Miss Sing’s famous guests in Old South; Second Friday bike ride

We learned a lot this past year about The Green Book, thanks to the fabulous traveling exhibit that was featured at the Capitol Park Museum. One of the many Baton Rouge locations featured in the Green Book was Miss Sing’s Boarding House and it was patronized by celebrities such as Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerld, Duke Ellington,  and the Harlem Globetrotters. 

During segregation, there were very few lodgings for African Americans visiting the city. There was the Everready Hotel and eventually the Lincoln Hotel, but before it was constructed, the options were supplemented by boarding houses. 

The home located at 650 S. 16th Street was owned by Leona Stewart Pearson, but everyone called her Miss Sing. I went by the home before the pandemic and talked to Gail Stafford, the woman who owns and lives there now. 

During our talk, Stafford told me what she knew about the property. And she told me that Miss Sing had a living relative. Eleanor S. Miles, her sister, was living just a few houses down the street and she was 102-years-old. 

I had every intention of going by to speak to her, but I waited too long, and then the pandemic happened. I didn’t think it would be too appropriate to knock on the door of an elderly woman during a pandemic. She made it through the pandemic, but passed away over the summer at the age of 104. 

I will forever regret not getting up the nerve to go knock on her door. Thankfully, her story about her sister was already pretty well documented by Ed Cullen in an article published in The Advocate in 2002.  

"My mother said the younger children tried to say 'poor thing,' but it came out 'sing.' And that became my sister's nickname,” Miles said. 

Miss Sing and her sister were born and raised not far from Baton Rouge in a small town called Woodland, which is located in the neighboring East Feliciana Parish. Her family lived on a farm in a family of five boys and five girls, the children of the combined families of Amelia Davis Seals and Charley Seals. 

"[Leona] was like a mother to us. She wanted us to act like ladies, not be stupid," Miles said. "You didn't go out half-dressed. You didn't attend to other people's business."

When Leona was 22-years-old she married a man named Major Pearson, who was born in Mississippi. I’m not sure where the two met or how they ended up in Baton Rouge, but I do know that Major was living in Baton Rouge in July 1917 because he was drafted to fight in WWI when he was 24-years-old. . 

Major’s draft card lists his address as 650 Persimmon Street. That street name no longer exists and I have yet to find it on a map or a listing of when the name changed and to what the name changed. What I do know is that Leona filed building permits in 1931 at the address 650 S. 16th Street. Not long after is when the home began to operate as a boarding house and it quickly gained a reputation thanks to its guests. 

"The neighbors - children and grownups - waited for hours on the sidewalk outside Miss Sing's to catch a glimpse of her famous houseguests,” said Mitchell Perkins. 

An obituary for Norbert Joseph Hurst recalls the time he met boxing legend Joe Louis when he was staying at Miss Sing’s Boarding House.

Louis Armstrong - a Louisiana-native who would become a trailblazer in the entertainment industry - was one of the many famous names on the guest roster. Other than his big smile and winning personality, Louis was known for his white handkerchiefs. 

"He'd go through 40 or 50 handkerchiefs a week," recalled Charles Aikens, who grew up in the neighborhood during the days when Miss Sing’s home was operating as a bed and breakfast. "He'd mop his forehead, wipe his mouth, dry off the trumpet mouthpiece. He'd walk down the street to my grandmother's house to drop off the handkerchiefs. She'd wash and iron them. He kept a pile of handkerchiefs.”

"Louis Armstrong slept in the same room with the musicians,” Miles said. “They were like family. They were very nice people. I was surprised to see men who spent so much time together get along so well."

An article written by Alex Cook in 225 Magazine tells the story from the memory of a man named Kevan Cullins. His grandmother ran a boarding house, too, and was bestfriends with Miss Sing. 

“Miss Sing’s place was a high-class establishment, not some old flop house like where these guys sometimes had to stay,” Cullins said in the 2006 article. “Miss Sing once told me that Louis Armstrong always liked her red beans, and she would fix a jar of it for him to take on the train with him out of town. Last time he stayed there, he took one of her silver spoons to eat them with.”

Photo by Lori Waselchuck taken for 225 Magazine

Louis performed at the Prince Hall Masonic Temple, which is located about a mile away from the boarding house. 

“The Temple’s legendary claim to fame in Baton Rouge’s black community is the Temple Roof Garden,” Henry Kiely said in the East Baton Rouge Public Library Places website. “When they played in the spring and summer months, the huge windows of the Roof Garden were thrown open and the music reverberated throughout the neighborhood.” 

That mile between the two locations was complete with all the comforts one could want while traveling. 

"Everything was done in the neighborhood,” Aikens said. “If it couldn't, then you had a problem. Miss Sing's guests ate at Bernard's Restaurant. They had a fried chicken that resonated. People cried when Bernard's closed.” 

Miss Sing also operated a snack shop in the backyard and the majority of her “customers'' were the kids from Perkins Road Elementary, which was located directly across the street from Miss Sing’s house. 

"It was the only school for black children for years, and it didn't have a cafeteria," Miles said.

The school opened in 1914 and thanks to Miss Sing, the kids got a special show from time to time. 

"The [Harlem] Globetrotters practiced outside at the Perkins Road School. They took time to pass the ball with me a few times. I was a kid, but I knew it was big because everyone loved the Globetrotters,” said Aikens. 

As for Miss Sing, she lived to be 97-years-old! She is buried in the National Cemetery on 19th Street with her husband, who died only a few years after they wed. Her service was performed by Rev. T.J. Jemison at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church.

If you have anything to add to this story, send me a message! 

SECOND FRIDAY

Bike Baton Rouge has launched a new monthly bike ride called Second Friday. On the second Friday of each month, a Bike Baton Rouge board member will lead a ride from a different location. This month, they will be meeting at Radio Bar, 3079 Government Street. 

The ride starts at 6:30 p.m. and you must have front and rear lights (it’s the law!). This is a social ride, so kids are welcome. 

If you’re going on the ride, make sure to leave early and check out The Vintage-Violet Boutique located directly across the street from Radio Bar. My good friend Kelly Lee just opened the place back in November and it is really outstanding! She closes at 6 p.m. and you’re going to want plenty of time to look around, I promise! 

YEAH BIKE!