Opening in 1912 and boasting a capacity exceeding 1400 seats, this theater was able to house more patrons than the area’s existing Black playhouses, the Lincoln and the Crescent, combined. “Before the Lafayette,” reminisced one former resident, “the only theaters open to colored were little dumps.”[17] Situated at the edge of a contemporary Black neighborhood, the venue was designed to attract patronage from both sides of the color line. This dynamic found its reflection in the first night, when — as one magazine recounted years later — managers looked around to see which race dominated the crowd. They were then to decide whether the operation should be a white or a “colored” one.

Lafayette in 1936. Photograph from the Library of Congress. Lafayette in 1936. Photograph from the Library of Congress. While this story is likely apocryphal, it does accurately reflect the Lafayette’s spatial and social liminality. Initially, the Lafayette’s discriminatory policies fell short of fulfilling its proclaimed mission of “providing a place of amusement for the race.” The management welcomed only “respectable” Blacks, which in practice meant that any Black individuals could be relegated to inferior seating in the balcony based on the personnel’s whims. Who counted as “respectable” and who did not was arbitrary, causing an understandable stir in the black neighborhood. After six months, Lafayette banished the procedure that cost it both bad press and a substantial loss of profits.