https://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&feed=atom&action=historyThe Rise and Fall of Seventh Street in Oakland - Revision history2024-03-29T04:52:01ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.39.1https://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=35380&oldid=prevLisaruth at 06:42, 24 April 20232023-04-24T06:42:41Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Today, the Street is marked by boarded buildings and empty lots. Few signs remain of the vitality it once exuded. There are plans to revitalize West Oakland, notably the West Oakland Specific Plan, which has been approved by the Oakland City Council. Many community members fear that this approach to development will gentrify the area and displace longstanding residence. Others argue that the investment it will draw gives hope that a thoroughfare similar to Seventh Street will once again arise as a cultural haven for African Americans. For a glimpse of Seventh Street’s glamor, however, a virtual preservation of it can be found on the [http://7thstreet.org/ Remembering Seventh Street] site. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Today, the Street is marked by boarded buildings and empty lots. Few signs remain of the vitality it once exuded. There are plans to revitalize West Oakland, notably the West Oakland Specific Plan, which has been approved by the Oakland City Council. Many community members fear that this approach to development will gentrify the area and displace longstanding residence. Others argue that the investment it will draw gives hope that a thoroughfare similar to Seventh Street will once again arise as a cultural haven for African Americans. For a glimpse of Seventh Street’s glamor, however, a virtual preservation of it can be found on the [http://7thstreet.org/ Remembering Seventh Street] site. </div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>Notes</font size></div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>Notes</font size<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">> <br</ins>></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>1. Joshua Shapiro, “Shipyards and Sounds.” Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, 62<br></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>1. Joshua Shapiro, “Shipyards and Sounds.” Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, 62<br></div></td></tr>
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</table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=32410&oldid=prevLisaruth: moved photo to before abstract2021-04-06T19:28:09Z<p>moved photo to before abstract</p>
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<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 12:28, 6 April 2021</td>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>''by Jennifer Soliman, 2015''</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>''by Jennifer Soliman, 2015''</div></td></tr>
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<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''Neighborhood and business block of Seventh St., 1940s.'''</ins></div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In the 1940s, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was hailed as a cultural haven for African-Americans. During the day, it served as a bustling place of commerce hosting a myriad of businesses such as markets, cleaners, restaurants, hotels and gyms. At night, its many nightclubs offered a thriving social scene that drew the hottest names in jazz from around the country. These clubs served as the seedbed that fostered the birth of West Coast Blues. Oakland’s specific location — at the junction of multiple modes of transportation — brought people from around the world to Oakland, especially Blacks from the South. It was these emigrants and immigrants who significantly contributed to the birth of Seventh Street. The ascent of Seventh Street’s prominence coincided with the emergence of a regional African-American middle class. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In the 1940s, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was hailed as a cultural haven for African-Americans. During the day, it served as a bustling place of commerce hosting a myriad of businesses such as markets, cleaners, restaurants, hotels and gyms. At night, its many nightclubs offered a thriving social scene that drew the hottest names in jazz from around the country. These clubs served as the seedbed that fostered the birth of West Coast Blues. Oakland’s specific location — at the junction of multiple modes of transportation — brought people from around the world to Oakland, especially Blacks from the South. It was these emigrants and immigrants who significantly contributed to the birth of Seventh Street. The ascent of Seventh Street’s prominence coincided with the emergence of a regional African-American middle class. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Drug-store-7th-Street-1940s.jpg|720px]]</del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''Neighborhood and business block of Seventh St., 1940s.'''</del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Even as the War-related jobs disappeared in the Bay Area, Seventh Street continued to thrive as a center of Black culture and commerce well into the 1950s.