From the 1940s into the 1950s, the Fillmore was the center of Black San Francisco and one of the most important jazz districts on the West Coast, sometimes called the Harlem of the West. Clubs along Fillmore and Post drew Billie Holiday, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and a deep local scene. The neighborhood had filled with Black workers during World War II, many moving into homes left empty when Japanese American residents were forced into internment camps.
In the 1960s and 1970s, federal redevelopment programs demolished much of the district, displacing thousands of residents and erasing most of the clubs. Sidewalk plaques along Fillmore Street, the Jazz Walk of Fame, mark where the music happened, and the annual Fillmore Jazz Festival keeps the history visible.
