About This Show
L.A.’s Central Avenue flourished from 1920-1955. By day it served as the economic, religious and social center of black, segregated L.A. By night, it was a magnet for those looking to enjoy some of the finest, most exciting music in the country. Central Avenue was an entertainment mecca on a par with Bourbon Street and Beale Street, a place where headliners like Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington, Lionel Hampton and Slim Gaillard performed in the dozens of clubs lining “The Great Black Way.”
Blues for Central Avenue is set in front of the elegant Dunbar Hotel, where such famous intellectuals and movie stars as W.E.B. DuBois, Langston Hughes and Paul Robeson resided. It tells the story of a returned vet who launches L.A.’s first Black record company and ends up having to do battle with Hollywood over the electrifying young singer he has discovered, nurtured and loved.