(1) What rung the knell of Seventh Street’s demise was federal intervention and modernization. West Oakland fell victim to urban renewal and other federal programs and initiatives that tore the Black neighborhood apart. Technological developments in transportation and in the shipyards led to a substantial loss of employment, and with it the paychecks that helped solidify Seventh Street. A substantial change in the social and economic landscapes ensued, and with it a deterioration of culture. What follows is an examination of the political and cultural factors that shaped the rise and decline of Seventh St in West Oakland.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Even as the War-related jobs disappeared in the Bay Area, Seventh Street continued to thrive as a center of Black culture and commerce well into the 1950s.(1) What rung the knell of Seventh Street’s demise was federal intervention and modernization. West Oakland fell victim to urban renewal and other federal programs and initiatives that tore the Black neighborhood apart. Technological developments in transportation and in the shipyards led to a substantial loss of employment, and with it the paychecks that helped solidify Seventh Street. A substantial change in the social and economic landscapes ensued, and with it a deterioration of culture. What follows is an examination of the political and cultural factors that shaped the rise and decline of Seventh St in West Oakland.</div></td></tr>
</table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=32408&oldid=prevLisaruth at 19:25, 6 April 20212021-04-06T19:25:54Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>{| style="color: black; background-color: #F5DA81;"</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| colspan="2" | More than any single event since its incorporation as a city in 1852, World War II transformed Oakland, notably West Oakland. One result of the influx of workers and economic vitality that the War brought to West Oakland was the development of Seventh Street as the neighborhood’s cultural centerpiece. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Seventh Street became a nationally reputed cultural haven for African-Americans. Jazz and blues musicians from around the country would perform in the Street’s myriad clubs producing a sound and scene known as the West Coast Blues. This article explores the factors that produced the Seventh Street heyday and the factors that, from the 1950s onward, created its economic and social demise. </div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>| colspan="2" | <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''</ins>More than any single event since its incorporation as a city in 1852, World War II transformed Oakland, notably West Oakland. One result of the influx of workers and economic vitality that the War brought to West Oakland was the development of Seventh Street as the neighborhood’s cultural centerpiece. In the 1940s and early 1950s, Seventh Street became a nationally reputed cultural haven for African-Americans. Jazz and blues musicians from around the country would perform in the Street’s myriad clubs producing a sound and scene known as the West Coast Blues. This article explores the factors that produced the Seventh Street heyday and the factors that, from the 1950s onward, created its economic and social demise. <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''</ins></div></td></tr>
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</table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=31505&oldid=prevLisaruth at 21:48, 28 July 20202020-07-28T21:48:04Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15) </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15) </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street<del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">;</del>''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. </div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street</font size> </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street</font size> </div></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>4. ''Crossroads : A story of West Oakland.'' (1996; Quest Productions, video).<br></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>4. ''Crossroads : A story of West Oakland.'' (1996; Quest Productions, video).<br></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>5. Thomas and Wilma Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'' (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 12-16<br></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>5. Thomas and Wilma Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'' (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2007), 12-16<br></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>6. 'Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland''<br></div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>6. <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'</ins>'Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland''<br></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>7. Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'', 21<br></div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>7. Tramble, ''The Pullman Porters and West Oakland'', 21<br></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>8. Robert Douglass, [https://www.sonoma.edu/asc/cypress/finalreport/Chapter02.pdf “A Brief History of West Oakland”] (pdf) ''Olmsted and Olmsted'' (1994), 40. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>8. Robert Douglass, [https://www.sonoma.edu/asc/cypress/finalreport/Chapter02.pdf “A Brief History of West Oakland”] (pdf) ''Olmsted and Olmsted'' (1994), 40. </div></td></tr>
