Day Two

Fillmore District • Divisadero Street

The Fillmore, once the city’s most vibrant African American neighborhood, is making a comeback four decades after falling to urban renewal. It now features a Jazz Preservation District, restoring the area to its former 1940s glory when it was called the Harlem of the West and boasted two dozen jazz venues, including Jimbo’s Bop City. The premier Bay Area jazz club, Yoshi’s, in Oakland, opened a second club 15 plus jazz heritage museum in the heart of the Fillmore (1330 Fillmore) in November 2007.

Stop in at 16 Marcus Books (1712 Fillmore St.; 346-4222), located in the former home of Bop City. This literary feast of more than 14,000 books by and about African Americans also hosts events and readings throughout the week.

A few blocks up is 17 Dewson’s Hats (2050 Fillmore; 346-1600). Miss Dewson’s ads say her hats are for “church shoutin’ or steppin’ out.” This is where former Mayor Willie Brown gets his signature Borsalinos.

18 Sidney: A Salon (2174 Sutter St.; 776-3073), and the 19 New Chicago Barbershop No. 3 (1551 Fillmore; 563-9793) are longtime businesses on the street. New Chicago’s walls are covered with images from the Fillmore’s history, many from Red Powell’s shine parlor, which used to be across the street. After Powell died, New Chicago’s owner rescued the images from the trashbin.

20 African American Art and Culture Complex (762 Fulton; 922-2049) is home to organizations that program dance, jazz, country music, theater performances, film, poetry readings, and drumming and dance workshops. The African American Shakespeare Co. (762-2071) performs Sept. through June in the 210-seat Buriel Clay Memorial Theater. Also on site are the Sargent Johnson Gallery and the San Francisco African and African American Historical and Cultural Society Library Archives.

Jackie Payne and Steve Edmondson Blues Band at Rasselas Jazz Club

For evening entertainment, drop in at 21 the Boom Boom Room (1601 Fillmore; 673-8000) or 22 Rasselas Ethiopian Cuisine and Jazz Club (1534 Fillmore; 567-5010), with live music every night of the week.

Worth a side trip is a section of Divisadero Street, just down from Haight, that is largely African American. Several shops carry African-made clothing and art objects. 23 Ujama African Arts and Fashion Center (411 Divisadero; 252-0119) has hats, dolls, dashikis and baskets from Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana. A specialty store featuring incense and oils, 24 Your Scents (645 Divisadero; 931-4227), also displays masks from Zaire and Africa’s West Coast.

Have dinner — or breakfast or lunch — at 25 Hard Knox Café (2526 3rd St., 648-3770), a neighborhood joint with real down-home cooking by a Vietnamese couple from Texas. Later, if your toes itch to dance, try 26 El Rio, featuring Afro-Latin and Caribbean music (3158 Mission St.; 282-3325).

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