Harlem of the West

"San Francisco's Fillmore District in the 1940s and 1950s was a swinging, eclectic, and integrated neighborhood, its streets full of restaurants, pool halls, theaters, and stores - many minority-owned. It boasted two dozen active nightclubs and music joints within its one square mile." "Although it has been commemorated in songs, poems, and in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, few people today know of the rich musical history of the Fillmore. This is because it virtually vanished - abruptly and thoroughly - due to redevelopment in the 1960s." "Through archival photographs and oral accounts from the neighborhood residents and musicians who experienced it at its height, Harlem of the West celebrates this unique and rediscovered chapter in jazz history and the African American experience on the West Coast."--Jacket.