Black Hollywood East (Addisleigh Park, Queens)

Addisleigh Park is a subsection of western St. Albans, Queens. Since the late 1930s, many notable African Americans lived there, including musician Fats Waller, baseball star Jackie Robinson, civil rights leader W. E. B. Du Bois, and jazz greats Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.
 
The Addisleigh Park nickname of “Black Hollywood East” was used in a story in the New York Amsterdam News (New York, NY) on February 3, 2011, but applies to a much earlier period (1940s-1960s).
 
   
Wikipedia: St. Albans, Queens
St. Albans is a residential neighborhood in the southeastern portion of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered by Jamaica to the northwest, Hollis to the north, Queens Village to the northeast, Cambria Heights to the east, Laurelton to the southeast, Springfield Gardens to the south, and South Jamaica to the southwest. St. Albans is centered on the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard, about two miles north of John F. Kennedy International Airport.
 
The small western enclave of Addisleigh Park is a U.S. historic district where many notable African Americans have lived, including Jackie Robinson, W. E. B. Du Bois, Lena Horne, and many jazz musicians such as Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald and Count Basie.
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Addisleigh Park subsection
Within St. Albans is the small western enclave of Addisleigh Park, a U.S. historic district that consists of single-family homes built in a variety of styles between the 1910s and 1930s. Though originally intended as a segregated community for white people only, from the late 1930s many notable African Americans have lived there. Today, it remains a predominantly African American and Jamaican enclave that is more upscale than surrounding areas in southeast Queens.
       
3 February 2011, New York Amsterdam News (New York, NY), “Addisleigh Park: Sweet harmony in a time of struggle” by Emile Milne, pg. 1:
For more than a generation, one neighborhood was home to some of the most famous African-American entertainers, athletes and businesspeople. And the neighborhood once known as “the Black Hollywood East” has now been designated a historic district by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).
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Back in the 1940s and 1950s, Addisleigh Park was the home of some of the biggest-named entertainers and athletes of their time. One of the first Black residents of the neighborhood was Thomas “Fats” Waller, who came to the neighborhood in the 1930s. Other entertainers followed his lead, including Count Basie, who held legendary pool parties at his home with his wife, Catherine; Duke Ellington’s son and band leader Mercer Ellington; and other jazz greats including Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Lena Home and Brooke Benton.
   
Google Books
Historic Houses of Queens
By Rob MacKay
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing
2021
Pg. 61:
It was home base for Jackie Robinson. James Brown was on the scene. Count Basie took the plunge, while W.E.B. Dubois started a family there. Plus, Ella Fitzgerald bought this house at 179-07 Murdock Avenue in 1949. Addisleigh Park is a small portion of St. Albans that was once called “Black Hollywood East” because so many prominent African Americans lived there.
 
Google Books
Famous People of Queens
By Rob MacKay
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing
2023
Pg. 39:
Though the Dodgers played their home games at Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field, Rickey and Robinson lived in Queens. Robinson resided in Addisleigh Park, a small, landmarked portion of western St; Albans that was once called “Black Hollywood East” because so many prominent African Americans lived there.
 
YouTube
Queens neighborhood once dubbed “Black Hollywood East” for its many celebrities
CBS New York
Feb 10, 2025
CBS News New York’s Elle McLogan shows us how the landmarked historic district of Addisleigh Park endures as a symbol of resilience and pride.