San Francisco and the Birth of Jazz
There was a long history of African-American owned nightclubs along the waterfront, particularly near the Pacific Street pier. The man who created the port, William Alexander Leidesdorff, who built the first shipping warehouse and pier in the 1840s, put a hotel and eatery nearby, the City Hotel, at Kearny and Commercial, setting a pattern that survives to this day. Successors we know about include: • George Smith’s Magnolia Saloon in the Apollo Hall at 808 Pacific (near Stockton) opened in 1867: changed name to Golden City Club under William Freeman in 1869 • John T. Callendar’s Broadway Exchange hotel and saloon in the 1880s • The Crow’s Nest 1894 • Purcell and Kings, 520 Pacific, opened 1901 Sam King and Lew Purcell reopened in 1907 as “Purcell’s So Different” later moved to Jackson and • Iowa 429 Pacific 1907 Lester Mapp • The Ivy 464 Pacific Sam King and Lew Purcell 1907 • House of All Nations 487 Pacific Louis Gomez 1907 • The Dixie Hotel 750 Pacific James W. Gordon later Alex Cochran • Purcell’s Cafe 101 Columbus Circle 1910 Lester Mapp • Colored Entertainers Club 107 Columbus Circle 1915 • The Olympia Cafe Lester Mapp • Jupiter Club Jackson and Kearney 1919 Jelly Roll Morton Elsewhere in the city were: • Aurora Club 649 Mission St. 1880 • Acme Saloon Manus Davis and Charles Jamieson, taken over by Sam King in 1890 • HQ 2700 Greenwich St. (near Presidio and 24th Infantry “Buffalo Soldiers) Sam King, Lew Purcell opened in 1898 around the Spanish-American War • Arcadia Club 23 Stockton St. opened by King and Purcell in 1899 and moved to 316 Grant Ave in 1900 • Vestibule Cafe Abraham Lincoln Dennis Across the bay was “Linc’s” 1751 7th St. Oakland 1900 Abraham Lincoln Dennis
Coming by water
 
The proximity to water is an important part of the story of the birth of jazz.  The “resorts” catered to sailors and soldiers with prostitution, which was legal and licensed in San Francisco until 1915.  The dances that emerged in the district were designed to encourage these connections. Jazz was a euphemism for sex in the 19th century, leading to the connotation with the music which brought men and women dancing near each other.
Sources:  Pioneer Urbanites by Douglas Daniels p. 147-160
“When they danced the turkey trot at the So Different” Jerry Schimmel, 2/24/1995 San Francisco Examiner
1887-1919 San Francisco City Directories
1910 Police chiefs memo listing resorts, cabarets, saloons, etc. that existed on Pacific St. during the years 1908-1910
“Jazz: the word and its extension to music: a reprise” by Peter Tamony unpublished manuscript 1968
City Hotel Magnolia Saloon Aurora Club Acme Saloon HQ Arcadia Club Broadway Exchange Dixie Hotel Purcell’s Elite So Different Olympia Cafe Colored Entertainers Club Crows Next House of All Nations Izzy’s Elite on Eddy Club Alabam Bert Williams home George Walker home Sissiretta Jones home