Teddy's L.A. After Dark
On this changing scene
Here's your part
Live your wildest dreams
Night arrives
just to celebrate
It happens here
in L.A.
After dark
From the beach
to the mountainside
L.A. streets
take you for a ride
Hollywood
Central Avenue
It happens here
in L.A.
After dark
Daylight steps aside and
Lets the city lights start to glow
Play out your part as the night
Puts on a show
Happy now
See the dawn arise
Just for you
Cross the morning skies
Don't forget
Night will soon return
It's here for you
in L.A.
After dark
Central Ave. Saxophone Market
Central Avenue is a major north-south thoroughfare in the central portion of the Los Angeles, California, running through the Carson, Compton, and South Los Angeles (including Watts, Florence-Graham, and Willowbrook) neighborhoods.
ReplyDeleteThe covenenant line along Washington Boulevard demarcated where African Americans were allowed to live in Los Angeles, so visiting musical stars usually stayed at the Dunbar Hotel. Thus, the Central Avenue Corridor became the center of Black entertainment, especially from ca. 1920 to 1955. Local luminaries included Eric Dolphy, Art Pepper, Chico Hamilton, and Charles Mingus, but the careers of many others such as Benny Carter, Buddy Collette, Dexter Gordon, Lionel Hampton (author of the song "Central Avenue Breakdown"), Hampton Hawes, Big Jay McNeely, Johnny Otis, Shifty Henry, Gerald Wilson, Anthony Ortega, Onzy Matthews, and Teddy Wilson were closely connected to the area. The Dunbar's Club Alabam became the main jazz venue, but the Downbeat and the Last Word were nearby, and the Moorish revival-style Lincoln Theater featured live theater, musical acts, talent shows, vaudeville, and motion pictures. Leon Heflin's "Cavalcade of Jazz" was the 1st large outdoor jazz entertainment festival and showcased over 125 acts from 1945-1958, beginning with Count Basie and Big Joe Turner. Since 1996 the entirely noncommercial Central Avenue Jazz Festival has been held there.