from an AMAZING and long-overdue piece of photojournalism on L.A.’s old-old-OLD school R & B scene by DUMB ANGEL MAGAZINE…

South Central Los Angeles R&B Venues of the ’50s and ’60s

By Domenic Priore and Brian Chidester, Summer 2007

“Los Angeles is quite often overlooked as a major center of R&B and Soul during the first rock ’n’ roll era. The Central Avenue Jazz and R&B scene from the ’20s through the early ’50s is well documented by the book and companion CD box set Central Avenue Sounds. That fantastic series ends as the Central Avenue scene disperses with the integration of L.A. jazz musicians into the clubs and movie soundtrack work to come in Hollywood. After that, a neighborhood Northwest of the core Central Avenue area would flourish as a new African-American nightlife center. Beginning near the corner of Pico and Western Avenues, then heading South to Santa Barbara Boulevard (now Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard), with a right turn (West) to Crenshaw on MLK, a myriad of new clubs would open up and host some of the most brilliant R&B from the period…”

hipped to this by Peter Relic!

---