Central Avenue at night

In the 1940s, Central Avenue is the heart of Black Los Angeles. Restrictive covenants keep Black families out of much of the city, and the community is concentrated along this avenue, which runs south from downtown toward Watts. There are shops, churches, newspapers, doctors' offices and, above all, clubs.

At the center of it all is the Dunbar Hotel, opened in 1928 by a Black dentist, John Somerville, to house the visitors that white hotels would not take. Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Billie Holiday stay there when they play in town. Around it, clubs like the Club Alabam fill the nights with orchestras, dancers and shows until dawn.

The war transforms the avenue. Thousands of workers arrive from the shipyards and aircraft plants, with money in their pockets and a will to spend it. T-Bone Walker and Charles Brown play there, along with a generation of young jazz musicians who bring bebop to the West Coast. After-hours sessions go on until the sun comes up.

White audiences come too, and with them the police. Raids on clubs where Black and white patrons mix are frequent, and many musicians remember the constant harassment.

The end comes in the 1950s, for reasons that look like good news. In 1948 the Supreme Court rules restrictive covenants unenforceable, and many families move to other neighborhoods. In 1953 the Black and white musicians' unions merge, and the best-paying jobs leave the avenue. Central Avenue slowly empties out.