The 18th amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America came into force on the 1st January in1920, which banned the production, selling and transportation of all kinds of beverages. Woodrow Wilson, the president of the United States considered that the citizens are ‘matured’ enough for the attempt the aim of which was the winding up of alcoholic drinks which caused a lot of trouble and tragedies. However he was mistaken: in the following years the Americans consumed at least the same amount of alcohol as if they had got it in the regular circulation. Gangster groups equipped their secret distilleries and ran secret bars, so-called “speakeasies”, where everyone could drink as much as kind of alcohol as they wanted.

After all it was not accidental that the first owner of the Cotton Club, Owney Madden was a gangster himself, too. The Club stood at the corner of the 42nd Street and the Lennox Avenue, in New York. This is how the history of the Cotton Club started ... in Harlem.

Here, all of the performing artists were black people, while the owners and the guests apart from some exceptions were all white. This “only white” business management also helped in spreading its fame, not only among the inhabitants of New York. The guests arrived from all parts of the world, for those it was a special experience to spend a night with the richest and the most influential people of this colorful city. The greatest black musicians gave unforgettable concerts from Bing Crosby, through Cab Calloway to Duke Ellington.

The classic world of the gangsters disappeared, changed after repealing the prohibition of alcoholic drinks. Today they make no distinctions among the guest. Of course, the Cotton Club means also something else now than in the first times. But whoever visits a Cotton Club wherever in the world can be certain that besides the culinary expectations, the unrepeatable of live music will make the night spent here memorable.