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TRAVEL BACK TO THE HARLEM OF THE WEST...

TRAVEL BACK TO THE HARLEM OF THE WEST WITH THIS SOUL FOOD & IMMERSIVE THEATER COMBO

AUTHOR: JAMAL F


When was the last time a night out felt special? Not just leaving the house to do something but, as my dad would say, “stepping out on the town.” Well, for the next three weeks, Honey Art Studio, in collaboration with Walking Cinema and Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, is giving you the perfect reason to get sharp, smell sweet, and hit the city for a beautiful evening of food, culture, theater, and music. So, get dressed. We’re going out for Dinner and a Show!


Dinner and a Show is a curated evening that begins with delicious soul food at Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement and continues to The Fillmore Eclipse. While they aren’t technically part of the same event, pairing the two is our suggestion on how to have a perfect and incredible night, while supporting a Black owned business. Eating soul food at Minnie’s and following it with the immersive theater experience of The Fillmore Eclipse, will transport you to another time.


Back in the Fillmore’s heyday, when the papa of a working-class family would find a couple extra dollars in his pocket, it meant it was time to celebrate life and each other, and escape the grind of a city with changing priorities. This meant going out!



In these moments of joy, families would get “dressed to the 9’s” and sit down at a favorite local restaurant for tasty, familiar food and good conversation. Then, if there was time, and somebody playing nearby (and in the Fillmore’s heyday, there was always somebody playing somewhere), lovely couples or the entire family would sit down at a local jazz club to finish the evening with vibrant music, walking home with the sounds of trumpets, drums, and upright bass still vibrating their ears. From this feeling of culture and community, Dinner and a Show was born.


For the last few decades, one of the main topics in San Francisco has been gentrification, neighborhood shifts, and the long-standing, beautiful, diverse cultures that, unfortunately, are lost along the way. One of the first moves to change the demographics in San Francisco was urban renewal. The first people targeted for this exodus from the city were the Black populations, and the first neighborhood that felt the impact was the Western Addition, the Fillmore. What’s magical about The Fillmore Eclipse is that it takes us from a conversation and brings us into a world.



As their website says, “The Fillmore Eclipse is an immersive theater experience set in the Bebop Jazz scene of the 1950s. The show explores the uncertain fate of a club, a confluence point for San Francisco’s thriving African American community and Japanese Americans rebuilding their lives after internment, during a time when Urban Renewal was sold by city governments as a ‘cure-all’ for America’s slums.


Step into the Eclipse, (modeled after Bop City, a historical after hours jazz joint), and enjoy the Bebop tunes of the house band while sipping on a cocktail or two from our full bar. Follow characters throughout the club as regulars of the Eclipse offer their perspectives on the plans for the ‘New City’ and what really needs fixing.”


The Fillmore Eclipse is produced at Honey Art Studio, an art gallery and event space that believes in the transformative power of faith and community. Situated in the Fillmore, this space highlights the history and culture of the Black community while embracing the transcendent, unlimited innovation of our collective exchange. Hosting everything from paint nights to crafts nights, Honey Art Studio’s doors are open to everyone. Just as you’d find any and everyone at Jimbo’s Bop City, you’ll find everyone here enjoying themselves, and each other and tapping into their creativity.


The Fillmore Eclipse is a first for both Honey Art and Walking Cinema. Staying true to its name, Walking Cinema is known for its storytelling walking tours and presentations, but it is stepping out, or stepping in, to Honey Art Studio. This is the first time the event space is hosting a production of this magnitude. This immersive, all-encompassing, interactive event promises to mesmerize. Honey Art Studio is expanding and collaborating on new exciting events like this, which is much-welcomed good news for the neighborhood.



The Fillmore Eclipse is an immersive theater experience set in the Bebop Jazz scene of the 1950s.

To make a night out genuinely incredible, you need good food. Third-generation Fillmore resident Fernay McPherson doesn’t, won’t, and will never disappoint. Recently opened, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement will start the night off right. With staples like her famous rosemary fried chicken, cornbread, and mac and cheese that many say is “the best mac and cheese in the city,” you’ll taste the love, care, and time that defines authentic soul food.



With Dinner and a Show, your night is planned out. Start at Minnie’s, eat a delicious plate of food, let it digest with a short walk or ride down to Honey Art Studio, grab a cocktail, and step into the world of The Fillmore Eclipse for an experience that will have you talking and tapping your feet the entire way home.


There has been a movement to breathe life back into the beloved neighborhood once dubbed the “Harlem of the West,” and Honey Art Studio, The Fillmore Eclipse, and Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement are not only revitalizing the business but also resurrecting the spirit of the Fillmore.


Buy your tickets today at www.eventbrite.com. The Fillmore Eclipse is a limited event—only 11 shows will be held from April 26 to May 12, 2024. To experience a vibe like no other, purchase your tickets immediately!

