Richardson's Shoeshine Parlor

"Fat Halley" Richardson was a local bootlegger who earned his nickname from hiding large quantities of liquor under his coat as he made his deliveries around town. His shine parlor was the place to hear the latest music and see the latest dance craze. With youths normally excluded, Ralph Ellison gained access to Halley's by sweeping floors and shining shoes during the day so he could see the shows at night. 

Not primarily a shoeshine parlor at all, Richardson’s was an open-air bootlegging establishment owned by Hallie Richardson, referred to as “Fat Hallie” because of the stash of illegal spirits hidden in his paunch. In spite of the tight moral reins Ida Ellison kept on her teenage son Ralph, he got into Richardson’s Shoeshine Parlor by sweeping floors and shining shoes. At this time, Ellison was a budding musician, having practiced endless hours on his musical instrument of choice, the trumpet. And he knew how to read music, too. Working at Richardson’s gave him the opportunity to sit in on Blue Devils’ practices and even occasionally show off how he could sight read music. From these experiences he came to appreciate the discipline and self-sacrifice of these popular musicians as well as the potential ways in which the arts could bend the social mores of the day.“My first instrument in the school band was the mellophone. I’d loan mine to Hot Lips Page and the other Blue Devil trumpeters would borrow from the other members of the mellophone section in order to play special chorus. In exchange, I’d insist upon being allowed to sit in on trumpet during a Blue Devils rehearsal. I could read better than some of the jazzmen so very often I’d be asked to arbitrate when they got ito arguments over interpretation. I also played solos with the band at weddings. I also held first chair in the [Douglass] school orchestra. I wasn’t able to do much about jazz gigs because I was still an adolescent, and my widowed mother kept a tight rein on me”

Ellison, Ralph. Living with Music. New York City, New York. The Modern Library, 2001.

Jackson, Lawrence. Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius. New York City, New York. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2002.