How a Black American Dancer & Jazz Club Owner Transformed 1920s Paris Culture

A short tribute to Ada "Bricktop" Smith

Ada “Bricktop” Smith in Paris, around 1934. Carl Van Vechten/Wikimedia Commons (public domain image)

It was during some routine research on the history of Montmartre’s jazz scene that I came across a figure I’d been woefully ignorant of: Ada “Bricktop” Smith. While she’s far less of a household name than someone like Josephine Baker, Smith deserves greater attention.

She was an extraordinary American dancer, performer and club owner who took 1920s Paris by storm with her jazz club— and enduringly changed the city’s musical & social culture. Here’s a short tribute, with suggestions for further exploration.

Like eight other American women who moved to Paris, then made history (full feature at Paris Unlocked), Ada “Bricktop” Smith— her nickname referred to her mane of reddish hair— was a keystone in the capital’s artistic golden age. Her club, Chez Brick Top’s, hosted luminaries from Cole Porter and Louis Armstrong to the aforementioned Baker and Duke Ellington. And through her important friendships with countless writers and artists of the so-called “Lost Generation”, she drew together a large network of American and French artists and thinkers. In short, she was a powerhouse.

Here are just a few key “glimmering points” from a life too large and luminous to cover in a short post like this one. I'll have to consider drafting a longer and worthier portrait down the line— stay tuned.