Harlem of the WestHarlem of the West

"The Fillmore was one of the few neighborhoods in the Bay area where peple of color could go for entertainment in the 1940s and 50s, and so many legendary African American musicians performed there for friends and family that the neighborhood was known as the Harlem of the West. The entire neighborhood was a giant multicultural party pulsing with excitement and music: Billie Holiday sang at the Champagne Supper Club; Chet Baker and Dexter Gordon jammed with the house band at Bop City; and T-Bone Walker rubbed soulders with the locals at the bar of the Texas Playhouse. Over a dozen clubs dotted the twenty-block radius. Filling out the streets were restaurants, pool halls, theaters, and stores, many of them owned and run by African Americans, Japanese Americans, and Filipino Americans. In 220 lovingly restored images and oral accounts from residents and musicians, Harlem of the West captures a joyful, exciting time in San Francisco, taking readers through an all-but-forgotten multicultural neighborhood and revealing a momentous part of the country's African American musical heritage"--Back cover.