Memories of Tangier: Ed George wonders what to do with memorabilia

Ed George isn’t sure what to do with it all.

As owner of Tangier, he amassed a one-of-a-kind collection of memorabilia from musicians, comedians, dignitaries, athletes and other celebrities who visited the Akron landmark during the past 50 years.

Concert posters, signed photos and framed articles once lined the plush corridors of the Moroccan-themed restaurant and cabaret at 532 W. Market St. Their polished surfaces gleamed under bright lights for all to admire.

Now they’re stuffed in crates, stacked on tables and leaning against walls in George’s quiet office. Some have cracked glass and dusty frames.

“When we had to get out of there, the guys just threw them in boxes,” George said.

In December 2020, he sold the business to The LeBron James Family Foundation, which is converting the complex into a retail, dining and event space known as House Three Thirty. Scheduled to open in early 2023, the center will offer programs and services for I Promise School families and the Akron community. Among the features will be a James museum.

George, 83, pointed to one of the pictures in his office.

“There’s LeBron from high school,” he said. “He signed that. It’s probably got some value to it. I don’t know.”

George remembers when James hosted charity billiards tournaments at Tangier as part of his Kings for Kids Bikeathon. He invited NBA stars like Dwyane Wade, J.R. Smith and Amar’e Stoudemire to shoot pool.

“People would pay $100 just to watch those guys,” George said. “How ironic: Then he ends up buying the Tangier.”

Las Vegas comes to Akron

George’s father, Edward A. George (1906-1976), established the restaurant in 1954 at 663 E. Exchange St., but relocated to West Market after a devastating fire in 1958. Following a $5 million expansion in the mid-1970s, Tangier became an entertainment mecca with its 7,200-square-foot ballroom and 300-seat Sultan’s Cabaret, a glitzy, Las Vegas-style room.

“We were Vegas in Akron,” George said.

Just about every Tangier photo has a story. Memories bubbled up as George led a private tour of his collection.

There’s Chubby Checker. There’s Rick Nelson. There’s Emmylou Harris. There’s Peaches & Herb. There’s Easy Street. There’s Tina Turner.

“When Tina Turner started, she came on a bus,” George said. “I think I paid her $10,000 or $12,000 for two shows. And she was a million-dollar act within a year.

“That was right after her problem with her husband (Ike). She started on tour and she was kind of working her act out for a big show. She was great. She’d fly across the hallway at Tangier and dress in my office. She’d say, ‘Can I use your office to put my makeup on?’ ‘Yeah.’ ”

There’s Kool & the Gang. There’s Charlie Daniels. There’s Patti Page. There’s Tony Bennett. There’s the Smothers Brothers. There’s Milton Berle.

“Milton Berle worked for me way back in the ’80s, and he was ‘Mr. Television,’ you know,” George said. “... I used to go to Lou & Hy’s with him every night. He was a tough, tough guy, but he taught me a lot about booking entertainment.

“He was telling me, ‘We’re going to book who sells tickets, not who we like.’ I’ll never forget that. He said, ‘We don’t care if we like them. We don’t care if they’re good. We’re booking who sells.’ ”

There’s Natalie Cole. There’s The Everly Brothers. There’s Roy Clark. There’s Lola Falana. There’s George H.W. Bush.

Presidential visit to Tangier

“George Bush was at Tangier as president,” George said of a 1990 visit. “Can you imagine that Tangier had the president of the United States? They don’t go to restaurants. That was phenomenal.

“He gave me some golf balls. He came into my office with a security guard and a dog. He was there twice as vice president, too. And his wife (Barbara) was there once, too. … His son (George W. Bush) was there as governor of Texas.”

There’s The Four Tops. There’s Chi-Chi Rodriguez. There’s Dottie West. There’s Frankie Avalon. There’s B.B. King. There’s Jerry Lee Lewis.

“I remember one time I hired Jerry Lee Lewis,” George said. “So it’s 8:30. I said to the agent: ‘Go get him. It’s time to go on.’ Well, we can’t find him.”

By 10 p.m. the headliner still hadn’t shown up.

