The Fillmore was one of the few neighborhoods in the San Francisco Bay Area where people of color, particularly Black people, could go for entertainment in the 1940s and 50s. Like many of the 'cities of industry' where Blacks migrated for work as WWII began, Fillmore was the place where one could find the pulsating sounds that drove people to return night after night to hear the best live jazz and blues music the country could offer. In this episode, we listen to Elizabeth Pepin Silva describe her journey to find out what happened and why it happened that The Fillmore is "No Mo". In doing so, she learns and tells about some of the greats that made the Fillmore Corridor swing. As virtually every great musician of the day came to play at clubs and dance halls that lined the neighborhood. If you've heard the names of the greats...you can bet, they played the clubs of the Fillmore. The journey is titled "Harlem of the West - The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era" and is available in Bookstores. This is the 2nd of a 4 part episodic series featured here on The Planet Fillmore Orbit.. You'll find Part 1 also here on the roster. Lewis Watts is the co-author of the book and is highlighted in episode one. Continue to follow the pattern and find episodes 3 & 4, standing by for your listening entertainment. 

Lance Burton