When a downtown club was destroyed in a possible arson, Richard Pryor’s father “Buck” was awakened. He lost his 1956 Cadillac, parked outside the hotel, in the blazes.
The building had a checkered past. According to police, when it operated as the Rhapsody Club, rocks were thrown on a regular basis through its window, and on one occasion a stick of dynamite was found in the club’s door handle.