From the 1920s to 1950s, Central Avenue was the hub of the West Coast jazz scene. Famous the world over, “the Avenue,” as it was lovingly called, was a must visit destination for jazz lovers staying in Los Angeles. “I didn’t know where Sunset Boulevard was when I moved to L.A., but sure I knew Central,” legendary producer Quincy Jones recalled.
By day, Central Avenue was a pleasant downtown for the majority of black people in Los Angeles; it was middle class, respectable, and family friendly. By night, it turned into a dynamic multi-cultural thoroughfare of music, entertainment, and mirth. “The dizzy white lights are dancing daringly again, lightsome, lilting, laughter, is tinkling from lips curved merrily in happy faces of white, brown cream or rich orange as the gay, many colored gowns of women of all races flutter like so many tropic butterflies,” California Eagle columnist Harry Levette wrote of the Avenue in 1931.
Join us as we take a trip down the Avenue, and discover some of the places that made Central Avenue swing.
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