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Sweet’s Ballroom (open since 1920), an Oakland landmark was a spacious ballroom that showcased top Jazz artists like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. But the 1940’s thanks to pioneering producers Guadelupe Carlos and the spacious venue hosted Latin music legends like Perez Prado, Xavier Cugat and Tito Puenterio Los Panchos. Sweets was the birthplace for Bay Area Sunday afternoon dance parties that were known as Tardeadas.
See this video below to learn more about Sweet's Ballroon.
This video was made as part of the Oakland History Murals project by Mike Burton. For more information, please visit OaklandHistoryMurals.com.
1948 Jimbo’s Bop City opened in San Francisco’s Fillmore district and featured top jazz artists from the East Coast and emerging Afro-Cuban masters such as Mongo Santamaria and Armando Peraza. Jimbo’s was part of the vibrant nightlife and network of Black owned businesses that established the Fillmore as the “Harlem of the West.”
For more on the Jimbo’s and the golden era of the Fillmore check out this video.
WW II ended, The Fillmore became The Place. "The Set" where you could get anything legal, illegal, local or foreign, wet and wild, dry and dicey. The soldiers were back and times were good, everyone wanted to have a good time while settling down in the port city of San Francisco.