William Abalos drills the doors of The Dunbar Hotel shut, to keep out loiterers.
Editor's note: This is part of a two-part series, examining the past and future of the Dunbar Hotel. To read about what is planned for the hotel, click here
Today, the Dunbar is home to a handful of low-income families on Central Avenue. But in the heyday of the great jazz period from 1940 to 1959, the Dunbar was a major stomping ground for great black musicians.
“Oh man! It was fantastic you know because everybody stayed there at the Dunbar,” said jazz trumpeter, Clora Bryant. “Nowhere do we have a place where we can go, where you knew you were going to see everybody that’s in town, that’s worth seeing.”
Although the jazz scene has moved elsewhere in Los Angeles, the Dunbar remains a powerful reminder of the past. The flowering of Central Avenue’s jazz scene paralleled growing economic prosperity among African Americans.
“It was a time of development, experimentation, excitement and endless boundaries to musical performance,” former Central Avenue resident and retired Superior Court Judge, William Beverly.
The West provided job opportunities and cheap land for African Americans. That led to an explosion in the number of black professionals and homeowners.
Beverly said he felt like Central Avenue and the hotel were signs of African American accomplishment.
Word spread of the opportunities, prompting thousands of African Americans to move to the area. But as their numbers grew, laws were drafted, limiting where blacks could buy property, confining many to the area around Central Avenue. With nowhere else to go, jazz became an outlet — deriving its sound from New Orleans, the Southwest and New York.
“There was no other source of entertainment at the time,” Beverly said.
That outlet found a home in venues like the Club Alabam, the Lovejoy’s, the Plantation and the cream of the crop — the famed Dunbar Hotel.
“The Dunbar was really the highlight of jazz and entertainment during that era,” said Malcolm Bennett, state court receiver for the Dunbar.
Central Avenue’s rising jazz talents included Bryant, Ernie Andrews and Buddy Collette. Bryant shared the stage with jazz greats Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday and Dizzy Gillespie.
“It was happy time because we were mostly together,” Bryant said.
The Dunbar catered mainly to African Americans, who were barred from staying at other local hotels. Jazz trumpeter Marcus Belgrave says the hotel quickly became a favorite.
“It became a homing place for musicians,” he said.
The hotel provided blacks an escape from the harsh realities of the outside world, with lush Spanish balconies and art-deco chandeliers.
“There was a freedom, I felt freed from segregation,” Bryant said.
The respite helped with, but did not shield blacks from discrimination. The laws barring non-whites from owning property were struck down in 1948, but blacks were still prevented from moving outside of their neighborhoods by harsh treatment.
This resulted in a series of African American “islands” throughout West Jefferson Boulevard, Temple Street and in the city of Watts.
“It was oppression. You couldn’t get out,” said Beverly, who lived in the area.
But by the 1950s, segregation waned as African Americans began to win important victories in the courts that dismantled segregation policies. However, Beverly says new problems would arise.
“Once blacks left the area, the contribution to that economy in that area left,” he said.
That trend, combined with the loss of downtown manufacturing centers, led to Central Avenue’s decline. At the same time, the Avenue’s jazz scene fizzled as black musicians took their performances elsewhere.
Today, there are signs that Central Avenue is coming back. A recent infusion of redevelopment agency funds has led to new construction. The agency will also spend $31 million to turn the Dunbar into a large-scale affordable housing complex.
“There is this effort to hold onto things like the Dunbar Hotel since it was such a tremendous accomplishment,” Beverly said.
Central Avenue’s great jazz period is unlikely to return, but the music continues in other areas of Los Angeles, like Leimert Park.
Clora Bryant remains active in the jazz community, while Ernie Andrews continues to sing around the jazz circuit, and isn't about to quit anytime soon.
“[I'll stop] when I drop dead,” Andrews said.
It has been a long road for African Americans. But the fighting spirit of Central Avenue as well as the music, lives on.
