The Jazz Age

Here's a must have book for anyone who is a fan of the golden era of Jazz. Elizbeth Pepin and Lewis Watts created a great coffee table book covering the 1940's, 1950's jazz scene in San Francisco's Fillmore district. Its a beautiful book filled with pictures of the people and places that made that area so important. For me, it is especially meaningful since my family is not only featured in two sections, but also my mom wrote chapters and submitted photos for the book.

As a fan of the vintage lifestyle, I've noticed a lack of pictures of black women from the 1940's and 1950's. Not only do you find plenty of that in this book, but I also learned about a famous black burlesque performer from that time, Lottie " The Body" Graves. There is a beautiful picture of her hanging out at the Texas Playhouse on page 4.

You can find this book at Amazon.com and at better vintage clothing stores.