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The Jazz Heritage Center, San Francisco's only permanent cultural and educational complex dedicated to jazz, has announced its first major exhibition, "Harlem of the West... Revisited," an art and photographic exhibit that celebrates the bustling Fillmore jazz era of the 1940s and 1950s.

At the time, the Fillmore was a vibrant, swinging neighborhood, boasting two dozen active nightclubs and music joints within its one square mile. Although it has been commemorated in songs, poems, and in Maya Angelous's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," few people today know of the rich musical history of the Fillmore. The Fillmore District virtually vanished — abruptly and thoroughly — due to redevelopment in the 1960s.

The exhibition includes two major components: "Harlem of the West," an exhibition that marks the return of the popular "Harlem of the West" photographic exhibit, which features nearly 60 rare archival photographs of the Fillmore at its height in 1940s and 1950s; and "Harlem of the West Revisited," which features original paintings from San Francisco's golden era of jazz, including a rare impressionistic painting of the exterior of nightclub Jimbo’s Bop City by African-American painter Joe Overstreet.

Additionally, original murals that hung in nightclub Texas Playhouse Bar are also on display. It is the first time that these important art pieces have been displayed on Fillmore Street in nearly 40 years. The gallery exhibit also includes photographs of the Fillmore by three prominent local photographers: David Johnson and Gerald Ratto (both of whom studied under Ansel Adams), and Mars Breslow.

The Jazz Heritage Center will celebrate the opening of this exhibit with a community day on Saturday, December 6, from 1 to 6 pm. Jazz greats from the Fillmore will be in attendance, as will exhibit curators Elisabeth Pepin and Lewis Watts. Photographers Johnson, Ratto and Brewslow will also be on hand.

"Harlem of the West," organized by the Museum of Performance & Design, will be on public view December 6, 2008 through March 7, 2009 at the Jazz Heritage Center, 1330 Fillmore Street (at Eddy), in San Francisco. Admission is free. The lobby of the Fillmore Heritage Center is open 7 days per week, from noon until 10 pm.

For more information, call 415.377.4565 or visit the Jazz Heritage Center website.