“So we went on the stage and said, ‘We can’t find Jerry Lee Lewis,’ ” George recalled. “And now it’s 10:30. Here come the second-show people.”

Finally, the singer arrived with a police escort from the airport.

“He got on the stage, he put his feet on the keys, and the people went nuts!” George said. “He started playing that piano with his feet. So the 10:30 people had to sit around until 12:30 and wait.

“Nobody wanted their money back. Nobody.”

There’s Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. There’s Don King. There’s Doc Severinsen. There’s The McGuire Sisters. There’s Ray Charles.

“Ray Charles, I’ll tell you about him,” George said. “He used to come in my office before the show. I’d get him a bottle of brandy and we’d sit there and talk. I’d say, ‘Hey, Ray, you’ve got to give me more than 60 minutes.’

“He’d said, ‘No, I do two shows, man.’ I hired him about four times. He said, ‘60 minutes.’ He’d have another shot of brandy and he’d go on. Oh, they loved him. Ray Charles.”

There’s James Ingram. There’s Joe Arthur. There’s David Allan Coe. There’s the Ohio Players. There’s the Dazz Band. There’s Chrissie Hynde.

“She got mad because she didn’t want any food that wasn’t vegetarian in the whole restaurant,” George said.

“So I got all this vegetarian food in my freezer. You want it? Nobody would eat that. … I still got it. It’s probably frozen somewhere. But she said, ‘If I smell meat, I ain’t coming in.’ ”

Vintage photos spark memories

So many photos, so many stories. George shared several other anecdotes while rummaging through memorabilia:

• “Who’s that? There he is! That was my first act. Al Martino. He was a good guy.”

• “When I first started, some of the acts were from way back. Like The Four Freshmen, Al Alberts and The Four Aces, The Platters.”

• “I had The Temptations seven times. I had the original Temptations. They were phenomenal. Oh, my God.”

• “I hired Redd Foxx. He came with Slappy White. Me, like a dummy, I’m thinking I’m getting Redd Foxx from ‘Sanford and Son.’ He was so dirty. People walked out. I’ll never forget it. Oh, that was the rottenest show.”

• “There’s one of the greatest acts ever: The original Righteous Brothers. Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. What a great act that was.”

• “James Brown came. He was high as a kite, but nobody cared. He got out there and sang ‘I Feel Good.’ That’s all he had to do. He was ready to fall down.”

• “It was 8 o’clock and I’m looking for the act. And I’m saying, ‘When are they coming in?’ And they’d say: ‘They’ve been at the bar since noon drinking.’ I’d say ‘That’s the Kingston Trio? Those guys?’ ”

• “There’s Michael Stanley. He played for me 50 times. That was a great act.”

• “Eddie Money used to live in the kitchen. He’d come in the kitchen, get his own coffee, say hello to the cooks, grab a couple french fries.”

• “Joan Rivers loved Akron. She had me get a limousine. She wanted someone to take her to Goodyear and show her all of Akron. She was really nice.”

• “I had David Brenner off ‘The Tonight Show.’ He was a hypochondriac. You had to pay him with cash through the door of the hotel with the chain shut. He was pretty good.”

• “Remember this guy? He was a double talker. Norm Crosby. … He drew flies. I couldn’t sell him. He was good, though.”

• “The greatest entertainers I’ve had are no-name entertainers but they’re known around here: The Scintas. That was the greatest act. They played me for about 30 years. Boy, they were terrific.”

• “Who the hell is this? I don’t know. There’s so much stuff here.”

George said people ask him all the time what he’s going to do with the Tangier memorabilia. He plans to keep some of the personalized items, the ones that hold special meaning to him, and he intends to ask his children if there are certain objects they want.

He needs to figure out what to do with the rest of it.

His daughter Angelica George operates The Tangier Banquets and Catering business at Our Lady of the Cedars in Fairlawn. He’s considering holding a public sale at the church where people could buy the bulk of the collection. He hasn’t set a date, but maybe next spring.

There’s just so much.

“I don’t know what to do,” George said. “It’s a lot of good stuff, boy.”

Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com.

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This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Tangier memories: Ed George wonders what to do with memorabilia