From Sky news.

This is connections.

I'm Raquel Stephen.

Our connection this hour was made in the mid 20th century.

From the 1940s through the 1960s.

Clarissa Street in Rochester's Third Ward was alive with music, food and family.

It was a place where neighbors looked out for each other and where the legendary Pitchford is opposite.

Am I saying it right beside I'm sorry.

Pittsford Jazz Club drew national stars to a small corner of our city, but like so many vibrant neighborhoods across America, Clarissa Street was uprooted by urban renewal and the construction of crisscrossing highways that cut through the community.

People were displaced, businesses shut down, and the community was forever changed.

But today, the story of Clarissa Street still lives on.

And not just in our memory.

Every summer, former residents, their families and new generations gather to celebrate its history at the Clarissa Street Reunion.

And in 2025, as cities across the country continue to wrestle with questions of equity, housing and how to rebuild trust in our communities, remembering this history matters more than ever.

This year marks the 27th Clarissa Street Reunion.

And joining us are some of the people keeping this memory alive.

Rene Dexter Long is the president of the Clarissa Street Legacy.

I have Patricia mason Williams.

She's the vice president, George Fontenot.

He's an elder and a member of the finance committee.

And I believe later, a little later on, Brice, along with, Rene Sun, will be joining us to talk about the next generation and how they're keeping this legacy alive.

And like always, we welcome you to join us in this conversation.

Our listeners call us at 1844295 talk.

That's 1-844-295-8255 or at (585) 263-9994 or email us at connections@wxxi.org.

Or you can comment right in our YouTube channel.

Now, I like to start by saying I'm not originally from Rochester.

Okay, okay, I came here in oh five.

But I've done some research and I'm excited to have this conversation.

And I'm also going to be a, student.

Okay, so whatever you tell me, this is my first time hearing it.

And I'm excited to hear about Rochester's history, especially Clarissa Street, because that's when I came here.

That's one of the things that we had to attend across the street Festival.

Right.

That was a big deal.

You had to close the street festival.

So I'm excited to hear about this.

Is history.

Now, George, I want to start with you as as the elder.

What was it like on Clarissa Street in his.

In his heyday?

Okay, well, first of all, you said festival.

Oh, I knew he was.

Oh, let me tell you something.

If he did not get you, I was going to be like, wait a minute.

Okay, so.

Oh, we get put in our place.

I'm allowed to call it a festival.

And, you know, this is one of my questions on here, like, okay, is the festival reunion?

Oh, go ahead, George should be on this.

Well, it's a reunion.

Yes.

And a civil union of all.

It started off in 1996 with a group of, former Klamath Street residents greeting a friend who came to town.

So they were walking down the street reminiscing about the past.

There was one club that was still open at the time called, Chef's Paradise.

And so they left.

Chefs started walking down the street and started reminiscing about the street dances that we used to have on Clarissa Street.

And then they started talking them talking and talking.

And then sooner or later one of them said, why don't we try to do it again, have a street dance?

And they said, well, it's no more street to have a dance at because we had we had two parking lots because our it was now on Clara Street at the time, and they had two parking lots.

They were closed on the weekends and they allow different organizations to use the parking lots for street dances.

So that's where the street dance came in at.

And so subsequently this group started calling other people and they sat down, got together and decided to have a reunion.

And they talked to the city, they got funding, and I was a part of it then, because all the members that were doing this right now are in their late 80s and 90s.

And so now we got a whole new group of people who are moving things forward.

Yes.

And so anyway, so that's how the reunion started.

And, we try to keep it going.

I'm probably the last of the old crew, that is.

I'm there.

We have a whole new group of young talent who are pushing us to the next level, and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Okay, so the reunion is not the festival.

There is no fair.

There's no festival.

It's the festival, but it's the reunion.

So let me put it to you.

This way.

Okay.

What?

Like he said, it was meant to bring back, you know, the inhabitants, the people who enjoyed that neighborhood.

So instead of calling it a festival, they only call it a reunion.

Yeah, and that's it.

Because it's about family.

It's about the community.

It's about bringing people together.

Whereas you can have the Park Avenue Festival, or you can have the Corn Hill Festival, but ours is a reunion.

It's bringing everybody back, generations and generations and generations, just like you said recently.

My son, I'm trying to bring him aboard.

Right.

All of my boys.

Because we understand that this is about community and it's about family.

And if it was up to George, I believe it would be called the Clarissa Street Dance.

Obviously.

Yeah, originally.

All right.

Now, George, as an as an elder, I.

You grew up on Clarissa Street in its heyday.

Tell me tell me about that.

How was it growing up?

Yeah, I actually grew up on, Faber Street, which is Opera Troupe, which is right around the corner from Favorite Street.

And growing up in that area, I tell the story that we had everything we had funeral parlor to start off with.

We had two hospitals.

We had schools that were in walking distance.

We had different bars and restaurants, hairdressers, pool rooms, gas stations.

We had it all, all within walking distance.

And so at the time I was a young kid, we knew everybody from the neighborhood.

We weren't up or down.

