Lewis Watts will present an illuminating slide show and talk about his work and research on the book, Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era. 

Through dozens of archival photographs and oral accounts from the neighborhood residents and musicians who experienced it at its height, the Harlem of the West SF Project celebrates this unique and rediscovered chapter in jazz history and the African-American experience on the West Coast. The Project is a platform for the Fillmore’s musicians, nightclub owners and residents of the 1940s and 1950s to tell the neighborhood’s history in their own words, as well as feature rarely seen photographs and memorabilia. The new edition of Harlem of the West: The San Francisco Fillmore Jazz Era book has been recently republished by Heyday Books. The edition features newly discovered photographs and memorabilia, as well as additional interviews with those who lived and played in the Fillmore at the height of its glory.

Our Jan/Feb On the Same Page author Margaret Wilkerson Sexton acknowledges Harlem of the West as a key source of inspiration for her book, On the Rooftop.

Lewis Watts is a photographer, archivist, and professor emeritus of art at UC Santa Cruz with a longstanding interest in the cultural landscape of the African diaspora in the Bay Area and internationally. 

Connect:

Lewis Watts - Instagram 

Heyday - Website | Heyday - Instagram