</table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=30812&oldid=prevLisaruth: added date of publication to byline2020-06-07T20:35:53Z<p>added date of publication to byline</p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>''by Jennifer Soliman''</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>''by Jennifer Soliman<ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">, 2015</ins>''</div></td></tr>
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</table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=26865&oldid=prevLisaruth: corrected photo credit error in 3rd photo2017-08-14T17:00:54Z<p>corrected photo credit error in 3rd photo</p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Soliman Esters-Orbit-Bart.jpg]]</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Soliman Esters-Orbit-Bart.jpg]]</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''BART tracks dominate the 7th Street corridor in this <del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">2015 </del>photo.'''</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>'''BART tracks dominate the 7th Street corridor in this <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">2013 </ins>photo.'''</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>''Photo: <del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">Jennifer Soliman</del>''</div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>''Photo: <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">via [https://artalongthemargins.wordpress.com/graffiti-post-war-urban-design-transportation-and-broken-windows/ Art In the Margins] blog</ins>''</div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Slowly, Seventh Street lost its luster. As capital left West Oakland, employment diminished. The end of the War meant that fewer ships were needed and yards soon closed down. The emergence of “containers” on the ports displaced the multitudes of longshoremen that unloaded cargo. They were replaced by cranes that could unload entire boxcar sized trailers. A more extensive history of containerization can be found [[Mechanization_on_the_Waterfront|here]]. Travelers were no longer enchanted by the railroads, as the use of cars became more prominent. Because of the changes in the shipyards and railroads, thousands became unemployed. With the loss of jobs, came the loss of luster on Seventh Street. Without the sustenance of the steady flow of Black income, businesses closed their doors. The nightclubs that had once lined the street shut down or converted into neighborhood bars. Seventh Street became even more unappealing, with the construction of an overpass for the Cypress Freeway that sliced through it. The construction of BART was another heavy blow to Seventh Street. Unlike other stations, the BART station built in West Oakland was above ground with elevated tracks running straight through Seventh Street. The overpass killed the street. “Nobody wanted to go there with that thing running over your head all day long. ”(20) Shoppers stopped shopping, musicians stopped playing, and the life of Seventh Street was snuffed out. By the mid-1960s, the glamor of Seventh Street was all but forgotten. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Slowly, Seventh Street lost its luster. As capital left West Oakland, employment diminished. The end of the War meant that fewer ships were needed and yards soon closed down. The emergence of “containers” on the ports displaced the multitudes of longshoremen that unloaded cargo. They were replaced by cranes that could unload entire boxcar sized trailers. A more extensive history of containerization can be found [[Mechanization_on_the_Waterfront|here]]. Travelers were no longer enchanted by the railroads, as the use of cars became more prominent. Because of the changes in the shipyards and railroads, thousands became unemployed. With the loss of jobs, came the loss of luster on Seventh Street. Without the sustenance of the steady flow of Black income, businesses closed their doors. The nightclubs that had once lined the street shut down or converted into neighborhood bars. Seventh Street became even more unappealing, with the construction of an overpass for the Cypress Freeway that sliced through it. The construction of BART was another heavy blow to Seventh Street. Unlike other stations, the BART station built in West Oakland was above ground with elevated tracks running straight through Seventh Street. The overpass killed the street. “Nobody wanted to go there with that thing running over your head all day long. ”(20) Shoppers stopped shopping, musicians stopped playing, and the life of Seventh Street was snuffed out. By the mid-1960s, the glamor of Seventh Street was all but forgotten. </div></td></tr>
</table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=24588&oldid=prevAprilharper at 23:24, 14 September 20152015-09-14T23:24:22Z<p></p>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15) </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15) </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street;''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. <del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[File:slim.jpg]]</del></div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street;''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street</font size> </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street</font size> </div></td></tr>
</table>Aprilharperhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=24587&oldid=prevAprilharper at 23:23, 14 September 20152015-09-14T23:23:23Z<p></p>