We were predominantly black neighborhood, but it was also white people lived there.

Jewish people lived in the area.

Italians.

But matter of fact, my next door neighbor was an Italian lady, and, they were all uprooted around the same time that we were.

Yeah.

And and again, the and the, neighborhood is very, very special to a lot of people because that's where we spent all our time at.

And, so we sit down and we reminisce about it, and then we think about the pit that you say.

And that was a rite of passage for a lot of us when we were old enough to get in there to see the music that we were always with, stand outside on the corner to listen to.

So it was a great thing.

And, everybody remembers the first time they walked in there, who was at the door, who was playing different things like that.

And Rene, I believe I've seen a previous interview.

When you refer to class history as the Black Wall Street.

Yeah.

Can you, can you I know you're I believe fifth generation.

Are you are you.

Yeah.

Yep.

We're right around there.

You're, I think a fourth generation for generation 1 or 2.

Three.

I am fourth generation Clarissa Street.

Yes.

And Patricia you're I'm fourth as well.

Generational.

So tell me about the stories you've heard from from your elders or your parents.

Grandparents.

Well, pretty much George was being a little bit, his family owned a lot of the business on that street.

So, yeah, he's being very humble with with understanding the business side of what we had.

Right.

And, you know, the fact that those areas were uprooted and you when you go down, Clarissa, right now, you see zero businesses.

It's in fact it's been zoned.

So you really can't have businesses there anymore.

The generational wealth that I think about that was taken away, is tremendous.

You know, the homes, the houses, the things that were, you know, taken in mind.

You, my parents, my mom never talked about it like this.

My, you know, our family is, the Sprague family.

So we were very well known in the area.

And, but they never talked about the generational wealth.

It's just us who've now grown up, but we understand what was taken, that we know what we could have had or what could have been.

You know what I mean?

So.

But what they do, which what I love is they they talk about this, they, they have resistance through joy.

They talk about it, how special it was and how happy they are coming back.

So I see that part of the resistance in how they do it, they're not going to they're not going to be cut down.

Yeah.

And so I've come along to make sure that I continue that resistance in that way.

But I also add a little twist and let people know, hey, they stole this from us.

You know, how many other our generations would have gone to college, you know, off of the, off of the mortgage, off of the money that we could have had from the homes that we owned.

And, Patricia, just your your insight on.

So my family, I had an aunt that owned property on Clarissa Street.

She owned a restaurant, a corner store, and she lived on Clarissa Street.

But my uncle was one of those, that was walking down the street like, hey, let's do a reunion.

That my uncle was one of the original, I guess, founders of the Clarissa Street reunion.

And that's how we remember the Clarissa Street.

I didn't know very much when I was a kid.

I would go to the corner store, but didn't think much of it, like, oh, my aunt also store.

Okay.

But I didn't think much of it.

I didn't understand the significance of it at the time until my uncle, became involved with Clarissa Street Reunion, and I knew that I would have family coming from Georgia, family coming from all over on the third Saturday of August just to go to Clarissa Street.

That's when I started to, recognize or understand the history about, you know, what it was that we had it.

Why?

Why should this matter to the community?

Why should preserving this history and this legacy matter?

But but yeah, well, at the time, we really didn't know what we had.

That's all I think about it.

And, so when I look back, like Renee alluded to, my father owned the grocery store.

My uncle owned a barbershop, my grandfather owned a big corner, building that housed a bar, barbershop, restaurant in a rooming house.

Now, for people to know that, so that's how I got to know a lot of people, because a lot of people who came to Rochester during the Great Migration, they stayed at my grandparents place because there were like 14 rooms up top there.

The second and third floor.

And so they would stay there and then I would get to know them because I lived around the corner and we would always have to come and help clean up.

And I when school was out in the mornings before they opened up.

So subsequently and then the restaurant was open during that time.

And at that time you could buy a dinner.

I remember for $1, and my grandmother would always sell these, people who came to town, mostly men, before they got established here, meal ticket.

And the meal ticket was $5 a week, and you had to buy the meal ticket in order to stay here, because my grandmother wanted to make sure you ate a meal every, every day.

So it wasn't that she was trying to make any money.

But then the restaurant connected to the bar, so, you know, so I probably visited if it was a waiter.

And then and then I had an uncle, like Rene said, I kind of a little to it earlier.

And then my uncle, who owned the, Gibson Hotel, which was the only black owned hotel at the time in Rochester.

So a lot of people again, came to Rochester and they stay there.

And you said something Georgie said we didn't know what we had right at that time.

We took it for granted.

Yeah.

Yeah.

How do you feel about that Renee.

Well I'm, I'm, I'm gonna turn it over to Renee.

But I do want to say this, I think one of the reasons when you asked why was it important.

Yeah I see so much now that young people don't recognize their their significance.

They don't have any connections to their neighborhoods or understand what how they're able to have or do what they can.

So for me, the significance of Clarissa Street is because we we need to know.

We need to understand so that we can preserve what we have and do better.

So my daughter is also part of Clarissa Street, and this year my grandson has a small part in the actual reunion.

