FILLMORE HISTORY

The music scene continued to grow with the opening of many new venues including the New Orleans Swing Club, the Long Bar, the Texas Playhouse, and later, the Champagne Supper Club, Leola King's Blue Mirror, and the neighborhood’s most famous jazz joint, Bop City.

The Majestic Ballroom, renamed the Fillmore Auditorium in 1952, began featuring big named African American acts brought in by Charles Sullivan, also known as “The Mayor of Fillmore Street.” The Fillmore scene began to be known worldwide, drawing Hollywood stars such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Redd Foxx, and famous musicians like Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday to the stages whenever they were in town.

It was Sullivan who gave Bill Graham his start in concert promotion in December 1965, when the African American club promoter allowed Graham to use his dance hall license at the Fillmore so that Graham could hold a benefit for the San Francisco Mime Troupe. The benefit was so successful that Graham asked if he could book additional concerts. Sullivan offered Graham his “off” nights and thus “The Fillmore Sound,” which became synonymous with the Summer of Love, was born.

The Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, and Country Joe and the Fish were among the many musicians and bands featured at The Fillmore. Often the opening acts were blues or R&B bands such as

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Billie Holiday and Wesley Johnson Sr., with her beloved dog at the Club Flamingo, circa early 1950s.
photo: The Wesley Johnson Jr. Collection
Charles Sullivan (left), was one of the most active promoters of African American music west of the Mississippi. In the middle is Lionel Hampton. 1950s.
photo: The Wesley Johnson Jr. Collection