Budget & hostels / Detroit
Mark Twain Hotel
Closed – archive entry
A 50-room hotel on East Garfield bought by Sunnie Wilson around 1943: a home for Black stars and touring musicians in the segregation era, in the Green Book 1947–1967.
Quick facts
- Rooms
- 50
03 / The story of this place
What was here?
Detroit host and promoter Sunnie Wilson, owner of the Forest Club, bought the 50-room Mark Twain around 1943, two years after he took over the club. In the segregation era it gave rooms to Black celebrities and touring entertainers, and its lounge hosted late-night impromptu sets by the likes of Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and Gene Ammons. Wilson was known for lending money or a room to musicians who were struggling. The Negro Motorist Green Book listed it from 1947 to 1967; the Michigan SHPO records the building as no longer standing.
- Bought by Sunnie Wilson around 1943
- 50 rooms for Black artists and travelers
- Green Book listing 1947–1967
- Green Book
- Listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book, the travel guide that showed Black travelers where they could stay safely during segregation.
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