You’ll be supporting incredible businesses that pour into their crafts and community, but more importantly, you’ll have a fantastic evening.


So, go on and get dressed. We’re going out for Dinner and a Show!


TICKET INFO:

The Fillmore Eclipse – An Immersive Story of BeBop Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite


ADDITIONAL INFO:

Honey Art Studio
(415) 699-6555
1981 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94115
www.honeyartstudio.org


Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement
1375 Fillmore Street, SF, CA 94115
Open Tuesday through Saturday, 4 pm to 10 pm.
www.minniebellssoul.com


Walking Cinema

www.walkingcinema.org

New play commemorates the history of SF's Fillmore District

By omar Bernabe • July 4, 2024
Once known as the Harlem of the West, the Fillmore District has undergone numerous changes. A new immersive play is depicting that history, and local community members are sharing their experiences. "It's a block full of memories," reflected Ericka Scott, a fourth-generation Fillmore native. As she revisits the home she grew up in, Scott explained that she and her family never wanted to leave the neighborhood, but her mother had to make a difficult decision. When prices spiked after city redevelopment efforts, her mother had no choice but to sell.

Lifelong Fillmore resident’s walking tours

By omar Bernabe • July 3, 2024
A lifelong Fillmore resident has spent the better part of a year organizing walking tours to highlight the neighborhood’s history as the center of Black life in San Francisco. Ericka Scott, who operates the art gallery and event space Honey Art Studio just off Fillmore Street, couldn’t walk more than a few blocks without passersby stopping to say hello, shake her hand and ask how her family was doing as she guided The Examiner through the neighborhood earlier this year. Scott pointed out the ice-cream shop where she got her first job, and the cafe where her family and their friends would gather to catch up. “So much comes with having a community that supports each other,” said Scott. “We really lost that, and we’ve been consistently trying to get it back.” Scott said this month that she submitted her proposal under the San Francisco Dream Keeper Initiative, which seeks to invest in The City’s Black communities. She said the tours aim to provide historical context about the neighborhood that she currently finds sorely lacking. “This is a very significant part of our history, part of our culture,” Scott said. “When we talk about our tours and our history, our art, a lot of our younger generations don’t have a clue.” Countless Black residents and businesses left the Fillmore — once known as the “Harlem of the West” for its thriving cultural scene — following San Francisco’s urban-renewal efforts, which included the widening of Geary Street into an eight-lane expressway with an underpass below Fillmore Street. Geary’s transformation, in particular, served as a point of upheaval for the neighborhood’s thriving Black community, forcing many families and storefronts elsewhere while cutting off those that remained from nearby neighborhoods. Federal transportation officials approved a $2 million Reconnecting Communities grant in March to fund an analysis of how to best reconnect the Fillmore with Japantown and the Western Addition. “We really created a thriving community that was becoming known around the world as a cultural haven for blues, jazz, food, and just the richness of diversity,” said Majeid Crawford, a Fillmore activist and the executive director at New Community Leadership Foundation, which recently signed onto to support the grant project to begin the steps of reconnecting the Fillmore neighborhood. Scott said she wants her tour to highlight those institutions, one of which is Marcus Books. A Black-owned bookstore founded in the Fillmore in 1960, Scott said urban renewal forced the shop to relocate several times. It ultimately found a home of more than 30 years at 1712 Fillmore St., the Victorian building that once housed the jazz club known as Jimbo’s Bop City. Bop City closed in 1965, right around when Geary Street was widened, but the building remained intact. The club served as the inspiration for “The Fillmore Eclipse,” an immersive theater performance held at Honey Art Studio earlier this year. “It was a great club that was thriving,” Crawford said of Jimbo’s Bop City. “We had people from all over, all the greats, like Billie Holiday, all the greats. They’d perform somewhere else downtown, and then that night, they’d all come play here.” All that remains of the club is a metal marker on the sidewalk along Fillmore close to its original Post Street location, commemorating its name. Marcus Books didn’t make it in the long run either, closing its San Francisco location in 2014. Marcus Books still operates in Oakland at 3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way. “Through financing and gentrification, it was one of the first businesses that we lost and it was a huge loss,” Scott said of the Fillmore location. Crawford called the bookstore “probably the most important establishment in the neighborhood.” He said its service to the community went far beyond its extensive selection of Black literature. “It was just like a watering hole,” he said. “People came and talked. It was a gathering place.”

