McClendon's Rhythm Room

      Bill McClendon was one of the strongest forces behind the development of Williams Avenue, and in 1949 he bought the Savoy (which had previously been the Acme). The reason, as McClendon said, that he bought the club was so that he could have a place to play piano. In the community, he was into a long list of things, most of which had to do with Jazz. McClendon was also an avid civil rights activist as well as a publisher. He wrote a jazz column for the People's Observer, a black news paper owned by McClendon and Charlie Garrett.
      Unlike the previous clubs that had been in the building, the Rhythm Room was mostly a listeners club. It did, however, have good food and a small dance floor. People who talked too loudly were often given a stare, sometimes by McClendon himself. A regular at the Rhythm Room was Warren Bracken, who had a magnetic personality, and was also a skilled pianist.

     

An Image of Bill McClendon

(Source: Jumptown - The Golden Age of Portland Jazz, Page 96)    

Warren Bracken, At the Piano in the Rhythm Room

(Source: Jumptown - The Golden Age of Portland Jazz, Page 96)