Music Venues
The Odd Fellows Hall, a three-story brick building on 92 Washington street now serving as condominiums, was once considered the communal heart of West Augustine.
The structure was built in 1908 and served as headquarters for the African American sanction of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in St. Augustine. The organization was based off principles of community, charity, and brotherhood and regularly hosted events and provided a safe place for African Americans in West Augustine to gather in a time of Jim-Crow and segregation. The Odd Fellows Hall strengthened the sense of community in West Augustine by organizing events such as covered plate dinners, dances, and live concerts for residents.
The Odd Fellows Hall was a beloved sight of entertainment in West Augustine, particularly starting in the 1920s with the great depression bringing Fraternal organization memberships to an all-time high nationally. The Odd Fellows popularity in the community held out through the 40s- and 50s as soul, jazz, and early rock culture soared in the community, ending in the mid-60s when the building was closed.
The Hall’s greatest contributions to West Augustine’s realm of entertainment were its many dances, concerts, and social gatherings featuring music. Locals Gerald Eubanks and Janie Price recalled Odd-Fellows hosting everything from regularly scheduled dances, to the high school prom, to live performances. The musical talents featured at Odd-Fellows ranged from small community bands, to traveling performers, to local legends like Ray Charles. In its musical prime in the 50’s Odd fellows even served as a venue for the African American Rock Icon Little Richard.
The nightlife and entertainment scene of West Augustine in the 1960s was run largely through the “underground” lounge, hangout spot, and dance club known as the Peppermint Lounge. The lounge was located in the borrowed first floor of the S.D.W. Smith Lodge on 545 West King Street and was never registered as any official business or organization, known only as lounge by the locals. The local masons offered the space for the lounge in order to help combat the heavy impacts of the harsh racial climate and emerging Civil Rights movement in town on the community’s youth, by providing a safe space for students to study, hangout, listen to music, and dance.
West Augustine local and contributor to the West Augustine Oral History project, Bernice Harper acted as manager to the Peppermint Lounge. She recalled the Lounge having a seated area where students would meet to study, and where food and drinks were served. The rest of the space was used for congregating and dancing. The Lounge, equipped with a jukebox playing the most popular tunes of the 1960s including Aretha Franklin, the Supremes, Sam Cook, and Ray Charles. Small live performances were also common, from both locals and outside bands.
The Peppermint Lounge, though only existing relatively briefly and on an unofficial basis, grew into a popular sight of recreation and reprieve among the community’s youth and is representative of many of the clubs and lounge scenes of West Augustine.