It was also during this period that Japanese, Russians, Mexicans, Filipinos and African-Americans moved to The Fillmore, making it known as one of the most diverse neighborhoods west of the Mississippi. Ironically, at the same time, people of color were not welcome in many of the bars, nightclubs, restaurants, and theaters that lined Fillmore, Webster, Geary, and Post Streets. Instead, most African Americans traveled for music to the Barbary Coast, located on and around Pacific Street, adjacent to San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood.

The 1933 opening of Jack’s Tavern, also known as Jack’s of Sutter due to its location on Sutter Street in The Fillmore, marked the beginning of a new era in the history of African American music in the Bay Area. Soon after, the Club Alabam and the Town Club joined Jack’s and the fledgling Fillmore jazz scene was born. By the start of World War II, with the explosion in African American population, dozens of additional clubs set up shop, many in spaces formerly housing Japanese American businesses that were forced to close due to interment. Once such place was Cherryland, located on Post Street in the heart of Japantown, which offered Japanese inspired music and dance reviews in the 1930s, morphing into the California Theatre Club Restaurant in the 1940s.

After the war, some Japanese Americans returned to The Fillmore and a truncated version of pre-war Japantown was reinstated along Post Street.

(continued on pg 3)