Ada “Bricktop” Smith

The most renowned nightclubs in interwar Paris operated under the name of “Bricktop’s.” Their magnetic host and enterprising owner, Ada “Bricktop” Smith, had been lured across the Atlantic in 1924 by a job offer at a Montmartre nightspot. “It was a spur-of-the moment thing, a new adventure just for the sake of adventure,” she recalled.

The risk paid off, and over the next decade Bricktop ran a succession of clubs bearing her name. Operating in a country that lacked legalized segregation, she gathered a diverse crowd. African Americans in Paris found a second home at Bricktop’s. White patrons flocked there to enjoy the latest music and dances from Harlem.

A subdued Bricktop posed for this photograph in 1934. At that time, her business was in steep decline. She smiles ruefully at the photographer, her friend Carl Van Vechten, before a poster advertising champagne—the beverage that once flowed freely at her clubs.