So I think about them like, wow, you know, so we're starting really young.

He's five.

So he's also going to start to understand this, the history and significance of Clarissa Street.

But I know that we do it.

And it's important because our young people need to know.

And that's and Rene fights really hard to make sure that young people understand that history.

Right.

And to piggyback on that, what Patricia was saying is that we got involved with a group called Teen Empowerment.

Yeah.

And we, they wanted to know about Clarissa Street.

The youth did not know anything, so we thought they would be there when we got there, that they wouldn't be interested.

But the more we talked about it in the first day, we asked them, have you ever been on Clarissa Street?

Most of them said yes.

Do you know what was there before?

It is how it looks today.

They said, no.

And then when we told them the story, the sea started moving up.

They started asking questions and everything mushroomed from there.

Yeah, it was black luxury.

Yeah, yeah.

So I want to talk about the Python yes room.

And it's this legendary jazz club.

What role did music play in defining Clarissa Street?

So if you didn't go to the Python Room when you came to Rochester, you just did not make it.

I think many people describe that once you once you make it to the python room, you have made it.

I actually had to pull it up because I always forget some of the artists that have gone through the python room.

Pee-Wee Ellis, Ron Carter, Roy McCurdy, George Benson.

What are the, Chuck and gap men?

Joni, Stevie Wonder.

Who am I missing?

Oh, so.

So these people went through.

Yeah.

Have gone through the the python room before they were even, you know, known the way that they are now.

So that's that's why the python room was so important.

Because you had to go through there and so people could know who you are.

And most of the people who came through the path, the bands they either came from through Buffalo at the Pine Grill and they came to Rochester to the pit side.

Then after whoever came, I first went to Buffalo, to the Pine Grill.

So all these well known jazz groups were coming to Rochester at this time between Rochester and Buffalo.

And the pit, that room I know you mentioned George before.

You can before you were able to get in, you listen to the music from the outside.

Were you able to finally get in.

Oh yeah.

And I was I couldn't believe it.

If smoke filled.

You smell everything.

But it was a dream come true.

And it was a room.

It was lit was.

It was someone's house.

And he made it into.

He turned it into the pit.

That like he made his own.

That he had had to remodel the whole living room to make sure.

Because it was you couldn't you couldn't sit.

Right.

It was a standing room only.

Are you can you had to sit a big bar in the center and there were seats all around and a stage room and the name pit that came from the, the, the, Knights of Pythias, a fraternal organization.

And the Oddfellows.

So when the first owner, his name was Stanley Thomas, he was a member of both groups.

So they came up with the name petard.

Let me tell you something.

You guys are getting some history right now because I don't know.

I didn't even know that.

Go ahead.

I didn't know that.

But give me some more.

George, I love it.

I'm surprised George family didn't own the.

Hey, can I say something before we go on?

Because I do want to.

I give homage to the original Clarissa Street Reunion Committee, and I just want to read off their names and, and then if after that, you can you tell them the rest of, like, who we are, the course, the street, the people that are on there.

Because if it wasn't for them starting, we wouldn't be here to continue it.

Somebody has to start it, you know, to be that spark.

So, Hubert Jeffries, which we we called him Gigi.

He was the president and chair of the entertainment.

Ron Houston was the spokesperson and chair sponsorship committee.

So Noel Boyd, she was she was sergeant at arms and the chair historical committee.

Jack Smith Banks, co treasurer and chair vendor's committee.

Helen Gibson, Gibson Brown was the co treasurer and she chaired the t shirt committee.

Joyce Allen Wilson was the secretary.

John Ashford was the chair, secretary, chair.

Security Committee and the parade committee, because we used to have a parade.

Now we have what we call a stroll, which is Jazz Stroll.

John Coles Howard, which should be a very well known name.

She was the chair of publicity and advertising committee.

Alton Owens was the chair of, yeah, of the logistic and Anna Tyrrell, she was on the committee, and Gloria Winston was also on the committee.

So I just want to make sure that those names don't, get lost.

Get lost in it, because we've lost some of them.

We've lost their souls.

But, you know, we have them here in our minds and hearts and all the time, because we have to be very thankful.

And I'm very thankful for George.

As you can see, he is a wealth of information.

And I sit around and I try to soak it all up as much as I can.

So thank you, George.

Thank you for still being around for us.

And we know that music I want, I want to, go back to, to music and its significance to Clarissa Street and how are we how does music continue to be a part of the reunion to this day, 27 years?

So we have, typically Clarissa Street would have three stages.

We would have, an R&B stage, a gospel stage, and then the jazz stage.

So we still continue those genres of music this year.

We have two stages, but all of those genres of music you will hear on either stage with, a great significance on jazz, because that that's definitely what Clarissa Street was about at the time.

I think of, I think of our reunion, definitely to bring people back together.

But one of one of the individuals that are helping, that's helping us with the music.

He says he wants, Clarissa Street to be the Black Jazz Festival because there's so much history and music, with that.

But but the music is a huge part.