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<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 16:23, 14 September 2015</td>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15) </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>With a solid consumer base to support it, Seventh Street flourished. Southern Blacks brought with them the culture of owning property and soon both sides of Seventh Street became lined with cleaners, markets, groceries, liquor, furniture, pharmacies owned by Blacks. In KQED’s ''Crossroads: A Story of West Oakland'', residents reminisce on the vibrancy of Seventh Street, how shoppers would walk down the street laughing and meet up with friends. Along the street “you would encounter any number of colorful local characters, such as ‘The Reverend' who, along with his wife, preached from street corners; the ‘Tamale Man', who pushed a cart up and down the street hawking his hot tamales to people pouring out of the clubs in the early morning hours; or Charles ‘Raincoat Jones', a former bootlegger turned loan shark and dice game operator, who was known as the unofficial mayor of Seventh Street and helped finance some of the jazz and blues clubs.”(14) There were also pool halls, gambling halls, and places to eat southern-style foods like Sylester Sim’s Overland Cafe. Ads in the window boasted, “Just like mother used to fix it” and “No fancy French names for our dishes.”(15) </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street;''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. </div></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Slim-Jenkins.jpg|left|thumb|'''Slim Jenkins club on 7th Street;''']] The epitome of Seventh Street, however, was its nightlife and its music. Dance halls, theaters, cafes and clubs lined the street. The majority of West Oakland’s jazz clubs were found on Seventh Street, more than fifteen by the mid-1940s. Growth of the entertainment industry in Oakland was due to the influx of people with paychecks and appetites for fun. There was a club for everyone on the socioeconomic scale. Because Black musicians were not allowed into the Local 6 of the American Federation of Musicians, they were prevented from playing in clubs in downtown Oakland .(16) Seventh Street became the place to play, and play they did! Styles like New Orleans, swing, bebop, and blues could be heard up and down the street. Migrants brought with them a musical style that was rooted in the South, which lent elements to a new style called the West Coast Blues. It had “slow, draggier beat and a kinda mournful sound ”(17) compared to that of Chicago. To hear the West Coast Blues, the place to be was Slim Jenkin’s, the most renowned club on the West Coast. It attracted a mixed clientele and the hottest names in jazz and blues like Nat King Cole, B.B. King, Charles Brown, The Ink Spots, Aretha Franklin, Duke Ellington, and Sarah Vaughan. Lines would bend around the corner, while taxis zipped in and out filled with people waiting to listen to Jenkin’s next big act. <ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[File:slim.jpg]]</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street</font size> </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><font size=4>The Economic and Cultural Destruction of Seventh Street</font size> </div></td></tr>
</table>Aprilharperhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=24489&oldid=prevLisaruth: Protected "The Rise and Fall of Seventh Street in Oakland" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))2015-08-26T19:29:20Z<p>Protected "<a href="/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland" title="The Rise and Fall of Seventh Street in Oakland">The Rise and Fall of Seventh Street in Oakland</a>" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))</p>
<table style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122;" data-mw="interface">
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<td colspan="1" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 12:29, 26 August 2015</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-notice" lang="en"><div class="mw-diff-empty">(No difference)</div>
</td></tr></table>Lisaruthhttps://foundsf.org/index.php?title=The_Rise_and_Fall_of_Seventh_Street_in_Oakland&diff=24264&oldid=prevCcarlsson at 00:17, 1 August 20152015-08-01T00:17:53Z<p></p>
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<td colspan="2" style="background-color: #fff; color: #202122; text-align: center;">Revision as of 17:17, 31 July 2015</td>
</tr><tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno" id="mw-diff-left-l8">Line 8:</td>
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<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In the 1940s, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was hailed as a cultural haven for African-Americans. During the day, it served as a bustling place of commerce hosting a myriad of businesses such as markets, cleaners, restaurants, hotels and gyms. At night, its many nightclubs offered a thriving social scene that drew the hottest names in jazz from around the country. These clubs served as the seedbed that fostered the birth of West Coast Blues. Oakland’s specific location — at the junction of multiple modes of transportation — brought people from around the world to Oakland, especially Blacks from the South. It was these emigrants and immigrants who significantly contributed to the birth of Seventh Street. The ascent of Seventh Street’s prominence coincided with the emergence of a regional African-American middle class. