In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund. This story, submitted as a text narrative, was voiced by a Peale staffer.

Voiceover: Early 1970's, my boyfriend and I lived downtown. We didn't have much money, so we would go to Lexington Market. We got 3 dz eggs for $1, 3 loaves of bread for $1, and as, I remember, some very inexpensive ground meat, maybe 3 lbs for $1. It did not taste like ground beef, and I guess it had meat parts ground up, but this trip to the market would feed us for a few days.

Voiceover: Another memory I have from the early 1970's is working for an insurance company at 501 St Paul St, at the old Standard Oil building. The men in the office would go to Lexington Market at least once a week, and I remember them coming back with fried chicken livers, which they sometimes would share.

Voiceover: I also remember the smell of the fresh roasted peanuts when walking by the market. There is a long description of Lexington Market in the late 1800's/early 1900's in a book called Miss Susie Slagle's by Augusta Tucker. My copy is p. 75-84, describing Christmas Eve at the market.

Asset ID: 9167

Photo of Lexington Market, ca. 1903, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

This is Rob Lee from Getting To The Truth In It's Art. I'm a podcast and lifelong Baltimore resident. And I wanted to chime in on some of my memories of Lexington Market. I'll say right off the bat it's going to be brief. But it's kind of this overarching memory of going down there to Lexington Market, occasionally playing a little hooky from school or going there late. But it would be usually my dad and I, or on occasion, my brother and dad and I, and we'd go down there and we'd make the rounds. We'd hit up different locations down there. We'd get these blue mints from this candy stall, which was next to the hot dog stand, and definitely get a couple of chili dogs. We'd go over there to that delicatessen.

It was always around food. We'd get, I think, it was these corned beef sandwiches. These really thick, huge corned beef sandwiches. And it was literally, we're going there almost like, it's the market, but it's for our favorite kind of things. And on occasion, we'd go at night, or later in the day rather, and my dad had a specific ice cream that he'd always get as a combo actually. We'd go there next to where Berger Cookies is at, and there was this ice cream stand and he would get really, really odd combo. It was like... He'd get these two different types of ice cream, one was a pineapple ice cream and the other one was a walnut ice cream.

And that was kind of the culmination, like a trip to Lexington Market was going there, getting stuff in the morning, and occasionally we'd come back later in the day, but it was definitely a food-oriented trip. And as soon as you come in, you smell those roasted nuts from Konstant's and you'd know we're at the right place. We're going to get some blue mints next. I loved those blue mints. And I believe was it Red Hot Dollars and Mexican Hats from the candy stall? And we'd get the hot dogs and chili dogs.

And yeah, it was just definitely family and food. And that's what I'll remember from Lexington Market. Those were my most fondest memories there. So thank you. And thank you for doing this, actually. This is a great project.

Asset #9159

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

Speaker 1(00:00): I can remember the days of Lexington Market in the early 70's. In the early 70's when we used to go down there and get Christmas candy from the vendors. Do you remember that [Reeka 00:00:14]?

Reeka (00:13): Yes.

Speaker 1(00:15): And we could go down there and get the candy or go get the [Burgess 00:00:20] cookies. What was the name of that chocolate stand that used to sell all the good chocolate? And around Christmas it would be decorated so nice. And I would go sit on Santa Claus lap. You remember the Santa Claus?

Reeka (00:34): Of course.

Speaker 1(00:36): Oh my goodness. Those were the days. Oh. And when we used to... When the circus came to town and the circus would come through there.

Reeka(00:45): Yeah. And it was the place to go on the weekend. My parents would take us down there to buy fresh meat, and then we would go to the record shop and buy all the new albums that came out that week before, was playing on the radio 1400 WWIN.

Speaker 1 (01:10): Those were some...

Reeka (01:10): Yeah. And [Bailey's 00:01:12] used to have really, really good...

Speaker 1 (01:14): Seafood.

Reeka (01:15): Crab cakes. Yeah. They had... I mean a bomb crab cake and their oyster and clam stand was really, really big. It was a big deal. And there was a lot of business. It was a lot of people employed.

