Roosevelt entrepreneur's dream: tour where Eddie Murphy, Dr. J, Chuck D, more grew up

There are Black heritage tours of Harlem that boast connections to Langston Hughes, Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington. There are tours of Memphis that pay tribute to Otis Redding, Howlin’ Wolf and B. B. King. There’s even a tour of inner-city Los Angeles neighborhoods where the rappers Ice Cube and Ice-T launched their careers.

So why not a tour of Roosevelt, Long Island?

After all, the tiny Nassau County hamlet — not quite 2 square miles, with a population of roughly 18,000 — has produced an outsize share of famous names, nearly all of them Black. Among those born or raised there are Julius "Dr. J” Erving, the pro basketball player who turned the slam dunk into an art form during the 1970s; the superstar comedian Eddie Murphy and his brother Charlie; the rapper Chuck D and other core members of the confrontational rap group Public Enemy; brothers Aaron and Damian Hall, of the new jack swing group Guy; and Howard Stern, the self-proclaimed "King of All Media.”

PLANNING A TOUR

With that in mind, local entrepreneur Andre Guilty is hoping to launch the Roosevelt Black Hollywood Celebrity Tour, a two-hour drive that will stop at the former homes of the area’s many luminaries. Guilty envisions folks paying as much as $100 a ticket for the experience, especially if it were to come with a meal and, perhaps, the occasional special guest. He said he’s partnering with several local businesses to get the tour off the ground.

"There’s a big tourism industry and we don’t even get a piece of that because our communities are marginalized,” Guilty said. "So we thought that we could do a tour for our notables as well.”

TIRELESSLY PROMOTING ROOSEVELT

Guilty is a Roosevelt native and a tireless promoter of his neighborhood. A former rapper known as Andreaus13, Guilty circulated among the members of Public Enemy during their early years and later founded the African American Media Network, which publishes content on its own website and on YouTube. He’s also a sometime filmmaker whose latest project was a feature comedy inspired by the Roosevelt Roller Rink, a now defunct but once thriving social hub. (Guilty won’t reveal his age but says he’s one of the “’70s babies.”)

On a recent Saturday afternoon, Guilty wore a dark suit and tie as he led Newsday on a test run of his tour. The meeting place: the parking lot of the Western Beef supermarket on Nassau Road. The driver: Melvin Walker Jr., who said he used to accompany his cousin Jam Master Jay, the late DJ for the rap group Run-D.M.C., on tours. Walker, 60, who now runs Rush Hour Transportation, provided a sprinter van and donated two hours of his time to the tour.

"When Andre called about it, I was very happy to help him out” as a way of boosting his neighborhood’s profile, Walker said. "Other than the thruway from Freeport to Mineola, Roosevelt has always been on the back burner of the county.”

The day’s guest of honor: Clint Smith, a childhood friend of Eddie Murphy who famously played Sweets the barber in Murphy’s 1988 comedy, "Coming to America.” (Smith’s best-known line: "You ain’t never met Martin Luther the King!”) Smith, 63, tagged along to tell a few first-person stories, such as the time he sneaked out of his house to get Dr. J’s autograph and meeting Murphy during their first day of 7th grade gym class at what was then Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School.

"There weren’t a lot of people here, but a lot of people excelled,” Smith said. "I’m proud of my town.”

LOCAL LANDMARKS

Guilty proves to be a genial tour guide, one eager to share personal anecdotes. He talks about helping Norman Rogers, known as DJ Terminator X of Public Enemy, lug a massive speaker into a party. He points out the former site of Mr. Hicks' Place, where Murphy made some of his earliest stand-up appearances. He claims the singer Aaron Hall threatened to beat him up in high school. ("He weighed all of 90 pounds,” Guilty says with a laugh.) And he marvels at occasionally bumping into Roy Haynes, the legendary jazz drummer who died last year, at a local supermarket.

It's difficult to confirm Guilty’s stories or all the addresses visited on the tour. Why trust him as a local guide? "I went to school with everybody,” Guilty said, "except Dr. J.

Guilty is aware of Roosevelt’s rough reputation. Some stops are accompanied by the sound of aggressively barking dogs, a pickup truck blasting country music or a tow truck hauling away a charred BMW. When a Newsday photographer asks to exit the van and photograph Dr. J’s old home — apparently now a food pantry — Guilty replied, "I would encourage you not to.” But this tour is intended to make Roosevelt known for something more than "if-it-bleeds-it-leads news stories,” he said.

"Roosevelt had the world’s greatest comic, the world’s greatest radio personality, the world’s greatest rap group and, I gotta say, the world’s greatest basketball player,” Guilty said. "Look at this place,” he added proudly as the van passes through the residential streets. "We grew up in a place that cultivated us and gave us exposure to all things.”

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com