During the 1940s and 50s, Oakland was widely known as the “Harlem of the West.” This was largely due to its vibrant music and commercial scene on Seventh Street in West Oakland, which hosted a variety of Black-owned businesses, including movie theaters, restaurants, and jazz clubs. A prominent cultural center, West Oakland grew rapidly during the early and mid-1900s as the transcontinental railroad, wartime industries, and a thriving industrial sector created blue-collar jobs, attracting workers from across the U.S. With segregation laws forcing non-white residents to live near industrial areas, many Black workers moved to West Oakland due to its proximity to jobs at the Port of Oakland.
West Oakland’s cultural growth was spurred in part by its renowned music clubs, which hosted a variety of local and big-time musical acts. The Slim Jenkins Supper Club and Esther’s Orbit Room attracted artists such as B.B. King, Nat King Cole, T-Bone Walker, and Ike and Tina Turner, while Billie Holiday frequently performed at a nearby movie theater. West Oakland’s venues drew a racially and economically diverse group of residents from across Oakland to enjoy a new genre of music: the West Coast Blues. This Oakland-born style of blues heavily featured the horn while other contemporary variations were more harmonica-driven.
Unfortunately, West Oakland’s growth stalled after World War II, as wartime manufacturing jobs disappeared. The City’s urban planning decisions also hurt the area: construction of large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Cypress Freeway destroyed buildings and split up neighborhoods. Local businesses also suffered as even the popular Slim Jenkins was razed in 1962. While West Oakland is still recovering, its blues scene has begun to bounce back as both new and older venues have turned to local blues and jazz artists, reviving the sounds of the Harlem of the West.
Cover image credit: Oakland Wiki (Licensed under CC BY 4.0)