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>In the 1940s, West Oakland’s Seventh Street was hailed as a cultural haven for African-Americans. During the day, it served as a bustling place of commerce hosting a myriad of businesses such as markets, cleaners, restaurants, hotels and gyms. At night, its many nightclubs offered a thriving social scene that drew the hottest names in jazz from around the country. These clubs served as the seedbed that fostered the birth of West Coast Blues. Oakland’s specific location — at the junction of multiple modes of transportation — brought people from around the world to Oakland, especially Blacks from the South. It was these emigrants and immigrants who significantly contributed to the birth of Seventh Street. The ascent of Seventh Street’s prominence coincided with the emergence of a regional African-American middle class. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Drug-store-7th-Street-1940s.jpg|720px]]</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-deleted"></td><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="+"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #a3d3ff; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><ins style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''Neighborhood and business block of Seventh St., 1940s.'''</ins></div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Even as the War-related jobs disappeared in the Bay Area, Seventh Street continued to thrive as a center of Black culture and commerce well into the 1950s.(1) What rung the knell of Seventh Street’s demise was federal intervention and modernization. West Oakland fell victim to urban renewal and other federal programs and initiatives that tore the Black neighborhood apart. Technological developments in transportation and in the shipyards led to a substantial loss of employment, and with it the paychecks that helped solidify Seventh Street. A substantial change in the social and economic landscapes ensued, and with it a deterioration of culture. What follows is an examination of the political and cultural factors that shaped the rise and decline of Seventh St in West Oakland.</div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>Even as the War-related jobs disappeared in the Bay Area, Seventh Street continued to thrive as a center of Black culture and commerce well into the 1950s.(1) What rung the knell of Seventh Street’s demise was federal intervention and modernization. West Oakland fell victim to urban renewal and other federal programs and initiatives that tore the Black neighborhood apart. Technological developments in transportation and in the shipyards led to a substantial loss of employment, and with it the paychecks that helped solidify Seventh Street. A substantial change in the social and economic landscapes ensued, and with it a deterioration of culture. What follows is an examination of the political and cultural factors that shaped the rise and decline of Seventh St in West Oakland.</div></td></tr>
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<td colspan="2" class="diff-lineno">Line 22:</td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>World War II brought an infusion of federal spending that profoundly transformed the economy of the Bay Area and, with it, the Black middle class. The defense industries rapidly expanded as contracts were allotted for shipbuilding and the construction of the Oakland Army base and a Naval Supply Center.(8) The ports, docks, and railroads went into overdrive as materials were being transported to accommodate the new work. Labor was required at every level in nearly every field. With the thousands of men off to war, employers were not in a position to discriminate in hiring practices, thus employment was open to workers of both genders and all colors. As news of employment arose, people flooded into the Bay. Blacks from the South assured by family in California that jobs were plentiful poured in from the ports and the transcontinental line to Oakland. Although skilled and unskilled labor was needed, wartime managers would concentrate the new, migrant workers in fields of unskilled, low-wage labor. Blacks employed on docks, railroads, or in military supply centers, for example, found themselves disproportionately represented in lower level work. However, this was not the case on shipyards, which were largely composed of skilled or semi-skilled laborers. Managers altered the nature of the work shifting to an emphasis on prefabrication to enable newcomers to enter higher paid semiskilled work like welding, burning, and shipfitting.(9) With this increase in employment came an increase in disposable income, income that was spent on the commercial thoroughfare of Seventh Street. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>World War II brought an infusion of federal spending that profoundly transformed the economy of the Bay Area and, with it, the Black middle class. The defense industries rapidly expanded as contracts were allotted for shipbuilding and the construction of the Oakland Army base and a Naval Supply Center.