Annie O'Neill, Post-Gazette Betty Brown holds a portrait of her late husband, Leroy, in the apartment where she has lived for the past 54 years above the Crawford Grill on Wylie Avenue in the Hill District. Click photo for larger image. Listen in Hear Betty Brown talking with the PG's Nate Guidry about living above the Crawford Grill for more than 50 years: When she first met her future husband Leroy Brown What the Hill District was like in the 1950s Why she stayed on after her husband died Related coverage Long-dormant center of Hill jazz scene seeks a new life Life in Tune This occasional series profiles longtime performers and aficionados to mine their memories and knowledge of a lifetime in music.

Betty Brown has never played a note of meaningful music, but she's heard some of the greatest jazz ever performed.

And the best part about that is, she didn't have to travel too far to hear it.

Living in a second-floor apartment above the old Crawford Grill on Wylie Avenue, Brown routinely stepped downstairs to hear such giants as Charles Mingus and Erroll Garner, John Coltrane and Max Roach.

She broke bread several times with trumpeter Roy Eldridge and comforted saxophonist Sonny Stitt as he sat on her sofa, shaking from heroin withdrawals.

Whenever the late trumpeter Charlie Shaver was in town, he stopped by and cooked. Shaver fancied himself a chef, and Brown still has some of the spices Shaver brought with him the last time he was in town.

"We saw all of the great players," the 90-year-old Brown said, sitting in her living room recently. "I met practically everyone they brought in from New York. I saw the great Max Roach and Abbey Lincoln. I even got to see Art Blakey and Miles Davis, with his smart ass. He had a terrible attitude, kind of full of himself like Paris Hilton.

"Miles only played at the Grill once as I can recall, and during his show he turned around, pulled down his pants and mooned the audience. Nothing came of it. Mr. Robinson [then owner Joseph Robinson] said, 'He's just another nasty, temperamental child showing off.' "

For 54 years, Brown has been living above the Grill. In fact, she's outlived it.

She's seen the best and worst of times for the historic nightspot, which originally opened in 1943.

Lately, she's been thinking of moving on. Her two-bedroom apartment doesn't have the appeal it once did, although it still holds many memories. Brown still thinks of her late husband, Leroy Brown, an alto saxophonist who died of cancer in 1988. The living-room wall has a huge photo of Mr. Brown holding his saxophone and, in a cabinet below the television, there are two scrapbooks filled with old photographs of her husband with other musicians, such as Billy Eckstine, Lena Horne and others.

Ever since the Grill closed about four years ago, the building has needed constant attention. Last winter was particularly difficult after the pipes burst in the basement, leaving Brown without water service for several weeks. She has inquired about the availability of apartments at Crawford Square and the Legacy, a new senior complex opening across the street, but was told there's a long waiting list.

"Unfortunately, it looks like I will be here another winter," she said. "I swore I was not going to spend another winter here. But it's starting to look like I will."

Hip and hoppin'

	Betty and Leroy Brown pose at the Hollywood Showbar in Pittsburgh. Mrs. Brown says even though they were married in 1948, they didn't get much grief from people because of their mixed-race marriage. Click photo for larger image. Post-Gazette The Crawford Grill, circa 1980 (left), and today. Click photo for larger image.

The Browns moved into the building in 1953 after Mr. Brown's band, Leroy Brown and the Brown Buddies, started working at the Grill.

Back then, the Grill served as one of the hubs of Pittsburgh nightlife, drawing praise for its quality service and high-profile entertainment. The neighborhood was flourishing and, until the demolition of the Lower Hill for the construction of the Civic Arena, it was the hottest spot for jazz in the city.

"Now you can't even buy a spool of thread up here," said Brown, who used to sew all of her husband's clothes and even altered a few dresses for the late vocalist Dakota Staton. "When we moved here, you could find anything you needed. There was a butcher shop on Centre Avenue that had beautiful fresh meat. There were all kinds of small but great businesses. But that's all gone. Now, we have to go to Shadyside or the South Side. The arena ran off all the people and the businesses. Things were much nicer the way they were. It was old, but nice."

Those were the days when Pittsburgh was hopping -- clubs, casinos, burlesque houses and strip joints -- catering to all sorts of revelers.

Downtown was dotted with clubs, both private and public, including the Benjamin Harrison Literary Club, an after-hours spot on Liberty Avenue reputed to be owned by gangsters. The North Side featured such clubs as Red's Cafe, Pace's and the Moose Club. Some of the best clubs could be found in the East End, including the Del Mar Canoe Club, which had after-hours gambling and showcased comedic acts such as Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin.