I mean, we try really hard to get local artists, and artists outside of Rochester to come and, you know, grace our stages.

But we really want people to, you know, to be able to enjoy themselves.

You don't have to sit and listen to the music.

You can walk around and, you know, connect with your friends and family.

But the music will always be in the background of what it is that we do.

The Black Jazz Festival.

Yeah.

How's that sound to you, George?

Sounds good to me.

Yeah, I and I know we have Brice.

We have Brice on the line.

He's on line one.

Hello, Brice.

What's up guys?

Hi, Brice.

Thank you for joining us.

I know you probably just rolled over.

Thank you for joining us.

Brice.

And I just want to get your your perspective being, a younger generation of the next generation of Clarissa Street.

Can you tell us a bit about why, being a part of this legacy is important to you as as part of the next generation?

Yeah.

I think it's amazing being able to be a descendant and being of the younger generation to be able to participate in this and, like, be able to keep our history.

A lot of our history gets lost and and throughout generations, generations, people aren't able to keep passing it on and passing it.

So I think it's amazing that being a young kid and about a descendant, it really it's a different place in my heart.

There's a, Yeah.

And embrace.

Do you see other, other young people connecting the way you do and with this musical legacy?

I think we we're trying to do a good job.

You know, involving the younger generation.

We're getting on social media, like, the closest, and we're, we're getting on social media.

We're trying to get it out to the young generation.

Last year, there was a lot of young kids at the, at the reunion.

So hopefully we get out and we keep keeping these young, young kids on hand into our history and you touched on social media, I know he probably runs.

He does, but he just started he did him and my other son, they both are running the social media piece for us on Instagram and, and Facebook.

We're working on our Facebook as well.

But, yeah, he they're, they're, they're generating a lot of positivity.

But, Bryce has gotten on there and done some like, you know, he'll do a video instead of just a post.

He'll talk, he'll talk to the people.

And those have generated the most views, on the Instagram.

And if, if possible, please follow us.

Is it okay for us to say that?

All right.

Yeah.

It's, Clarissa Street, reunion.

Right.

Underscore five eight.

Underscore 585.

Clarissa Street reunion.

Underscore 585.

We need to get those, follow up.

Get those files.

Why is it important for it to have a social media presence?

Do you want to ask us or want to ask Bryce?

Bryce, Bryce, you let you guys know that one?

Yeah.

Is that a question for me?

Yes.

Go ahead.

Bryce, that, social media nowadays is so important, like, especially if you're trying to promote something.

That's all that everybody's on every day, like, use up your phone.

And if you're not promoting stuff on social media, like you're you're part of the new TV or if you're getting commercials on your TV, now these commercials have to go to your phone and social media.

Is that gateway for being able to promote and get these things out so people know about things.

And it's it's the easiest way to do it nowadays is coming straight to your phone.

Yeah, it most certainly is because, actually before that we would have posters all over the city.

We would go around and put them in the churches, put them in the school for them here, put them there.

So now the social media and the new, younger generation has come aboard.

Yeah, we we stepped up our game a little bit.

Yeah I embrace I want to I want to ask you like what is something that you've heard about Clarissa street from, from your, your parents or grandparents that really stuck with you about what Clarissa Street was that really stuck with me?

Yeah.

Well, this one's kind of, like, generic because, like, it's like, I don't know, but, I say it being our black Wall Street, that's the one that sticks with me the most, because Black Wall Street is such a a prominent black community, or it was.

And I just think that's amazing that we have that same or we have that same thing here.

And it's so, so prominent throughout the black community.

So yeah.

And what is something that you instill in your, in your son Renee, when it comes to the legacy of Clarissa Street.

Well I'd have to say for me I started, I started late my mom is on the committee.

She's very very sick now so she's no longer to being able to to handle her role.

But when she was doing the interviews and stuff with teen empowerment, I really wasn't even you know, into it.

I was like, okay, mom.

Yeah, that's good.

But I remembered going to the reunion.

I remembered going down there.

I used to have a good time, but it wasn't every single year.

It was almost like I was being pulled down there, you know, early on.

And then when I, when I got older and was off to college, it wasn't something that I saw as something that I should do was just like, yeah, okay, maybe, you know, blah, blah, blah.

So knowing what I know now, I let my boys know very early.

Hey man, we have a prominent, prominent history here and we need to make sure that we let everybody we can know about it, because if you know it, you can recreate it.

If you understand that this is where we come from, you'll never think you're less than because we are that Black Wall Street.

We are that we created, that we are a part of, that we can do it again.

We can own it again.

We can start all over.

They are the ones that can do it.

So that's what I instill in my boys and understanding this is history.

But you create history as we move forward.

We're living it.

We're living it right now.

Yeah.

We're going to take a quick little break and I want to touch I want to go back and talk about this.

Urban renewal is urban renewal and what it did to Clarissa Street.

And I want all the details because remind you I'm not from here.

So let me know what it was and what it became.

Stay with us.

