Connie Williams (Trinidadian)

Connie Williams (1905–2002) was born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and moved to the United States in 1924. She was a restaurateur, culture-bearer, and community organizer. She opened the Calypso Restaurant in Greenwich Village, New York City, in 1943. The restaurant served West Indian cuisine in an ambiance of music from Trinidad. Among the early racially integrated establishments in the Village, it sponsored costume balls and galas throughout the 1940s and early 50s, often at Irving Plaza, off Union Square. it served as a Bohemian gathering place where intellectuals and artists could hear West Indian music and eat West Indian food.

Williams was a mentor for the young James Baldwin, who worked for Williams when he was 19 years of age, after moving from Harlem to Greenwich village when his stepfather died. In the early 1960s, after relocating to the West Coast, she opened Connie's Restaurant in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco. She later moved her restaurant to the Fillmore District, San Francisco, after the Hippie movement in the Haight-Ashbury provided limited clientele.