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The glory days of the Savoy packed crowds to listen to the likes of Duke Ellington, Chick Webb, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, among others. Every big band at the time played the Savoy. At any time you can find, not only African American musicians, but also famous white patrons such as, Carl Van Vechten, Greta Garbo, Orson Welles, and Lana Turner. .
Broken Racial Barriers at the Savoy.
The Savoy became a haven for the young Harlemite. It didn't matter if you were white, black, or mulatto. It didn't matter if you were rich, poor, or middle class. It only mattered if you could step to the beat and were there to have fun. No white patron was given any kind of special treatment. Everybody was asked to check his or her coats, regardless of race. The racial equality was the social norm within the dance hall. It was a necessity for the operations to function.
The white folk had a tendency to gawk once inside the ballroom, but Charles Buchanan, the only manager in the dance hall's 32-year history, would make them sit down and behave or he'd have no qualms about kicking them out. The Savoy broke barriers of social recognition, being the only social space located in an African American neighborhood that hosted music (and dancing) emanating from the African American community with international prestige.
On April 22, 1943, the New York City Police Department padlocked the Savoy. This wasn't the first time. Earlier that year, they locked the place up for a disputed three to five months. Charles Buchanan says they were only closed for three months, a time in which they used to redecorate. Buchanan once said, "at one stage about half the people at the Savoy were white and half colored. The cops used to hate it." .
In the article, Guilty of Syncopation, Joy, and Animation: The Closing of Harlem's Savoy Ballroom by Russell Gold, it states that the Municipal Archives "gloss over the strife of cultural politics in Harlem during World War II.