We're talking about Clarissa Street, a legacy right here on I. I'm Veronica Volk, coming up in our second hour of connections today, we bring back a recent conversation about how a growing body of research shows a pregnant woman's mental health can affect fetal and child development.

So what kinds of care are available and what should families know?

Our host, Evan Dawson, will discuss it with a clinician and mothers.

That's coming up in our second hour of connections.

Support for your public radio station comes from our members and from Bob Johnson, Auto Group.

Proud supporter of connections with Evan Dawson, believing an informed public makes for a stronger community.

Bob Johnson Auto group.com and we're back with sexy connections.

This weekend is the Clarissa Street Reunion, the 27th annual.

And we're talking about the Clarissa Street Legacy, right here on connections.

And joining me, are Rene Dexter Long.

She's the president of Clarissa Street Legacy, Patricia mason Williams, the vice president, George Fontenot, an elder and the member of the finance committee.

And joining us on the phone is Bryce Long and Rene Sun.

He's representing the next generation to carry that legacy forward.

And I wanted to touch on, the urban renewal project and what it did to Clarissa Street.

Rene, Patricia George, can you talk about how urban renewal changed the neighborhood, what it was, and how what exactly happened to the homes that were there?

Yeah, well, how it started when we heard this is, what I recollect that my parents said that highway was coming through Clarissa Street and that we have to sell our property.

Mind you, we had a home on Faber Street and a grocery store on the corner of Ford.

And true was, which is around the corner from Clarissa Street.

So we had to sell that.

And they said, if it doesn't sell, if we don't sell it, they'll make us sell it some kind of way.

And so my, my parents said, well, I'm just using my example.

Yeah.

That they decided to rent the property out before our renewal came through and move to Louisiana.

So so we were up, uprooted from Clara Vista Street, true Street area in my family went back to Louisiana.

Now my grandparents who had a place on, Clarissa Street also, which I mentioned earlier, they had to relocate.

My grandfather had 14 brothers and sisters.

11 of the 14 lived in that area.

They all owned homes, so every one of them had to move.

So, you know, so that created because we could walk to our relatives homes.

At that time, we didn't have to get in the car and travel like we do today.

So everybody was near each other.

So they they took all that and they said it was urban renewal.

But we changed that to we were uprooted.

Urban uprooting might as well say and with that being said, a lot of, my friends who lived in that area, the same thing happened to them.

So what one of the things that we talked about is that they tore down the pit that they tore down different homes in the area, but they left the flying squirrel, which was the Elks, and they left Chef's Paradise.

So why did you tear down the pit?

So they were picking different places where they left.

So there were other homes down there, mind you, which I said earlier, that the highway was coming through, but the highway came through the other end of Clarissa Street.

It didn't affect the whole part of Clara Street, but the only thing that I could gather in my mind is that they had a plan.

And then tell us the plan.

And so that's why you see what there is today.

Because, Corn Hill is on the other side of Clara Street, on the, north side of Clara City.

And Corn Hill was reestablished.

They refurbished all those homes in Corn Hill.

And now you see what they got, Clara Street.

It took about ten years before they started rebuilding in that area.

In the first building that they built with that fourth street called the Dobson Apartments, a high rise with people on top of people again.

But that was about ten years after they tore everything down.

I was in the Army and I went to Vietnam and and Clara Street.

Little looked like a war zone for years.

But now, if you go through there now is beautiful.

Now Troup Street down and different streets.

But, at the time, they didn't have nothing down there.

So.

So that's when the reunion came about and they started letting people know what was there, especially people like you, for instance, who are from out of town, didn't know what was there.

Yeah.

Because you drive down there today to see what you see.

If if we weren't here to tell the story, you would know.

Yeah.

I don't know if you can recall what the mood was like then when that happened.

Well at, at our exhibit Clarissa Uprooted, they have some films that we have up there and that tells the story they interview with people and, and they were telling their stories.

Why?

Why they didn't want to leave, man.

Matter of fact, one lady family on Clara Street, the Williams family, I go say their name and they had like ten children, but they're all kind of older at the time.

But there was still about 4 or 5 children left, and the mother was so upset that they took the property that she had a heart attack and died.

Yeah.

But I didn't know that she had died from that, from a heart attack.

I, I knew she died but her daughter told me this, a few are so heartbroken.

Wow.

Yeah.

And I did watch a little snippet of the archives and people going through the documents and, and describing what Clarissa Street was, from which point to which point and how much of it was destroyed.

And it was gut wrenching.

Yes, yes, yes.

So, you know, the way I say it, if I were to set the picture for you, if you, you know, living right now, just think about you know, where you live.

If you live in a home or a townhouse, just think about your neighborhood.

If you live in an apartment complex, just think about how many people live in that that complex, upwards of 800 families were uprooted, 800 families.

And think about what George just said, that one family had ten members.

And if we think back to the timeframe that we're speaking of, which, Clarissa Street was considered the third Ward, it is the third Ward because Rochester is broken up into wards.

So you get the third Ward, 19th Ward, seventh Ward.

So the two wards are the areas that black people were really welcomed in that could live where the third Ward, which is where Clarissa Street was and well, it's still there, but you know, where it was in that, in that, in that realm.

