Jazz was in its heyday in the 1930s and '40s when nightclubs like Club Alabam abounded on Central Avenue. The nearby Dunbar Hotel was a legend in its own right. When Black jazz greats of the era, like Billie Holiday and Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald, came to town, racially restrictive covenants and segregation limited where they could stay. The Dunbar quickly became a mecca for Black performers. Over the years, South Central L.A. became the heart of the jazz scene on the West Coast.
MORE ON LA'S BLACK JAZZ SCENE
- The Dunbar Hotel Was Once The Heart Of Black Los Angeles
- Club Alabam Was The Center Of LA's Jazz Scene In The 1930s and '40s
- The Extraordinary Leon Hefflin And His Groundbreaking Cavalcade of Jazz
- Historic Dunbar Hotel That Once Hosted W.E.B. Du Bois, Langston Hughes And Billie Holiday Gets Revamped
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