unknown Jazz Club San Francisco Harlem West California Theater Restaurant Souvenir Photo Beautiful Black Couple 1945.
From the syncopatedtimes website:
California Theater Club Restaurant, 1940-61:
Shifting demographics of the Fillmore district, known as “Harlem of the West,” are reflected in the evolution of four key venues: New Orleans Swing House, California Theater Club Restaurant, Primalon Ballroom, and The Fillmore Auditorium.
This location began as a neighborhood Japanese American establishment, “Cherryland Sukiyaki Club.” After the forced relocation of Japanese Americans in 1942 it became a noteworthy African American establishment, California Theater Club Restaurant.
It’s described in the definitive book Harlem of the West, by Elizabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts (Chronicle Books, 2006) as offering “elaborate entertainment including a chorus line of dancing girls. And famous name bands . . . just like a Hollywood Club, with Sepia Floorshows nightly.” By around 1946 it was offering top name orchestras, “like a Hollywood club” recalled local bandleader Johnnie Ingram:
They had nightly shows. The waitresses were all in uniform and you couldn’t have found a better place if you had gone to New York. My band played there, Jack Porter’s band out of Los Angeles played there, Jack McVea also came up from LA and played there. The California Theater Restaurant was the place at the time.
From 1947 to 1953 the marquee was Gourmet Theater Restaurant. It returned to Asian American ownership in 1953 as Tokyo Parlor Restaurant until it was closed, and the building demolished in 1961