And the seventh Ward.

So imagine trying to take 800 families and just trying to force them into the seventh Ward wasn't going to happen.

There wasn't enough space right?

So what happened to all of those families?

What happened to those 800 people?

So I'm just trying to get you to feel what that would have felt like.

They had no where to go.

Where were they going to go?

So I'm sure there was some despair.

I'm sure there was some, you know, a lot of stress.

I couldn't imagine not knowing where I was going to go.

My parent, my grandparents, was it was my great grandparents home.

They old and double, and they were on Clarendon Street.

And it is also in the, in the exhibit.

It's it's one of the books that they found.

And they have the picture and they have what it what the house was like.

They gave them money for it because it was under eminent domain.

So they gave them, I think, like $4,000 for a double.

Right now, we had a realtor come in and and appraise what it would be worth right now, sitting there as it was, would be worth over $300,000 between 300 and $400,000.

So just imagine how much they lost by getting $4,000 to try to go and find another home in a place where they're not welcomed.

Number one, because no, you're not going to fit anywhere else.

The 19th Ward did allow some.

And so some people were able to move into the 19th Ward, but it was a, it was a stretch.

Sometimes they would have to actually hire a friend, a friend that was Caucasian, and let them go in and, and be the face, so that they could then live there.

So to me, there was going I wanted you to I want you to feel what that would have been like instead of just it being, hey, yeah, they got uprooted.

No, no, no, 800 families being taken and told they had to leave.

And so, Patricia, I don't know if you want to, to add to this, what what do you what do you know about the urban renewal and what it did to, pretty much that pretty much, exactly the way Renee explained it.

But again, because I was younger at the time, even, you know, even when I was a teenager going to Clarissa Street, I didn't understand.

So as I got older, that's when I was like, oh, I get it.

You know, I, I see it differently now.

And I and I think that's why it's important for us to understand, you know, our history.

So, you know, we have to remember the things that have been done to us.

We have to remember where where we've come from and what we're what we're striving to do with our young people because we want our young people to have just as much, pride in, in, in, you know, where they are, what they're trying to do, their history, even in their neighborhoods now.

But it's, it's it's a sad thing to think about.

And even when we drive down Clarissa Street, just like George said, you drive down the street of all those businesses, only two of them are there.

And he talks about, what's the Clarissa street, the Clarissa room now?

Actually, my family purchased that building.

They're not allowed to do anything with the building.

They only want it to be residential.

So their their thought was will open up, you know, a small sports bar we'll put in Clarissa street history, you know, pictures and things like that so that they can also pay homage to our family and Clarissa Street.

And they're not allowed to because now that's only zoned as residential.

But it's a it's it's an actual it was a bar.

It's always been a bar.

Yeah.

They purchased it with the thinking that they can do that.

They cannot.

So now it's back on the market for sale because there's nothing they can do with it.

And I think it was designed that way.

I still think it's designed there.

So those are things we have to continue to fight.

You have to fight the zoning, the zoning laws.

And that's what we'll have, you know, that'll be the next fight.

You know, as, as a as a group, as a community to say, hey, these are the things we want in the community.

And, where can we place them?

You know, since these were taken away, what can we do here?

I mean, they've they've put other, I think, prominence to another part of that area and allowed them to have the businesses on the other side.

But down there, I mean, when you think about it, there are no grocery stores in the city anymore.

Yeah.

Where do they where do people go?

You know, like even on where do you go to go to the corner store.

You got to go all the way down to the other side.

You should be able to have something there for the people in the community.

And but, you know, I don't necessarily know if it's going to be a fight, but it's a conversation to have about, you know, what can we do to help this place, again, be a little thriving area where African-Americans can also still go here and then also see some of the history in those places.

You know, and, you said 800 families.

Yes, ma'am.

So I know some went to the 19th Ward.

Where do we know what happened to these 800 families?

I don't I haven't tracked down all 800.

But I do know something.

You just think about it.

Some of them probably were homeless.

Some of them probably ended up living with, other family members in other parts.

So maybe they went to the seventh Ward.

I know my family did get another double in the 19th Ward.

And so because we had that, you know, the families could stay together, you know, upstairs, downstairs, and you kind of squelched in until you raised enough money as a family to get another home.

And, but that was during the, what you would characterize as the white flight.

And because as white people started, black people started moving in to the 19th Ward, that's when the white folks started moving out to gates, Brighton and out of different close suburbs.

So, because when I was a kid growing up, our high school was on Bronson Avenue and Epworth Street, which is near Genesee Street, but we never went across the street because it wasn't nothing over there for us.

They had a YMCA that we went to, but other than that, it was all white.

So when Rene said, what happened to the people, that's when they started going to, even my grandmother moved that Genesee Street because, my grandfather that passed away, and I lived with her because she was by herself.

But that's where the flight came in and where people were going, you know, and my family moved on was Samuel McRae way.

Now, was that that Bronson Avenue, Bronson Avenue that she owned property on Clarissa Street.