Soul Food and Jazz Music

May 18, 2024
Soul Food and Jazz Music: A Match Made in the Fillmore Theater Production “The Fillmore Eclipse” and Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement Come Together for an Incredible Evening When was the last time a night out felt special? Not just leaving the house to do something but, as my dad would say, “stepping out on the town.” Well, for the next three weeks, Honey Art Studio, in collaboration with Walking Cinema and Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement, is giving you the perfect reason to get sharp, smell sweet, and hit the city for a beautiful evening of food, culture, theater, and music. So, get dressed. We’re going out for Dinner and a Show! Dinner and a Show is a curated evening that begins with delicious soul food at Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement and continues to The Fillmore Eclipse . This immersive theater experience will transport you to another time. Back in the Fillmore’s heyday, when working-class families had good weeks when papa found a couple extra dollars in his pocket, families would go out to celebrate life and each other and escape the grind of a city with changing priorities. In these moments of joy, families would get “dressed to the 9’s” and sit down at a favorite local restaurant for tasty, familiar food and good conversation. Then, if there was time and somebody playing nearby (and in the Fillmore’s heyday , there was always somebody playing somewhere), lovely couples or the entire family would sit down at a local jazz club to finish the evening with vibrant music, walking home with the sounds of trumpets, drums, and upright bass still vibrating their ears. From this feeling of culture and community, Dinner and a Show was born. For the last few decades, one of the main topics in San Francisco has been gentrification, neighborhood shifts, and the long-standing, beautiful, diverse cultures that, unfortunately, are lost along the way. The first move to change the demographics in San Francisco was urban renewal. The first people targeted for this exodus from the city were the Black populations, and the first neighborhood that felt the impact was the Western Addition, the Fillmore. What’s magical about Dinner and a Show is that The Fillmore Eclipse takes us from a conversation and brings us into a world. “The Fillmore Eclipse is an immersive theater experience set in the Bebop Jazz scene of the 1950s. The show explores the uncertain fate of a club, a confluence point for San Francisco’s thriving African American community and Japanese Americans rebuilding their lives after internment, during a time when Urban Renewal was sold by city governments as a ‘cure-all’ for America's slums. Step into the Eclipse, (modeled after Bop City, a historical after hours jazz joint), and enjoy the Bebop tunes of the house band while sipping on a cocktail or two from our full bar. Follow characters throughout the club as regulars of the Eclipse offer their perspectives on the plans for the ‘New City’ and what really needs fixing.” The Fillmore Eclipse — Walking Cinema Honey Art Studio is an art gallery and event space that believes in the transformative power of faith and community. Situated in the Fillmore, this space highlights the history and culture of the Black community while embracing the transcendent, unlimited innovation of our collective exchange. Hosting everything from paint nights to crafts nights, Honey Art Studio’s doors are open to everyone. Just as you’d find any and everyone at Jimbo’s Bop City , you’ll find everyone here enjoying themselves, and each other and tapping into their creativity. The Fillmore Eclipse is a first for both Honey Art and Walking Cinema. Staying true to its name, Walking Cinema is known for its storytelling walking tours and presentations, but it is stepping out, or stepping in, to Honey Art Studio. This is the first time the event space is hosting a production of this magnitude. This immersive, all-encompassing, interactive event promises to mesmerize. Honey Art Studio is expanding and collaborating on new exciting events like this, which is much-welcomed good news for the neighborhood. To make a night out incredible, you need good food. Third-generation Fillmore resident Fernay McPherson doesn’t, won’t, and will never disappoint. Recently opened, Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement will start the night off right. With staples like her famous rosemary fried chicken, cornbread, and mac and cheese that many say is “the best mac and cheese in the city,” you’ll taste the love, care, and time that defines authentic soul food. With Dinner and a Show, your night is planned out. Start at Minnie’s, eat a delicious plate of food, let it digest with a short walk or ride down to Honey Art Studio, grab a cocktail, and step into the world of The Fillmore Eclipse for an experience that will have you talking and tapping your feet the entire way home. There has been a movement to breathe life back into the beloved neighborhood once dubbed the “Harlem of the West,” and Honey Art Studio, The Fillmore Eclipse, and Minnie Bell's Soul Movement are not only revitalizing the business but also resurrecting the spirit of the Fillmore. Buy your tickets today at www.eventbrite.com. The Fillmore Eclipse is a limited event with tickets going fast! NEW SHOWS ADDED!!! May 24th through the 26th To experience a vibe like no other, purchase your tickets immediately! You’ll be supporting incredible businesses that pour into their crafts and community, but more importantly, you’ll have a fantastic evening. So, go on and get dressed. We’re going out for Dinner and a Show! Ticket Info: The Fillmore Eclipse - An Immersive Story of BeBop Tickets, Multiple Dates | Eventbrite Additional Info: Honey Art Studio (415) 699-6555 1981 Sutter Street San Francisco, CA 94115 www.honeyartstudio.org Minnie Bell’s Soul Movement 1375 Fillmore Street, SF, CA 94115 Open Tuesday through Saturday, 4 pm to 10 pm. www.minniebellssoul.com Walking Cinema www.walkingcinema.org
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