Cleveland’s First Black-Owned Recording Studio Could Become a City Landmark

The Boddie Recording Company helped shape Cleveland’s music scene for more than two decades, recording albums by local artists who might not have gone on to fame but whose work was important right here in Cleveland.

It was also the city’s first recording studio owned and operated by Black Americans — Louise and Thomas Boddie — and worked with musicians playing all genres, laying down tracks at its longtime headquarters at 12202 Union Ave. where the Boddies also launched a variety of labels.

Over the years the "premier low-cost studio" has received recognition for its work — including a three-CD resissue set from Numero Group in 2011 — and it's now set to be named a historical Cleveland landmark.

“It's our culture,” said Ward Four councilwoman and Landmark Commission member Deborah Gray, who has been a part of the push.

“This is the Black/African American culture finally having something that's going to be put in the urban Black community that's going to represent basically all musicians, all artists, all creators. We have the Boddie Record Company studio, that's going to be in our Black community," she said.

Cleveland’s Landmark Commission officially voted to nominate 12202 Union Avenue as an official city landmark. The Commission looks for three components when nominating landmarks, according to city planner and city hall staff member for the commission Karl Brunjes.

"The first is age, and we generally use 50 years as our marker," said Brunjes. "The second is integrity, does the building still look much like it was? And then the third is significance. And significance has many different things, it could be architectural or cultural."

12202 Union Avenue in Ward Four lot looks unassuming from the street, housing a single-family home, garage and a small space that once functioned as a dairy building and a car repair shop. But when Louise and Thomas Boddie bought the lot in 1959, they turned the unassuming space into a recording studio for more than two decades.

Orphaned at a young age, Thomas Boddie was raised in Cleveland by his grandparents. Thomas practiced his lifelong love of electronics at East Technical High School, graduating in 1942.

The only Black student in his class, Thomas struggled to find work after graduation despite his diploma and knack for machinery. With America’s entrance in World War II, Thomas began working on airplanes at an Air Force base in Dayton before being inducted into the Army Air Force.

After the war, Thomas got a job as an organ repairman and used his payout from the Army to buy recording equipment. Before creating the studio at the house on Union, Thomas began recording in his Glenville basement and officially opened the Boddie Recording Company in 1959.

Louise Boddie grew up listening to gospel, country-western and the blues in Mississippi before moving to Cleveland and attending Glenville High School in 1953.

The two married in 1963 after mutual friend and DJ Bill Hawkins played matchmaker. Although Thomas bought the Union Avenue property in 1959, it took the pair years of work to transform and open the studio behind their house.

With Louise working as president and Thomas overseeing the recording process, the Boddies made a name for themselves throughout the region. They recorded everything: gospel, bluegrass, soul, rock, country-western and rhythm and blues. With low rates and quick turn-arounds, the Boddies drew Black and white musicians, even attracting artists across state lines.

“We have a historical house...that created all music for all entertainers of all races in our community,” said Gray.

The studio itself was almost entirely self-sufficient because many suppliers wouldn’t sell to Black business owners.

When the Boddies’ supplier of vinyl pellets, which they used to press records, stopped selling to Black people amid the 1970s oil embargo, the Boddies got creative. Without pellets, the Boddies ground up old records for vinyl to press new ones.

Through their many years of operation, the Boddies were nothing if not prolific. They created several in-house labels, like Luau, Bounty, Soul Kitchen and more, and even made a mobile recording operation.

Able to work outside of their studio for a period in the mid-1960s, the Boddies recorded every musical performance at Leo’s Casino–most notably Canton R&B group the O’Jays. They also recorded gospel choirs in churches and even Sonny and Cher at Cleveland’s Teenage Fair.

Taking their operation on the road, Thomas and Louise traveled around the country, recording events like funerals and bar mitzvahs.

Over time, the Boddies slowed operations and eventually Louise shut down operations when Thomas passed in 2006. Throughout their decades of work, it’s estimated that the Boddies pressed more than one million records, according to the Cleveland Landmark Commission.

Now that it’s been nominated by the Commission, the Boddie Recording studio requires legislative approval from Cleveland City Council to be designated as a city landmark. With the support of Councilwoman Gray, the commission will prepare legislation to refer to the Council's Development, Planning and Sustainability Committee.

In addition to designating the property as a city landmark, Gray says she, Louise and the Boddies’ son, Dennis, hope to establish the studio as a museum.

"These are the stories that we're really looking for," Brunjes said. "The history of a place isn't always obvious. And this is a pretty standard house in a neighborhood that you just drive by every day and you don't even think twice about it, knowing there's this significant history. We would love to hear more from people out in the neighborhoods throughout the city, no matter what ward because I'm sure there's a lot of similar stories like this that we would love to tell."

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