‘Always A Good Show’: Baltimore theater opened 100 years ago

Growing up in Baltimore, Ahmad Onyango, then 12, remembered there were several theaters in the city, but none of them were as large and popular as the Royal Theater. It was thrilling, he said, because it was the only place to see legendary Black performers like James Brown, Louis Armstrong, Redd Foxx and Billie Holiday. February marked the 100th anniversary of the Royal Theater, a star of a bygone era of Black entertainment in Baltimore.