Crawford Grill
Crawford Grill No. 2 (2009)
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 Location of the Crawford Grill in Pittsburgh
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| Location | 2141 Wylie Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania United States |
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| Coordinates | 40°26′44″N 79°58′41″W / 40.44567°N 79.97804°W |
| Governing body/ |
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission |
| PA marker dedicated | April 7, 2001 |
The Crawford Grill was a renowned jazz club that operated in two locations in the Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During its heyday in the 1950s and 60s, the second Crawford Grill venue hosted local and nationally-recognized acts, including jazz legends Art Blakey, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and Kenny Burrell. The club, an important social gathering spot for Pittsburgh's African-American communities, drew devoted listeners from the region's ethnically and racially diverse population making it a rare site of interracial socializing during the civil rights period. The Crawford Grill was one of many black-owned neighborhood clubs in the Eastern United States that supported a tour circuit for small jazz ensembles during the genre's "golden age." Despite the riots of 1968, which severely damaged the neighborhood's economic infrastructure, the club continued to operate until 2003, when it was shuttered. In 2010, a group of local investors purchased the property with the goal of restoring and reopening the location as a venue and restaurant.
The Crawford Grill can be best understood as the outgrowth of a broader set of social institutions that flourished in the Hill District neighborhood in the early 1900s. Known as "black-and-tan clubs" these venues featured black artists and catered to mix-race patrons. The Leader House (1401 Wylie Ave.) and the Collins Inn (1213 Wylie Ave.) were two "black-and-tan clubs" that operated in the 1910s that were important because they offered a means through which entrepreneur William "Gus" Greenlee would enter the entertainment industry in the Hill District and would later become the Crawford Grill and Black Musicians' Union Club. The high standard of entertainment that would later become a hallmark of the Crawford Grill was established with renowned pianist Earl Hines, who began his career as a jazz musician in the Hill District when he was hired by bandleader Lois Deppe to perform at the Leader House and violinist Vernie Robinson at the Collins Inn. In 1922, the Collins Inn became the Paramount Inn under the ownership of Greenlee who would become one of the Hill's most prominent African-American businessmen and owner of the Negro League baseball team the Pittsburgh Crawfords. But in fact the club had already had several owners by the time Greenlee acquired it in 1933. Most recently, it had been purchased by Scott Bailey in 1932, and, not long after, managed by James Brown, a local chef. (Brown stayed on when Greenlee acquired the business.) Nevertheless, Greenlee may be soundly credited for making the club famous. Greenlee's club, newly remodeled, held its grand opening on Christmas eve, 1933. (A later, "formal" opening was held early the following January.) It was the first in the neighborhood to receive a liquor license (prohibition had been repealed for less than a month). An enthusiastic announcement in the Pittsburgh Courier promised patrons a bar designed after a Spanish hacienda, with "cool, drinks and good food served in ultra, ultra style."
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