(8) The ports, docks, and railroads went into overdrive as materials were being transported to accommodate the new work. Labor was required at every level in nearly every field. With the thousands of men off to war, employers were not in a position to discriminate in hiring practices, thus employment was open to workers of both genders and all colors. As news of employment arose, people flooded into the Bay. Blacks from the South assured by family in California that jobs were plentiful poured in from the ports and the transcontinental line to Oakland. Although skilled and unskilled labor was needed, wartime managers would concentrate the new, migrant workers in fields of unskilled, low-wage labor. Blacks employed on docks, railroads, or in military supply centers, for example, found themselves disproportionately represented in lower level work. However, this was not the case on shipyards, which were largely composed of skilled or semi-skilled laborers. Managers altered the nature of the work shifting to an emphasis on prefabrication to enable newcomers to enter higher paid semiskilled work like welding, burning, and shipfitting.(9) With this increase in employment came an increase in disposable income, income that was spent on the commercial thoroughfare of Seventh Street. </div></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">[[Image:Jennifer-Solimon Drug-store-7th-Street-1940s.jpg|720px]]</del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;"></del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker" data-marker="−"></td><td style="color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #ffe49c; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div><del style="font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none;">'''Neighborhood and business block of Seventh St., 1940s.'''</del></div></td><td colspan="2" class="diff-side-added"></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br/></td></tr>
<tr><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The migrant Blacks that took residence in established black neighborhoods further consolidated the Black middle class. Because West Oakland was already home to an established Black population, Black migrants from the South were naturally drawn there. Due to housing shortages, many migrant families were taken in as boarders. Over time however, moving into West Oakland became less of a choice and more like the only option. As Oakland’s population grew exponentially, the population was well over 300,000 by 1940,(10) housing shortages became a pressing issue drawing federal attention. Funded by Congress, the Federal Housing Administration’s Title 6 program guaranteed loans for private construction, but was restricted to white buyers doing little to help those of color. Thus, white suburban neighborhoods arose, many of which were built outside of the city limit in an attempt to avoid municipal building codes. With little assistance from the private sector, Blacks remained in West Oakland and relied on public housing programs. Claims of racial conflict by Oakland Housing Authority, however, necessitated segregation of these programs. Four all-Black projects were built in West Oakland, while corresponding white projects were built along bay flats in East Oakland.(11) In her book, ''The Second Gold Rush'', Marilynn Johnson proposes that segregation was implemented “in hopes of reducing interracial contacts and defusing tension” and was accepted in “in hopes of preserving social harmony through the war emergency.”(12) Nonetheless, the influx of Black migrants into West Oakland proved profitable for Seventh Street. They “formed the basis of new business,” according to Nathan Huggins,(13) that allowed merchants, landlords, and businesses owners on Seventh Street to prosper. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals replaced the porters of the railroad era as the new Black middle class. </div></td><td class="diff-marker"></td><td style="background-color: #f8f9fa; color: #202122; font-size: 88%; border-style: solid; border-width: 1px 1px 1px 4px; border-radius: 0.33em; border-color: #eaecf0; vertical-align: top; white-space: pre-wrap;"><div>The migrant Blacks that took residence in established black neighborhoods further consolidated the Black middle class. Because West Oakland was already home to an established Black population, Black migrants from the South were naturally drawn there. Due to housing shortages, many migrant families were taken in as boarders. Over time however, moving into West Oakland became less of a choice and more like the only option. As Oakland’s population grew exponentially, the population was well over 300,000 by 1940,(10) housing shortages became a pressing issue drawing federal attention. Funded by Congress, the Federal Housing Administration’s Title 6 program guaranteed loans for private construction, but was restricted to white buyers doing little to help those of color. Thus, white suburban neighborhoods arose, many of which were built outside of the city limit in an attempt to avoid municipal building codes. With little assistance from the private sector, Blacks remained in West Oakland and relied on public housing programs. Claims of racial conflict by Oakland Housing Authority, however, necessitated segregation of these programs. Four all-Black projects were built in West Oakland, while corresponding white projects were built along bay flats in East Oakland.(11) In her book, ''The Second Gold Rush'', Marilynn Johnson proposes that segregation was implemented “in hopes of reducing interracial contacts and defusing tension” and was accepted in “in hopes of preserving social harmony through the war emergency.”(12) Nonetheless, the influx of Black migrants into West Oakland proved profitable for Seventh Street. They “formed the basis of new business,” according to Nathan Huggins,(13) that allowed merchants, landlords, and businesses owners on Seventh Street to prosper. Doctors, lawyers, and other professionals replaced the porters of the railroad era as the new Black middle class. </div></td></tr>
</table>Ccarlsson