Speaker 1(01:30): Let me think... What was my favorite part of... Oh. Getting those [inaudible 00:01:39]. I used to love their deli sandwiches. Them corn beef sandwiches.

Reeka (01:44): Oh, okay. I like the teriyaki chicken stand. They used to have the teriyaki on the stick and you could get it with rice and vegetables. Used to be right there near the middle across where the pizza place was.

Speaker 1 (02:01): Yeah. I remember all of that. Those were like some good days going down there with my dad on a Saturday morning, getting the fresh roasted peanuts.

Reeka(02:13): Yes. Yes.

Speaker 1(02:15): They would be so hot and good. That was like the perfect family time, doing stuff together.

Reeka(02:24): Lexington Market was a family market on the weekends. People went there with their families and bought their meats and vegetables and stuff for the week.

Speaker 1(02:35): It reminds me of those small kids when you would hear them yelling out, "Two pounds of corned beef, quarter pounder of" such and such. And you like, "That's my order. That's mine. That's me." Or whatever. Like you would see in these like the movies when they would be in a big public market places. Learning the history of Lexington Market and how it has changed. It's become more modernized. But the old market was the best.

Asset ID: 9158

Photo of Lexington Market, ca. 1903, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

Ophelia: My name is Ophelia, and I’m very familiar with the Lexington Market. I’ve been going there since I was a small child. Presently, I am in the Catonsville area. At the time when I first started, I was living in West Baltimore, here on Fulton Avenue. It has been a place of pleasure to shop with my parents and when I became a parent, I continued to shop there. Always got a pleasurable experience first with produce, with the fish department, with the meat department and with those good sandwiches I would get at the Corned Beef area.

Ophelia: Everything I got there, I was pleased with. And, I loved the service I received there, and I still attend there as often as I can. I wouldn’t change that. I raised my children going there. They are adults now; they also go there. It’s been a pleasure, and I still pray and continue to pray that it will continue to be an opening place for all to shop and to attend. It’s a wonderful place to go in Baltimore. Do have a blessed season.

Asset ID: 9157

Photo of Lexington Market, ca. 1903, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

Daisy Brown (00:00): I definitely appreciate also, that reconnect to the stalls that were in there. There's some that have come and gone, but there's still some safe staples. Like, your part of our Advins and the Peanut Guy. If you were a child and you were born and raised in our generation, if you didn't remember anything else, the Peanut Guy was the first person you saw.

Napoleon Sykes(00:31): A hundred percent. Yeah. I like it.

Daisy Brown (00:31): You love peanuts, but the smell of it made you want to get a dollar bag.

Napoleon Sykes(00:34): Yeah. Like it was such a thick specific smell that can connect. You know what I mean? I was talking to some kids about making connections with people and we can make so many connections with food because there's some kind of food that you've eaten that every time you taste it, it takes you back to a moment. And it's a very specific moment or it's attached to it. Anytime you smell warm peanuts, it takes you right back to that moment.

Daisy Brown (01:06): It's like when you knew the circus was coming to town.

Napoleon Sykes(01:08): Yeah. A hundred percent.

Daisy Brown (01:10): That's all we had to live for, was the circus. It was Lexington Market and the circus.

Napoleon Sykes(01:19): It's just certain things that you can remember that just never go away.

Daisy Brown (01:26): The routine is another important element in the story, as far as what you guys need as a family. Lexington market was your weekend routine.

Napoleon Sykes(01:39): I played travel soccer, even before then it was like, you got out of church, you went to the underground, we got you a couple of donuts for a couple of quarters or you went to the corner store and got something. Once I got a little older, my Dad would take me all my soccer games and so we're like, "Hey, we need to go get something to eat for lunch." So you'd swing by Advins, get a hot dog or a roast beef sandwich. Or if we played in Dundalk and we had from Dundalk back-up to Mount Washington area, we'd stopped by Lexington market and pick something up. We'd get a sandwich, and it was those spots, there's just some things, when you go to Baltimore, you got to have. You just got to experience it.

Transcript Abbreviated. Contact the Peale for a complete transcript.

