The Rise and Fall of the 'Harlem of the West'

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 10 August 2023

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

If you were walking down San Francisco’s Fillmore Street in the 1950s, chances are you might run into Billie Holiday stepping out of a restaurant. Or Ella Fitzgerald trying on hats. Or Thelonious Monk smoking a cigarette. In this episode, originally aired in 2020, reporter Bianca Taylor explores the rise of the Fillmore as a cultural center for jazz, and the "urban renewal" that ultimately changed the identity of the neighborhood, and forced out many of its residents. Additional Reading: How ‘Urban Renewal’ Decimated the Fillmore District, and Took Jazz With It Read a transcript of this episode Sign up for our newsletter Enter our Sierra Nevada Brewing Company monthly trivia contest Your support makes KQED podcasts possible. You can show your love by going to https://kqed.org/donate/podcasts This story was reported by Bianca Taylor. This episode was produced by Katrina Schwartz and Asal Ehsanipour. Audio engineering was by Rob Speight and Christopher Beale. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Amanda Font, and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Cesar Saldana, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, and Holly Kernan.

Transcript

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0:00.0	from K-QED.
0:03.0	Hey everyone, this is Olivia Allen Price, and you're listening to the Bay Curious Podcast.
0:08.0	We're a show that answers your questions about the San Francisco Bay Area. And today we're going to start the
0:14.7	episode by venturing back in time and into the night. It's the 1950s. And while most folks around the Bay Area have tucked themselves in by midnight,
0:28.8	all cozy in their warm beds, things in San Francisco's Fillmore District are just heating up.
0:36.8	Jazz is on special here every night of the week.
0:41.2	Take a stroll down Fillmore Street and you might run into Billy Holiday, stepping out of a restaurant, or Thelonious Monk smoking a cigarette.
0:49.0	The music of Disney Gillespie bleeds to the door of a music venue.
0:55.8	Step inside and you're front and center for why this neighborhood gets the moniker
1:00.8	Harlem of the West.
1:03.0	In the 1940s and the
1:09.0	in the 1940s and 50s, the Fillmore was the spot on the West Coast to see the jazz greats,
1:16.0	until it wasn't.
1:21.0	Today on the show, how the Fillmore became a national hot spot for jazz, and how city planners dismantled it.
1:29.0	This story was inspired by a winning question from a public voting round on Bay Curious.org and it first aired in 2020.
1:37.0	But we're bringing it back today because this story is also featured in our newly released book, Bay Curious exploring the hidden true stories of the San Francisco Bay Area, which I'll just mention is available at a local bookstore near you.
1:52.0	We'll turn up the music right after this. Support for Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated, and argued over.
2:09.0	Explore their brews wherever fine beverages are sold and taste how trailblazing runs in the family.
2:15.0	Visit Sierra Nevada.com to find your new favorite beer today.
2:20.0	We're delving into how a small neighborhood in San Francisco became an epicenter for jazz.
2:27.0	Reporter Bianca Taylor brings us the story.
2:30.0	Like so much of San Francisco history, the story of the film war can be traced back to the day the city shook.
	...

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