Printer's Alley

jwoodovetail

Sep 14, 20202 min read

The World Famous Printer’s Alley is located in downtown Nashville between Third and Fourth Avenues, running from Union Street to Commerce Street. The portion of the alley between Union and Church Street is the home of a nightclub district that dates back to the 1940s.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Printer’s Alley was home to a thriving publishing industry. At its peak around 1915, the area was home to two large newspapers, The Nashville Banner and The Tennessean, ten print shops, and thirteen publishers. In fact, the last publisher to leave the alley was Ambrose Printing Company in 1977.

Historically the center of Nashville’s nightlife, Printer’s Alley was a series of posts where men headed for the courthouse, would hitch their horses. By the turn of the 20th century, Printer’s Alley had become the center of Nashville’s printing industry. Besides the thriving printing industry, the area contained hotels, restaurants, and saloons, many of which became speakeasies when Prohibition went into effect in 1909. Nightclubs started opening here in the 1940’s , and the alley became a showcase for talented performers such as Boots Randolph, Chet Atkins, Waylon Jennings, Dottie West, The Supremes, Hank Williams, Barbara Mandrell, and Jimi Hendrix.

In the late 19th century, a part of the Printer’s Alley’s Historic District was known as the Men’s Quarter as a result of the many gambling parlors and saloons located here. A woman who valued her reputation did not dare venture into this portion of Printer’s Alley. The Maxwell House Hotel (where Maxwell House Coffee got its name) was located across the street at the corner of Fourth Avenue and Church Street until a Christmas night fire in 1961 destroyed the famed hotel. The reputation of the Men’s Quarter became so unsavory that the Maxwell House Hotel, which had its main entrance on Fourth Avenue, established a separate ladies’ entrance around the corner on Church Street.

When Printer’s Alley first became a nightclub and entertainment district, sale of liquor for on premise consumption was illegal in Tennessee. Restaurants and clubs in the alley served liquor anyway, often claiming it had been brought in by customers, or “brown bagged.” Law enforcement normally looked the other way on such sales. Liquor sales in restaurants were finally legalized in 1968.

One famous Printer’s Alley club was Jimmy Hyde’s Carousel Club, a jazz venue frequented by many Nashville musicians, among them a significant number of studio musicians who loved jazz despite spending their day backing country singers. These players would jam after the sessions were done and the music was often jazz. Among them were Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer, Boots Randolph, Bob Moore, Brenton Banks, Buddy Harmon and Hank Garland. Later, Randolph purchased the Carousel.

In 1998, murder came to the Alley when longtime club proprietor David “Skull” Schulman was murdered by a robber shortly before his club was due to open.

Presently the ambiance and mystique live on today as you visit the numerous establishments and boutique hotels that thrive today.