Harlem of the West - by Elizabeth Pepin Silva & Lewis Watts (Hardcover)
Similar Products
Products of same category from the store
Product info
<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"The Fillmore was one of the few neighborhoods in the Bay area where people 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.<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br>In the 1940s and 50s, a jazz aficionado could find paradise in the nightclubs of San Francisco's Fillmore District: 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 shoulders with the locals at the bar of Texas Playhouse. The Fillmore was one of the few neighborhoods in the Bay Area where people of color could go for entertainment, and so many legendary African American musicians performed there for friends and family that the neighborhood was known as the Harlem of the West. 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. The entire neighborhood was a giant multicultural party pulsing with excitement and music. In 220 lovingly restored images and oral accounts from residents and musicians, <i>Harlem of the West</i> 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.<p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br>"Mellow memories emerge in this consummate, tightly edited look back at an exuberant way of life in San Francisco's Fillmore District during the 1940s and '50s, when dozens of blues, R&B and jazz joints flourished amid businesses run by African-Americans, Japanese-Americans and Filipino-Americans. The entire neighborhood was a giant multicultural party throbbing with excitement and music, remembers former Fillmore Auditorium manager Pepin. Art professor Watts and TV producer Pepin faced a difficult task when they set out to document the Fillmore's musical heyday. Few photos were known, and 1960s redevelopment left vacant lots. During a 15-year period, they explored city files and tracked former residents, and the resulting oral accounts by musicians and clubgoers make these pages an evocative echo of the past. Interviews led to photographic treasure troves, and although some pictures had aged badly, Watts repaired damaged images with digital restorations. Researching newspapers, books and magazines, the authors stockpiled a mountain of memorabilia--including a map of neighborhood landmarks, 200 b&w archival photographs, ads, clippings, handbills and posters.... The enthusiasm of the era bubbles forth."--<i>Publishers Weekly</i><br>
Price History
Cheapest price in the interval: 32.49 on October 22, 2021
Most expensive price in the interval: 32.49 on November 8, 2021
Price Archive shows prices from various stores, lets you see history and find the cheapest. There is no actual sale on the website. For all support, inquiry and suggestion messagescommunication@pricearchive.us