She ended up moving to a double on Bronson Avenue.

So it's interesting when you said that, like, oh yeah, she did live in a double.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So how do we take what I've, what I assume is some form of resentment.

Right.

And, and create this, this celebration.

Well again I said they show their resistance with their joy.

And I think you asked me a question early and I think I'm showing or trying to show my, my boys resilience.

Right.

We're going to show how we were going to fight back with our resilience.

Right.

It's we're not have to be angry because angry get you know, where I show how resilient we are, how strong we are and how we're going to now show our history, make sure everybody knows it.

And then where do we take it from there?

You know, the young people are the are the next minds.

They're going to figure out where we go.

We're just giving them the information.

All right guys, now you guys take us to the next level okay.

Here you have it.

Use social media.

You use whatever you have to help us bring this to the next generation and keep it moving forward.

Yeah.

And we've been having tours of Clarissa Street, like, Rene for us.

Right.

Because she teaches at rush.

Henrietta, she brought a class from rush Henrietta down on Clarissa Street.

Those students were so amazed.

Yeah, when we told them the story.

And then we had the picture.

We walked down the street and showed them the pictures of what was here, what was there, you know?

So they were amazed.

And then come to find out, one of the, students grandparents lived in the area.

They they didn't know that until.

And then she hurried up.

We got on the phone, mommy, mommy and grandma, guess who's here?

And then I talked to her, you know, but but, you know.

But if they didn't, if we didn't have this to educate them, they wouldn't know what was there.

And they didn't even know that they had the connection until little things came up.

She's like, I think my grandparents lived here and called her, you know?

So it's we have to help them see the connection.

You have to help them see how it is important to them.

And when we take them through the exhibit number one, and then also a tour of Clarissa Street, it is amazing how their minds and their eyes open up and what they want to be.

They want to be a part of it.

They want to help.

They want to, they want to.

And so I think it's just getting that information to the youth and getting them involved.

And they will they'll do something as beautiful as what they did with the uprooted exhibit we actually have inside of the exhibit, a group called, Youth Build created a replica of the pit that.

So we have that the whole the stage is in there, right where people can perform like it's it's amazing.

So that's one of the, you know, that's one of the things we're going to move to is being able to have, like, little coffee time in there where young people can perform on that stage and people can come in and see that stuff happen.

So, it's all about getting people to know it, getting in there.

And and once we do, I'm gonna see if I get you in there.

You want to be a part of this and try to recruit?

Yes.

And then we also had, beside high school students.

We had colleges.

Roberts Wesleyan came through Clarissa Street.

All right.

Came through to our tours that we had to take them through.

We had a group who came here from Chicago wanted to tour.

They heard about it, so we took them on a tour.

Her mother, Kathy and myself, we led the tours that they were amazed what we showed them.

Yeah.

And I want to have Bryce join back, on this conversation.

Bryce, what what have you learned from elders like, like George and and your grandmother?

About their history specifically?

Yeah.

So just living living in that time.

Oh, really?

All that?

I don't know, not much more than what they already said.

They've told me those stories countless times, right?

Yeah.

I don't I don't really have anything outside.

And what they went over.

I'm sorry.

And I know, you know, we we spoke a lot about the next generation, keeping this moving forward, other than social media, are there other any other ideas that I want you to speak on behalf of the entire next generation?

But what are some of the things that you're hoping to to do to keep this, legacy moving forward?

Just keep the young kids involved as, as possible.

Like, since I'm in a young generation now, I'm much more able to reach them rather than like the older people.

Like it's harder for older people to be able to make a bridge between elders and kids, and I think I can kind of be that bridge.

Nice, nice.

I love that Bryce.

Now 27 years, started off in 96.

How has it grown since then?

How has the reunion versus reunion grown since 96?

Well, I can say is grown.

Like you alluded to earlier, a lot of the, original members of the committee had passed away.

And with that being said, a lot of people who were residents of that area have passed away.

Now their children and grandchildren are coming down.

And then we have a a wall of pictures of old reunions, all residents of Claressa Street, different, pictures that we have on display.

And that is always a big drawing point because people crowd around there and well, now people take pictures.

But when we first started off, they were cutting the pictures away and taking them home with them.

Oh, there's my uncle, right?

That's the guilty Laughing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So, so now everybody has a form.

You can see him snapping pictures up there.

Ancestors.

Yeah.

Oh that's.

Yeah.

And we, we actually have a phone call I want to get to before our lions cause we have Hoover, from Pittsford, that wants to make a comment.

Hoover.

Are you on the line?

Yes.

Can you hear me?

Yes.

Yeah.

You like to join in on our conversation here about Clarissa Street?

It's wonderful.

What a great conversation.

I when I was younger, I lived on Eagle Street and also on drew, also on Troup Street.

And, when I was 17, I used to go.

I used to, I guess I was illegally in.

It if nobody asked me for I.D., I said, I'll have, Standard Rail and know, like $0.50.

And then, I got a little bit older than I knew, the guy who ran Chef's Paradise.

