Dana Ellyn                                        www.danaellyn.com

Portrait of Cornelius Pitts in the Red Carpet Lounge. Pitts was the owner of the Pitts Hotel and Red Carpet Lounge. It was a very popular place in its heyday but suffered financial instability due it being difficult for African American at the time to secure loans.

In the 1980’s, when the Reagan administration cut social programs, widespread homeless plagued the city. Pitts took the opportunity to turn around his fortunes, converting his hotel into a shelter. The city rented all 50 rooms, but the pirces were so inflated that a congressional investigation resulted. In 2004 a condominium buliding replaced the hotel.