The club became famous for the high quality of its all-black stage shows and the hospitality of its owner, who greeted patrons individually at the top of the stairs. Famous African-American musicians and entertainers, including Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald, often frequented the club after finishing their engagements elsewhere in the city, and sometimes performed impromptu on stage with the house band. In the 1940s, the club was known for some of Montreal's first performances by so-called female impersonators, featuring performers such as Dick Montgomery, Malva Bolda, and Billie McAllister.
