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Episode 03

Waluhaje Hotel, Walter 'Chief' Aiken

Today’s episode explores the Waluhaje Hotel Apartment building built for $1.3 million in 1951 by Atlanta negro real estate developer and businessman, Walter Henry ‘Chief’ Aiken. Not only was it one of the first apartment—hotel complexes in the city of Atlanta, but it was also noted for being a major hub for negro social life in the segregated South. The Waluhaje hosted some of the most famous jazz musicians and singers in America such as Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillepsie, Ray Charles and James Brown and was one of several properties built by Aiken in NW and SW Atlanta. By the late 1950s, Aiken was one of the wealthiest Black men in the United States