Asset ID: 9156

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

Napoleon Sykes (00:00): I grew up on Taney Road off Cross Country Boulevard, right over in Reisterstown, near Mount Washington. And I've been a college coach for a bunch of years, the last 15 years, and moved all around, and then settled back in Maryland in 2016, and I've been back since then, so.

Napoleon Sykes (00:21): I think if you really go all the way back, so my parents... It's three of us, three children. I have two older sisters, and I'm the only boy. Growing up, I went to the Calvert School in Baltimore, I went to Gilman. But just like any other schools, it's not just the private schools, but really at that time, you weren't learning black history in school. You'd have it in February, and you learned about the four or five names that everybody learns about. But we were fortunate enough to have parents that really devoted their time in the house to teach us as much as they could.

Napoleon Sykes (01:06): And one of the things that... My dad was in the Army. He got drafted during the Cuban Missile Crisis. And while he was in the Army, he ran track and he boxed and he played football. Growing up, I was into sports, but I always had this love of boxing because my dad had a love of boxing.

Napoleon Sykes (01:29): I was born in 1983, so growing up, we still had VHS. And we had a ton of VHS tapes that were all on just different things about black history. And so I would sit down and watch in our den. I remember our den, we had this den right at the front of the house, and I'd sit in the den with my dad, and we watched this tape about these boxers. So being a young kid, you're learning about Joe Louis, you're learning about all the different boxes, Sugar Ray Leonard, everybody.

Napoleon Sykes (02:01): And naturally, Muhammad Ali's such a big... He's such a big personality. Then you learned about all that he did, just for the sport, but for African Americans, for black people in the country, just all that he did made him this larger-than-life character. And for my dad, as a young kid I could see the excitement and the passion that he had about that person.

Asset ID: 9155

Transcript Abbreviated. Contract the Peale for a full transcript.

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. The Lexington Market Public History Initiative was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund. This story was recorded by Adam Droneburg, Dan Goodrich, Nicole King and others of the Baltimore Sound Society for an earlier project.

Nancy Faidley Divine (00:01): I'm Nancy Faidley Divine. Faidley's was started in 1886 by my grandfather. It was primarily all fish. It was an outside market at that timeframe. He sold all kinds of fresh seafood and game. It was a very active and busy market because there weren't any grocery stores at that timeframe. So everybody came to the market to buy their food.

Nancy Faidley Divine: But my father started fixing himself on a little hot plate fish sandwiches, and everybody would come up to him and tell him how good it smelled and would he make them one? So my dad then, saw a need to open the cooked food section and that's when Faidley's first started with all cooked foods. So this place was primarily just set up for just fish, this room that you see, out of the whole market. There wasn't supposed to be fish down in the other part of the market. They were keeping it up into one section, but nobody else came back. So eventually my dad and my husband moved and built the whole thing up. That's when the raw bar came about and we had the cooked food then. So that's why it looks like it does today.

Nancy Faidley Divine: In the latter part of the '80s, I decided I wanted to try a gourmet crab cake because no one had ever made it. Everybody had crab cakes, but they didn't make it out of the jumbo lump because the jumbo lump was the most expensive meat. I started making them and I made them the size and I made them round because that's exactly how it fit in my hands to make them. That's why that crab cake is that size. It's the size of my hands. I started making them and I only made six because I thought, hm, people aren't going to pay this price that I got to ask and then stand up and eat. But I was wrong. They'll pay for something if it was really good.

Nancy Faidley Divine: So in 1992, that crab cake got the Golden Dish Award from GQ Magazine as one of the top 10 dishes in the country. So then other restaurants, other magazine journalists, food editors started hearing about it more and more. So that's when it started to become really famous. That's when I noticed in restaurants, they were copying the shape and making my into a ball rather than a patty, because for years you'd get two patties and you get two crab cakes on a plate and they would be two small patties. But I didn't make it that way because the lumps were so big, I wanted to keep the lumps solid and keep them. And so the only way I could do was to make that round ball rather than flatten it out and break the crab meat up. So I didn't do it flat. I made it round, but other people started making it round too.

Nancy Faidley Divine: Most of the crab cakes I see now in magazines and articles have the round shape that I started in the 1980s. Those crab cakes come pretty famous, and Faidley's has become pretty famous all over the world.

