Harrison Boarding House

Harrison Boarding House. Black entertainers were not allowed to stay at the Strip hotels where they performed in the 1940s and 1950s. Mrs. Harrison's boarding house offered fine accomodations for many of the era's most famous stars., During one memorable week in September 1949, Mrs. Harrison hosted singer and actor Pearl Bailey (pictured bottom left), Jack Benny's sidekick Eddie (Rochester) Anderson (pictured top left), who had just completed a week at the Thunderbird, singer Bob Parrish en route to Europe from a gig at Club Bingo, nightclub entertainers the Edwards Sisters, the Jubalaires, and musician/singer Arthur Lee Simpkins, all headliners at the Flamingo. Guests dined together and shared news, stories and entertainment gossip in the Harrison living room., Sammy Davis, Jr. (pictured right) stayed here so often that many people though he owned the house. Davis finally broke the color barrier on the Strip, when the Sands Hotel permitted him to stay while performing there in 1953. Subsequently, the Sands became the home of the famous Rat Pack (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis, Jr.), and black entertainers no longer were turned away from the hotels where they performed. Still, Mrs. Harrison's boarding house continued to offer a home away from home for many black visitors.