Aztec Room
Known Name(s)
Aztec Room Tavern
Address
1147 Springwood Ave. Asbury Park, NJ
Establishment Type(s)
Tavern
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
1147 Springwood Avenue was on the main commercial and entertainment artery of Asbury Park’s predominantly African-American West Side. Located on the north side of the block between Union and Atkins, 1147 is no longer extant, the street address now part of a public park.
Detailed History
A full-page ad of congratulations in the 11 June 1937 Asbury Park Press heralded the grand opening of “Cuba’s Spanish Tavern & New Aztec Room” at 1147 Springwood Avenue in Asbury Park. Located in the heart of the West Side’s entertainment district, the venue was described as a cabaret decorated with “a touch of old Spain,” the Aztec Room, “built to resemble the halls of Montezuma.” The popular and enduring venue was listed in The Green Book as a tavern from 1938 through 1955 (though Aztec was misspelled as Aztex).
The tavern featured musical entertainers, and was one and the same as Cuba’s night club at the same address. (The 1940 Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory lists “Cuba’s Spanish Tavern & Night Club” as located at 1147 Springwood.) Cuba’s was listed separately in The Green Book, though only from 1947 through 1955, and then simply as on Springwood Avenue. Cuba’s regularly advertised the acts appearing at the club in the Asbury Park Press, especially during the summer.
Cuba’s joined other business owners on and around Springwood Avenue in a prominent 1940 advertisement in The Asbury Park Press that urged locals, and African Americans in particular, to patronize their “approved” West Side establishments, rather than be “fooled by downtown propaganda” into traveling east of the railroad tracks to spend their money.
The tavern and night club were owned and operated by Henry O. and Minnie Lopez. According to their obituaries, Mr. Lopez, who died in 1970 at the age of 74, was born in Puerto Rico and lived in Asbury for 50 years, and Mrs. Lopez, who was born in Asbury, died in 1988. She and her husband, who ran Cuba’s and also Midway Stationary Store, retired in 1969.
In their book on the celebrated music scene on Asbury’s West Side from 1871 through 1945, music historians Charles and Pamela Horner noted that 1147 Springwood initially opened in 1934 as a restaurant. The Horners provided an in-depth history of the Lopezes, and underscored the central role of Cuba’s in West Side nightlife, documenting details of the ambiance and allure of the high-end destination and famed music venue in its heyday.
The Asbury Park Press reported in November of 1970 that the tavern, along with four others on Springwood, had closed due to the unrest the previous July. The estate of Mr. Lopez gave the Asbury Park Housing Authority permission to demolish the vacant buildings at 1137, 1147, and 1155 Springwood Avenue, the lots then slated for urban renewal.
Sources: Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory, 1940; “5 Springwood Bars Shut Since July,” Asbury Park Press, 8 November 1970; “Bright Spots,” Asbury Park Press, 11 June 1937; “Grand Opening Tonite,” Asbury Park Press, 11 June 1937; “Henry P. Lopez,” Asbury Park Press, 9 March 197; “Minnie Lopez, 83; ran shop, night club,” Asbury Park Press, 13 April 1988; “Shop in Springwood Ave. Stores with Confidence. You are Guaranteed: QUALITY MERCHANDISE – LOW PRICES – FAIR DEALING,” Asbury Park Press, 31 May 1940; “West Side Demolition Approved,” Asbury Park Press, 10 March 1971; Charles and Pamela Horner, Springwood Avenue Harmony. The Unique Musical Legacy of Asbury Park’s West Side: Volume 1, 1871-1945 (Somerset, NJ: Classic Urban Harmony Press, 2020): 156-158, 164-165, and 170-171.
J. Shaffer