Asset ID: 9154

Transcription abbreviated: Contact the Peale for a complete transcript.

Photo of Lexington Market, ca. 1903, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. The Lexington Market Public History Initiative was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund. This story was recorded by Adam Droneburg, Dan Goodrich, Nicole King and others of the Baltimore Sound Society for an earlier project.

Minus (00:05): I'm Minus [Hovalwas 00:00:06], owner of the stall of the Berger's Cookies in Lexington Market. I came from Greece in 1974; in 1975, my cousin have the place and I take over and from since then I'm here. Berger's is a long time around Baltimore in Maryland. And I have 40 years here in America. There been a lot of changes, but if I have the job and work in that way so many years, I'm not going to change. I'm going to work in the same way and serve in the same way. The products and the cookies still the same taste and the same production. I used to have another stall on Belvedere Market now is different people there. But like I say, I used to be, I have my brother-in-law running and he finish the school, and he get a good job, not working like us, hard and he decide to close, [inaudible 00:01:16] keep it only here, because the Lexington Market is like a museum, there's not any other place.

Minus: Is something you go to see, they have a history for so many years. They have, still now, I have 40 years here at the market that you can see people so long stay and working here. And we work on many part of the countries just to take a look or to taste the food and everything. All the people have to feel free to come, just to visit, just to taste. And if they like it, people continue to come and come and come. But I think they have a lot of the good places, a lot of good food and different... You can see different, from different countries, so you can taste from Europe, from South America, everywhere. We have something you can see.

Speaker 2 (02:15): Our next stop on the tour is Faidley's Seafood. If you're facing Berger's Bakery from the way you came, Faidley's is on the far wall of the market by Paca street. Take the path up between Berger's and the Pure Shea Store and it will dead end at Faidley's, you can't miss it.

Asset ID: 9153

Photo of Lexington Market, ca. 1903, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

Milton A Dugger Jr. (00:00): So who is Milton A Dugger Jr. In the 21st century? Well, first of all, I'm a guy who in the 20th century attended Henry Highland Garnet Elementary school number 103, the 100 numbers meant in those days that it was a black school. I'm sorry, colored, and then Negro, then we got to black. So then I went to Booker T Washington Junior High School, the most exciting three years of my life from age 11 to 14. And then, I attended integrated Baltimore City College from 1957 to 1960. And then I integrated, then was the one black male graduate in the class of 1964, at what is today Towson University.

Milton A Dugger Jr. (01:06): My deal for going to Towson for free was to teach in the Baltimore City public schools, which I did for almost 10 years. And then, I joined the New York life insurance company as an agent and a now also registered representative for NYLIFE securities. This is my 48th year, which hopefully will be completed on July 1, 2021. I'm going for 50 minimum, and that would be in 2023, July 1. At Towson, while being in the glee club, I met, as I mentioned in the other part, Charles Steinmetz, who had a band, he asked me to audition for his band, and I became the singer for his band. It was called the Caravels, and they played around town at Townson. We wound up having a fellow say he wanted to record us. And so we went into the studio, and we recorded a song I had written. And it was quite an adventure because when we came out of the studio, we found that we couldn't use the name Caravels, because Bulova Watch Company had a patent and copyright on the name Caravelle, Caravelle watch.

Milton A Dugger Jr. (02:35): So we became The Chaumonts, C-H-A-U-M-O-N-T-S, which really related to a City in France that somebody's father I think my buddy's father knew of. And so we became the Chaumonts band. And in 1967, we went into the studio to do what do you call them? I guess it's a advertising recording, but at the end of that recording session, we did an original song called Love Is The Thing. Well, as fate would have it, this thing led to the forming of a record label, and the band went on to bigger things, and we became business people and all that. And so that's how I got into the entertainment. Then my now deceased buddy Charles Steinmetz and instill the entertainment business that I got again, re-associated with the Lexington market. And I have a record label myself called Gumption Records because I had The Gumption to re-enter the entertainment business back in 1990.