So I go in there to sit and talk to him during the day sometimes.

But he was a good guy.

Clarissa Street, you know, for for what it was at the time.

It was a great thing.

It was cultural.

It was an economic boom time for the area.

And then, you know, the business went under and, I haven't been well, I drove down there a couple of weeks ago, but, I moved away from Rochester for 20 years.

I came back, I went through my old neighborhoods to see what was going on and have fond memories of the pit, on the corner of Truth and Clarissa Street, baby.

Yes, sir, I love it.

And Eagle Street was right around the corner.

Yeah, well, I hope you come on down to the.

Come on down to the reunion so that you can get a piece or a slice of your childhood.

Because we're going to be having a bright, bright, bright, bright time.

Like, I mean, when I tell you the music is going to be wonderful and we won't have those drinks for you, though you can, you know, you can get a lemonade from the lemonade stand, but you just can't get the, the dry out, you said.

Yeah, but when when is the festival?

I want to call the reunion.

The reunion is, August 23rd.

Which is this Saturday.

And, we start all the festivities really start at 11.

If you come around 1030, you'll see our stroll, which is the, jazz.

It's almost like a New Orleans stroll.

We just walking on down, down to the main stage.

So.

Yeah.

Come on down.

Enjoy.

My advice would be bring a lawn chair so that you can sit down and enjoy the music.

If you want to get up and walk with it, you certainly can.

But you're going to want to sit down, relax and enjoy yourself.

Would you remember Howard Cole?

Yes.

Yeah.

Oh, yeah.

He was an old friend of mine that was much younger than him, but he put his arm around me.

It was funny.

I want to tell you something.

And I would say yes, sir.

And he would tell me all these stories.

Yeah.

Howard's daughter, Joan, was on the committee when they first started.

Yep.

Joan is still around.

Yep.

All right.

Yeah.

You remember Emmett Porter?

Oh, yeah, I remember Abbott.

Yeah.

Like we're having a reunion, right?

Yeah.

Right.

Exactly.

We're starting already.

Yeah.

Abbott.

All the construction company.

Yeah.

I mean, it was a good friend of mine.

He always called me by the wrong first name, but I know, and this is this is the point of the reunion, right?

To share these memories.

Yeah, right.

The good times.

Where when Clarissa Street was thriving.

So, Rene, I want you to tell us again about Saturday and in the time, what to expect.

The entertainment.

Excellent.

Well, we'll get to the into entertainment.

But when you ask the question about how has it changed, I do want to say this as far as a reunion this year, we have the most, at least in our inception.

So we started, 2025.

We have I'm sorry, we started with the 25th annual, but that's the one we started with.

And we have 57 vendors for the street.

And that is a lot for us.

And we are so happy and we're so excited.

We don't got to get a lot of people down there so that you can enjoy the crafts.

Food vendors.

We've got informational tables.

It's going to be a great, great time.

So that was an important piece that I wanted you to know.

And if you're interested in attending next year, we'll make sure you guys get that information.

Go to our website.

But we want to expand that.

I, you know, I hate to say it, but I want to compare eventually to what Cornhill does.

You know, Cornhill takes up the whole I mean, multiple, multiple, multiple, multiple blocks.

And I don't see Clarissa Street not being able to do that.

Yeah, I think we certainly can.

So, my, my my ideas.

It's trying to make that thing grow.

Our entertainment lineup is phenomenal.

We have, a person that helps with the entertainment.

That's grand tone.

And we also have Mr. Nate Rawls.

They are on our entertainment committee.

Another elder, Janie Anderson.

Anderson.

Also, she's really responsible for a lot of the gospel that we get.

But this year, as we said, we kind of combine them, which is really good because once you sit down, instead of you only hearing one genre, you get to hear it all.

Yes.

You know, and then we get to allow people to learn instead of just deciding, hey, I'm going to stay down here at the R&B stage.

Now let's mingle.

Let's get to know the elders.

Let's sit and learn some jazz.

So I'm going to turn it over to Patricia.

Let her tell her what that beautiful lineup looks like.

So for our lineup we have Maddie and the followers freelance.

And then we have teen empowerment, which is going to do some poetry and some history.

We have the Indigo Breeze band, Magnetic Flow.

I always mess his name up.

Cuevas Walker, which is a gospel rapper.

Yeah.

We have Robert Ricks and, kids doing some spoken word.

Deborah Cox, Jamila, who is also a poet, we have coach pinky and the Pink Steppers.

Oblivion.

Jimmy's gram, but our headliner is Will Holton.

And before that, we'll have Joe Beard.

Ooh.

And when there's some more, I missed it.

What time?

11 a.m. to 7 p.m.. Saturday to 23rd.

Saturday to 23rd.

Comes out at 10:30 a.m.. 1030 the stroll starts.

Thank you to my guests for talking with me about Clarissa.

Streets legacy has been a very powerful conversation and I. I pray a great turnout for your event on Saturday, the 27th Annual Clarissa Street Reunion, Saturday, August 23rd from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m..

Thank you guys for joining my connection.

I want to thank you.

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