history?
Here he is at 80 years old reflecting on his career.

7. Video, play to see
the evidence.
Cab Calloway was America’s foremost multiculturalist. In
this 1944 video you see the beginnings of rock and roll.

8. What does that have to do with
Druid Hill Avenue?
Wasn’t Cab Calloway was born in Rochester, NY?

9. “I really don’t remember Rochester
very well…My earliest memories are
of the years when we moved back
to Baltimore, I was about 11 years
old then and we lived with my
grandmother Calloway.” “
She was very strict. She did not allow them to play
with other kids and he was in church all day every
Sunday.
Blanche runs away sometime around this time 1918-
1921
Father dies in 1919 and in 1920 his mother moved
the family out of the Calloway home to her mother’s
house.

10. At 2216 Druid Hill Avenue.
• Lives there with his grandmother (Reed), mother, sister Bernice and
brother Elmer.
• “Eldest” man of the house, responsible for the family.
• John Nelson Fortune, soon becomes Cab’s step-father.
• When he is caught by his mom playing “craps” on a Sunday morning, on
North Avenue Cab is sent to reform school in 1923.
• He returns and begins slipping back into the lifestyle disapproved by his
family and they move to Wilson Park in 1924.

11. “when we moved to my grandmother Reed’s house everything
changed. The atmosphere there was loose and open and free. All
of a sudden mama, who I believe had been hemmed in as much as
we kids in my grandmother Calloway’s house, came alive. We would
spend the eveings sitting and talking and reading and eating. There
was laughter and the house was filled with noises and good smells.”
—Cab Calloway
2216 Druid Hill Avenue.

12. 2216 Druid Hill Avenue: Where the Blanche
and Cab Calloway Legacy Takes Shape …
“Those years between 11-15, when I was wild and independent and
wouldn’t listen to anyone…during those years I began to appreciate
the value of money, because money meant independence…I was a
part of a gang of guys who were basically young hustlers. We had
two interests – making money and having a good time.”
—Cab Calloway

13. Cab Calloway and the meaning of money.
Cab Calloway is a man who worked non-stop his entire life
from age 11 up to 87. That fire was lit within him at 2216
Druid Hill Avenue while there he worked as a:
• Newspaper delivery boy
• Horse walker at Pimlico
• Bus/boy waiter at Hotel Restaurant
• Elevator operator

14. Sober, rebellious, religious,
compassionate, insightful,
strategic, strong, in control,
fun. Grew up under the
influence of Grandma
Calloway.
Cab Calloway and the concept of “good time.”

15. Became two totally different people partly because he was
molded by the experience of living at 2216 DHA
Happy go lucky, athletic,
competitive, adventurous,
determined, perfectionist, street
smart, “hustler.” Loved horses
and gambling. Grew up, under
influence of Grandma Reed.
Sober, rebellious, religious,
compassionate, insightful,
strategic, strong, in control,
fun. Grew up under the
influence of Grandma
Calloway.

16. Talk about a good time, Cab Calloway even fielded a baseball team.

17. In addition to improvised melodies, Cab Calloway was really the first to popularize a
distinctly urban intensity or tension to the music which helped young people identify
themselves as cool, or powerful or knowledgeable or hip.
This really became the foundation of rock and roll – music as a form of identity, and
inclusion, which formed the basis of American entertainment for almost a century.

18. This house binds 90+ years of African American music.
Swing -> Be Bop -> Hip Hop
Cab and Blanc he Calloway lived
at 2216 Druid Hill Avenue. It
was while he lived here that Cab
Calloway began to figure out
how he would make a living by
singing about the life and people
he met using a c oded language
understood by Afric an-
Americ ans. His style emphasized
c all and response and
improvised melodies.
Cab Calloway gave Dizzy Gillespie
his first job. Dizzy later went on the
bec ome the king of Be Bop Jazz. In
fac t, he left the Cab Calloway
Orc hestra to do his own thing. Be
Bop used new melodies, beats and
improvisation. Be Bop music ians
started “ freestyling,” taking
improvisation to an entirely new
level – not with words but with
instruments.
Whic h lead to Hip Hop. Even though
hip hop is very different from swing,
many of the things like the subjec t, the
improvisation of melodies, the c all and
response, and even the persona of
Hip Hop artists really started with Cab
Calloway. Hip Hop c ombines the
improvisation of Be Bop with words to
tell the story of blac k life today.
1920s-40s
“I am going to sing about
life in the ghetto.”
1950s-1970s
“I am going to show the
power of the black mind.”
1980s-today
“I am going to sing about the
ghetto and show the power of
the black mind.”

