The Latin Quarter nightclub – later known as The LQ – was located in New York City. The club, originally opened in 1942 and showcasing Pop, Jazz, Doo-wop and Latin musical talent of the era, later focused on Hip Hop, Reggaeton and Salsa acts. The Latin Quarter’s history is similar to that of the nearby Copacabana.

The club, originally opened as the Palais Royale in 1900, was located near Times Square at 200 West 48th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue. It was then occupied by the Cotton Club, which had left Harlem, from 1936 to 1940.

Concert promoter Lou Walters, the father of television journalist Barbara Walters, purchased the Cotton Club and reopened it in 1942 as the Latin Quarter, with a French New Orleans theme. Under Walters’s leadership, the club featured acts such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Patti Page, the Carter Family, Sophie Tucker, Mae West, Diahann Carroll, Milton Berle, The Andrews Sisters, Frankie Laine, Sunny Skylar, and Ted Lewis, along with chorus girls and can can dances.

This photo was taken in August of 1960 and features a brightly lit sign that says “The Latin Quarter Presents A Donn Arden Production, Sky High, Jan Murray, Kaye Ballard Richiardi Jr., Kimo Lee Dancers, Ruth Shepard, Bruce Yarnell and Jay Stern.”