Milton A Dugger Jr. (03:54): So, and that's how we got there with that story. It's been an interesting, thrilling time, but it all began with Lafayette Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue, 1329 Pennsylvania Avenue, to be precise. The Royal Theater, my same grandmother Clark took me to the Royal Theater in the 1940s, or maybe early in 1950, no later than that. So I was about eight years old, and she took me to see a fella called Sugar Child Robinson, a phenomenal little boy who played the boogie-woogie on the piano. I fell in love with that plus the Booker T Washington Junior High School did what they call operettas. And I fell in love with live entertainment.

Asset ID: 9151

Transcription abbreviated: Contact the Peale for a complete transcript.

Photo courtesy of Milton Dugger, Jr.

In 2020 and early 2021, the Peale participated in the Lexington Market Public History Initiative in an effort to collect stories and memories about the world-famous Lexington Market as the market itself prepared for a redesign and reopening. The initiative’s core partners were Baltimore Heritage, Baltimore Public Markets Corporation, Lexington Market, Inc., Market Center Community Development Corporation, Seawall, and the Peale, and the work was partially enabled by a Pathways Grant from the Maryland Center for History and Culture. This project was financed in part by the Maryland Center for History and Culture’s Thomas V. “Mike” Miller History Fund.

Milton Dugger: Who is [Milton A. Dugger, Jr. 00:00:01] in the 21st century? Well, first of all, I'm a guy who in the 20th century attended Henry Highland Garnet Elementary School number 103. The 100 numbers meant in those days that it was a black school. I'm sorry, colored. Then Negro. Then we got to black. Then I went to Booker T. Washington Junior High School. The most exciting three years of my life. From age 11 to 14. Then I attended an integrated Baltimore City College from 1957 to 1960. Then I integrated. I was the one black male graduate in the class of 1964 in what is today Towson University.

Milton Dugger: My deal for going to Towson for free was to teach in the Baltimore city public schools, which I did for almost 10 years. Then I joined the New York Life Insurance Company as an agent and now also a registered representative for NYLIFE Securities. This is my 48th year, which hopefully will be completed on July 1, 2021. I'm going for 50 minimum. That would be in 2023, July 1.

Milton Dugger: Born and raised in the 1400 block of Myrtle Avenue, 1404 Myrtle Avenue. Two blocks west of Pennsylvania Avenue. I still have family members living in that home. My grandfather purchased it in 1912. We're 108 years plus in the castle. It's called the house of Clark 1404. His name was Charles Henry Clark. My grandmother, his wife, Geneva Flint Clark. The two of them moved from Hoffman Street, near Pennsylvania Avenue, actually only about five blocks, but it was moving uptown. They moved there in 1912 when my mother was born.

Milton Dugger: My earliest reckonings of the Lexington Market go back to that grandmother. Grandmother Clark. Grandma Clark would take us to Lafayette in Pennsylvania Avenue where we would get on the number 18 street car. Was rode from northern Pennsylvania down virtually to the Market. It was a very interesting short street car line. The street cars were virtually open aired. When we arrived at this Lexington Marketplace, we moved about. It was a whole new world because you see uptown in west Baltimore, we had the Lafayette Market today known as the Avenue Market, but that was our neighborhood market. But it was a big deal to go downtown to the Lexington Market remembering that many places downtown did not welcome people of color. The Lexington Market was not one of those. It had its doors open for everybody who had green money. You went there and it was just an all- day, almost, experience. Mobs of people.

Milton Dugger: Again, in this era, and we're now talking the 1940s. In this era, people came from all over town to downtown. Later on, one of the car dealers said these words, "If it's in town, it's downtown." Well, that used to be the story of Baltimore and the whole area until the shopping [inaudible 00:04:34] centers and all those other things happened.

Milton Dugger: But let's fast forward. In the 1990s, I returned to the Lexington Market this time in the entertainment business. The Lexington Market began to have shows in the afternoons. My friend, [Charles Steinmetz 00:04:57], a booking agent, booked groups, particularly groups from my record label.

Asset ID: 9150

Transcript abbreviated: Contact the Peale for a complete transcript.

Photo courtesy of Milton Dugger, Jr.