WATCH: The Team That Time Forgot (ABC News Piece on the New York Rens)
This excellent and important new online feature by Dan Good of ABC News, about the New York Renaissance all-black professional barnstorming basketball team and the famous Harlem venue in which they played, is a breakthrough in several ways.
Fadeaway: The Team That Time Forgot
First, the article is thoroughly researched and nails some of the intricate details of the teams history and of the ballroom that are often overlooked, especially in appreciating the importance and relevance of the structure when it was built.
An exterior view of the polychrome, Hispano-Moresque tiles in the frieze of the Renaissance Ballroom in Harlem. (ABC News)
Next, the piece’s beautifully designed visuals are so engaging that they would be poignant just standing alone without an accompanying article. The extent of this treatment has never been done before in covering any aspect of the Black Fives Era.
Then, the thoughtful reaching out to descendants of the New York Rens for their historical perspectives goes a long way in validating the fact that their voices matter too. We are often asked, why do they constantly invite “talking heads” to panel discussions or TV segments when the actual family members of the players who actually played are available? So this is a great step in that direction.
Finally, this wonderful feature includes a rare and heartbreaking video of the interior of the historically and culturally priceless Renaissance Ballroom as it looks today after years of neglect and decay. The building faces demolition, however there is an active movement by community residents, architectural preservationists, historians, political leaders, and others to save as much of the structure as possible, with special focus on its façade.
Please visit this online article to see for yourself how cool it is, and then feel free to share it with your friends.
I remember me and my sister used to hang out at the Renaissance we had so much fun there I remember my sister booing Roxanne Shante there wow we have so much fun!
WHO REMEMBERS THE RENAISSANCE BALLROOM? I DO. I remember Frank Nitty aka Mike Brown (RIP) my brother Mike’s friend taking me here. Every time I hear Stairway to Heaven by the Ojays, I will remember him. That was his song. I was 15. We ate at the restaurant and then we went to the club and danced for about two hours. No id needed, no gunfights, just fly dudes wearing AJ Lester, British Walker and Quarterfield coats. Of course I had on my Marshmellow, corduroy suit and hair was in two pom poms with my lamb fur swede coat. You all know the coat with the lamb on the collar and the wrists and the bottom perimeters. Yes we ate good. I remember my dad telling him to make sure he brings me back home the way he took me. My mother was pissed that I went with him but Mike said he was rich and would not be a slime. He was right. That was a great time and I went to so many parties there after that. I met a lot of hiphop heads there and that was my first club I ever did the dance THE FREAK in and we would be breakdancing also. Me and Denise Davis my best friend and she would challenge any dude on the dance floor and we would BURN THEM. Those were the times. The last bit of my Harlem History is being taken away and no one seems to care but those that had GREAT MEMORIES THERE. WHAT ARE SOME OF YOUR MEMORIES OF THE RENAISSANCE BALLROOM AND THE RESTAURANT?