19. Significance of this house and Cab Calloway:
• Fondest childhood memories, strongest childhood bonds.
• Place where he could be free, similar lifestyle as Louis Armstrong and Count Basie.
• Lived and learned about the sportin’ life place where he forged his personality.
• Much of his choreography seems to come from area.
• Walking distance to the avenue where he learned percussion from Chick Webb.
• His and Blanche’s success as musicians prove the power of the Avenue as an
important Arts and Entertainment District.
• Tells the story of a unique time and place and is one of the few authentic places
with some integrity left from the pre-WW2 golden age for African-Americans in
Baltimore.
• Provides a window into 90+ years of African-American music history.
• This tension between entertaining, making money, telling stories, political
commentary and making people dance foundation of both rock and roll, rap, and
hip hop. It stems from Druid Hill Avenue was the first place where that energy was
captured it, translated it and Cab Calloway was the first to make a living from it.
• Like Mozart, at its essence Cab’s is a form of children’s music.

20. Mozart’s
Birthplace.
Born there in 1756, and the
building is still standing.

21. A legacy is a gift.
And this one has the power to shape history.

22. So then, why save the house?
Why not just tear it down and build something different?

23. What you have already lost:
Keep tearing down people’s homes is telling the world that they are not that important to you

24. Why save the house?
The Pyramids are the single most visited destination in the world with 14.7 million visitors a
year. On one the last remaining wonders of the world.

25. Why save the house?
The Taj Mahal in India sees up to 70,000 visitors a day. Part of its draw is its authenticity. You
often hear people say “there is nothing like the real thing.”

26. Why save the house?
In all the best neighborhoods in America, they don’t tear down houses.
The old houses in fact are what make them attractive and charming.
Martha’s Vineyard,
Massachusetts
Berkeley, California Georgetown,
Washington, DC

27. Why save the house?
Cab Calloway really belonged to the world.

28. Why save the house?
• Money is in preservation, people find them attractive
• Authenticity once lost can never be regained, regret only goes one way.
• People like to explore and there is a sense that their being brought into a
unique and authentic location will provide clues or insights into the
meaning of life.
• An authentic experience helps us to become better, stronger, more
empathetic and resilient human beings because we have a glimpse or
fuller understanding of the lives of great people who live before us.
• Becomes a source of pride and inspiration for the community, especially
young ones and travelers.
• Reminder of a city’s past culture and complexity.
• Intrincsic value that grows over time.

29. Potential future outcome:
Dizzy Gillespie’s
birthplace in
Cheraw, South
Carolina, now a
park.

30. Ok, so if we save the house,
then what?

31. Potential future outcomes:
John Coltrane’s home Dix Hills, NY, location of
yearly Jazz concert, saved by the community.
Birthplace of Nina Simone, Tryon, N.C.
preserved, but no programming yet.

32. Potential future outcomes:
Jelly Roll Morton’s home in
New Orleans, fans bought
the house and live in it as
caretakers.

33. Your potential should you save the location.
David Ireland’s home in San
Francisco, is like the Eubie Blake
Center. Art gallery, training and
performance.

34. Your potential should you save the location.
Louis Armstrong’s Home Museum
in Queens New York. 12,000
visitors a year. $23 million to open.
$1.9 million expansion last year.
Funded by state of NY.

35. Your potential should you save the location.
The New Orleans Jazz Museum, 35,000 visitors a year. $4 million recent addition for performance center alone.
$425,000/yr marketing budget. Funded by Federal Government, NPS.

36. Your potential should you save the location.
Home of Elvis Presley, Memphis, TN, 600,000 visitors a year. $45 million
visitors center. $92 million Guest House. $1.9 million/yr in marketing.

37. Potential one stop artist production studio:
The technology is now available such than artist could pay a 5 figure fee, come to Baltimore and get everything they
Might possibly need to begin their career done in one location over 3 days.
Music recording, production and photography
Music performance, audition and collaboration
Useful for interviews, panel discussions
Clothing, fashion &
accessories, merch
production, swag,
t-shirts, etc.
All literature, copy
writing, press releases
with website and
social media
TV Production, interviews,
music videos rehearsal
space and promotional
clips
Booking first gigs,
generating media and
advertising, ticket
sales from 2216 DHA.
Everything an artist
would need to go on
tour - product,
distribution, and
marketing done for
them in one location.

38. Interpretive Center
Like Williamsburg, a throw back to an earlier era. Recreate the
pre WWII African-American Jazz experience and pay homage to
all the greats from one location. Include things like Arabbers,
Barber Shops, Churches and Juke Joints to make a one of a kind
experience.
A street lined with demonstrations, gift
shops, eateries, little museums,
performances, etc. that would pay homage to
black entrepreneurship, newspapers,
innovations, discoveries and
accomplishments

39. Shockoe Harbor, Richmond, VA.
The second busiest slave market in the
United States between 1830 and 1865,
350,000 human beings sold here.
Transformed into
an $91.5 million
international
center for the
truth and
reconciliation in
slavery and
human
trafficking.
Brought attention
and fundraising from
as far away as
Ethiopia.
Potential
UNESCO World
Heritage site.
A place where families from all over
the world, bring their children to
talk about drugs. Cab made a nice
living singing about drugs, but he
never used them. The turning point
in the war on drugs, both careers
represent an effective answer to
their influence.

40. End