Tuesday's Fun Filled Facts ‘bout San Francisco: The Fillmore District

From the SFHotelstories History File: Neighborhoods

Life in the Fillmore District

Once one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in the city due to refugees of the 1906 Earthquake and Fire.

Because of Japanese interment during WWII, thousands of newly vacated apartments and homes became available. Just in time for the influx black workers arriving to work in the war industry.

With the arrival of tens of thousands of black workers, the Fillmore became known aa the Harlem of the West. They say, on any given night, you could go from club to club and see the likes of Billie Holiday and Charlie Parker.

With the end of WWII, and the beginning of misguided urban renewal projects, thousands of homes (many of which were classic Victorians built in the previous century) were destroyed and replaced by non-descript, Soviet-style apartment blocks.

Today it is still home to two well regarded music venues: John Le Hooker's Boom Boom Room and the famous Fillmore Auditorium, where many of the great rock acts of the 1960s counter culture got their start.