In the Hill District, there were the Hurricane, Ritz, Showboat, Roosevelt Theater, Savoy Ballroom, Bamboola and the Leondi, which featured talent as diverse as Jimmie Lunceford, Cab Calloway and Bennie Moten. One of the most popular spots for all musicians was the Black Musicians Club, Local 471, where it was not uncommon to hear people such as Dizzy Gillespie, Gene Ammons, Illinois Jacquet, Ben Webster and Coleman Hawkins.

But it was at the Grill that standards were set -- where innovation, improvisation and tradition were allowed to flourish.

Six nights a week the place was hopping. After they started the Friday and Saturday matinee performances, Brown said, crowds were lined up outside the building.

"The Saturday matinees were the big thing," she said. "It was so crowded that you had to have a shoe horn to wedge your way through. Friday's show was good, too. They were sometimes better then the evening shows."

Brown, who enjoys listening to her old tapes and records, said she had many sleepless nights living above the Grill. But she didn't mind it because even on a bad night, the music was great.

But after the death of owner Joseph Robinson in 1982, the club was passed on to his son, William "Buzzy" Robinson, and eventually, Brown said, the music took on a different flavor.

"They started playing reggae and all that other stuff, and the music became noise," she said. "We didn't plan to go to sleep until after 2 a.m."

Before the Grill

Brown grew up in Bellevue and attended Bellevue High School. After graduating, she attended Duff Iron City College, where she honed her secretary skills. After working for the Allegheny Forging Co., Brown was hired at Frank T. Lauinger Real Estate, where she worked for 48 years. She retired at 68 to take care of her ailing mother.

In 1944, while drinking with a few friends at the Hollywood Showbar, Downtown, Brown met her future husband, who was performing there with the Brown Buddies. Mr. Brown had just returned to Pittsburgh after serving in the U.S. Army band at Camp Lee, Va.

The Buddies -- Brown, Duke Spaulding, Bobby Anderson, Calvin King and Bass McMahon -- performed at the Showbar for 64 weeks.

"We were the first black band to play Downtown," said 85-year-old pianist Spaulding. "We were also the first band to play at the Grill."

At the Showbar, Spaulding said they routinely performed with special guests. "We brought in Ben Webster, Rex Stewart and Jack Teagarden, to name a few," he recalls. "We had a great band, and Leroy played his alto just like Johnny Hodges did, with Duke Ellington.

Spaulding said the Brown Buddies were a style band, performing mostly society music. "We were always clean, dressed in uniforms, and on weekends, we wore tails."

Betty Brown recalls those days, too, when her courtship with Leroy began slowly.

"When I met him, he was married, so it wasn't any use of me having a fit over him," she said with a huge chuckle. "But his wife died a year after their son was born, and we started dating."

There was plenty of competition from other girls for Mr. Brown's affection.

"He was a handsome man, and all the girls were hanging around him," she said. "They all wanted him, but I beat them to it. That's the way women are -- they'd cling on to a one-legged jackass."

After dating for a couple of years, which primarily meant hanging out at the old musicians club, the Bamboola and other local night spots, the couple married in 1948.

"I spent most of my times in bars," she said. "Recreation for Leroy was going to a jam session at the musicians club after working his regular gig. So that's where I went."

Settling in

After living on Trent Street in the Hill, the couple and Mr. Brown's son, Gilbert Leroy Brown, moved into the apartment above the Grill. Gilbert served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War and after his discharge settled in San Diego.

	Leroy Brown, right, watches legendary saxophonist Ben Webster, left, play at the Hollywood Showbar. Mr. Brown, an alto saxophonist, died in 1988. Click photo for larger image.

"I've been here ever since," said Betty Brown. "After Leroy died, my dog, Tiger, died, and I was all alone. I didn't know what to do with myself for a couple of years. I thought about leaving, but I have so much stuff."

Brown said things were different in the Hill District when she first arrived.

"This was a fine place to live when we moved in," she said. "The Grill was booming with great food and entertainment, and Mr. Robinson treated us like family. The entire neighborhood was great."

One might assume that being in an interracial marriage in the 1940s would have been difficult, but Brown said she rarely experienced a problem.

A few times, Brown said she was approached by black women questioning why she was in the Grill, but the incident would be quickly squashed.

"Mr. Robinson told them that I was like family, and if they didn't like it, they didn't have to come to the Grill," she said.

"That's the way I was raised. We are all God's people, aren't we? I can remember my mother asking someone who was so busy talking bad about black people, 'If you are lucky enough to get to heaven, what are you going to do when you get to the gate and there are black people there, too?' "

Sitting in the living room above the Grill, crowded with memories of 50 years, Betty Brown cradles a photo of her musician husband.

"I've been here a long time," she said. "It hasn't always been easy, but it wasn't so bad."