Arnie “Red” Shapiro , the legendary owner and manager of Akron nightclubs, died Sunday night at age 100.
Shapiro owned Red’s, the nightclub at East Waterloo Road and South Arlington Street, for more than 30 years. He later supervised a half-dozen other establishments and worked into his late 80s.
“I enjoyed the people,” he said during an interview for his 100th birthday.
Arnold Shapiro, the only child of Carl and Ida Shapiro, was born Dec. 9, 1923, in Cleveland, but moved as a child to Akron, where he grew up in a Jewish neighborhood off Raymond Street.
Shapiro earned the nickname “Red” because of his hair color.
In 1929, Shapiro’s parents opened the Farmer’s Exchange Market, a 24-hour store at Waterloo and Arlington, and he started helping out at age 6, and grew up in the business.
After graduating from Buchtel High School in 1942, Shapiro attended Ohio State University before returning to the family business.
When an electrical fire destroyed the building in 1957, Shapiro bought Shorty’s, a honky-tonk next to the store’s rubble, and renamed it Red’s.
It was a rough bar, appealing to hard-drinking sailors from the naval base at Akron Municipal Airport. When the base closed, Red’s attracted more factory workers, professionals and young people.
Shapiro expanded the lounge in 1960 and 1963 as business grew.
“Looking for good food? Well don’t stop at Red’s!” he advertised. “But if you want to have a blast — stop in!”
The club became famous for its live entertainment. Shapiro hired bands from out of state with names such as Cyclone, Spellbound, Atlantis, Pokerface, Big Deal, Mercedes, Goodfoot and Brimstone.
Disaster struck Feb. 10, 1974, when a three-alarm fire ignited in the kitchen and destroyed the club.
Shapiro bought El Cid on East Tallmadge Avenue so his employees would have a place to work while he built a new place.
Red’s reopened on Waterloo Road in 1976 as a split-level, $500,000 club that could accommodate 600 people. It became the most famous club in town.
Professional athletes mingled with disco queens. Actor Tom Hanks, a celebrity at the All-American Soap Box Derby, stopped by the club to sample Akron nightlife.
La Flavour, originally known as Ragweed, served as Red’s house band and later recorded the hit song “Mandolay.”
The most that Shapiro ever paid for an act was $7,000 a week for wild man Joe Savage, a rock singer who draped live snakes around his neck and demolished furniture onstage with a chain saw.
The party ended at Red’s when Shapiro sold the business in 1988.
“I was getting old,” he recalled. “I thought I was done. I was 65 years old, and I said, ‘By God, that’s it.’ ”
A month later, he got a call from Rosemont Country Club to help out for a couple of weeks. He stayed for 3½ years.
In 1991, Quaker Square recruited Shapiro to manage Buck’s Sports Bar & Grill, which soon expanded to Buck’s Garage and Santa Fe Station in downtown Akron. Wearing red-framed glasses, he smiled as he waded through crowds and greeted patrons. He later worked at The Vault, Crocker’s at Good Park and Posh Nite Club & Bistro, occasionally packing Tangier as the host of Red’s reunion parties with La Flavour.
He officially retired when he was about 88 years old.
More than 600 people jammed Tangier for Shapiro’s 95th birthday party in 2018. He still enjoyed a night out on the town with good friends.
In 2021, Shapiro finally had his bar mitzvah, a rite usually reserved for Jewish boys at age 13. When he was a kid, his parents were too busy working at the market to take him to Hebrew school.
Rabbi Moshe Sasonkin of Anshe Sfard synagogue came to Shapiro’s apartment to perform the ceremony. Shapiro officially became a man at age 98.
Shapiro is survived by children Judy Kaplansky, George Shapiro and Mark Shapiro, four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at noon Tuesday at Gordon Memorial Home at 1260 Collier Road in Akron. Rabbi Sasonkin will preside.
Before his 100th birthday, Shapiro was asked what he’d like to say to all the people who visited his clubs over the years.
He didn’t hesitate.
“Thanks for the great ride,” he said.
Mark J. Price can be reached at mprice@thebeaconjournal.com
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Red Shapiro, owner of Red’s nightclub in Akron, dies at 100
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